Legality of using Music
Community Forums/General Help/Legality of using Music
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| What is the law on this if you cut say a 2 second piece from a song, and use it non-commercially in software? I'm unable to find media laws on this..and I have a sudden urge, as a joke, to add a short clip from 'Funky Town' to my game when you level up. |
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| It's still copyright infringement whether you charge for the software, or not. |
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| It's still copyright infringement whether you charge for the software, or not. Yes, but depending on jurisdiction, a two second clip may or may not be copyrightable and may or may not be usable under fair use. See e.g. sampling. |
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| Thanks otus, that's what I was looking for. |
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| I think if the sample can be identified then its not a good idea. |
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| if you read the credits on dance tracks they go on for pages with all the "this uses a sample of this by that by them" and saying 2 seconds may not be copyrightable is like saying a still image from a movie isnt copyrightable* yes its a 2 second sample but its still owned by someone in its entirety and with all music i guess its worth pursuing the rights owners (not the band as they rarely own the rights) *you can get away with using still images and clips of movies under fair use if you are a movie/dvd reviewer, but thats a different concept to sampling as for funky town if you record your own performance of the melody you would only have to pay writers credits if anyone came knocking at your door |
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| and saying 2 seconds may not be copyrightable is like saying a still image from a movie isnt copyrightable* There's a difference: the US copyright specifically singles out individual images of a movie as copyrighted. In any case, there's fair use. as for funky town if you record your own performance of the melody you would only have to pay writers credits if anyone came knocking at your door In that case the non-commercial nature would probably make any claims invalid. Most copyright laws allow for non-commercial playing or singing of any songs without permission. Personally I think using a couple of seconds as a sample would fall under fair use, just like quoting another author in text would, but any samples should be identified and credited. Of course, IANAL and I only know a bit about US and Finnish law. |
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| otus> the first quote of mine meant the same as what you typed, i was pointing out that one or two seconds of a song is just as copyrighted as the whole thing and a still image vs movie was a good enough for me analgoy |
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| In EU & US i believe you need permission to use copyrighted audio clips in a commercial production (same way as adverts do on tv). Recording your own version may be different though because it is your own production (however you will need someone who can sing to help out :). |
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| in this ones case its the do do dododo do do do do doo bit of funky town no vocals required, unless you 'sing' the do do's |
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| In that case, recreate the 'riff' on a keyboard yourself and it is probably ok. If you were raking in millions then it -might- be worth their while to -try- and take you to court, otherwise what is the point? To be honest, just make you own totally horrible song that uses that familiar riff (name a song that doesn't!! "borrow") and say "it is from my tune.... and who the hell are Lipps?!" |
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| A band called Pseudo Echo did a cover of the original version. They probably paid a cut to the PRS though. |
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| As far as I remember there were several lawcases, resulting in (worldwide) precedence cases. Using less than 4 beats of a song may not be theft. Back then it was especially important because everybody just began to sample, eg. the snaredrum of david bowie, mixed with the hihat of whoever. Or James Browns "ow!" for example. Of course, if the sample contains remarkable parts of a composition (aka melody) then it's theft. Usually such a short sample (half a second or so) doesn't contain the characteristics of a composition. So if you create a new Song with a couple of samples and the new song has nothing to do with the sample material sources, they even cannot be identified by non-pros, then it might be hard to sue you. Using Funky Town in the game is something diffrent. since you are making use of the explicit Song and its Populaity etc. it isn't legal, officially. Of course, they problably won't care as long as there ain't no millions floating around, as somebody already said. But you never know if there is a mean man somewhere, a competitior or so who's going to wake them up just to make you troubles. Well, it happens to some of us from time to time. |
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| Of course, they problably won't care as long as there ain't no millions floating around exactly, and if the game starts to do -that- well (or well enough for it to be worth their interest) then just buy the right to use it, or pay another musician to change it to something else. |
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| lips inc might not give a flying f' but no doubt the copyright to the sound recording isnt owned by them so its the lables lawyers who would the name of the band escapes me and the rest of the details, but im sure i read at some point some one asked a band if they could do something with one of their tunes and they said "sure fine whatever" but the lable came down hard iir nine inch nails had legal issues trying to get all their own songs out as multi track files for remix.nin.com |
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| some one asked a band if they could do something with one of their tunes and they said "sure fine whatever" but the lable came down hard That doesn't suprise me, It's always best to ask the publisher rather than the originator. Typically, I imagine publishers being less likely to say "No problem!" too :( Still, It can do no harm to simply write off and ask :D |
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| I so wanted to use the 3 beats from The Good, The Bad and The Ugly when I was doing Gunslinger Solitaire... it was actually in the development version and it sounded ace, but knowing that we couldnt use I took it out when we released it :( |
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| my 'band mate' whoesale ripped off the good the bad and the ugly and or another morionie (sp) track once didnt help that my brother seemed to slip in the odd ac/dc or gnr riff here or there id be the only one exempt from any plagerism cases as i just spoke the words that were given me and occasionally thrashed my bass around with a toffee hammer, slide and fx setting. when i was 12 or so our music exam was to perform a piece of music or sing or whatever, i forgot my 'backing tape' so couldnt do my ahem song and just did the jaws theme on one of those keyboards you get in childrens books, i wasnt that into music in them days i just stuck it out for those two years in the hopes that they would let me try out the drums so i could be like my icon animal but another guy played a tape of him 'performing' axel f, whos to say he didnt just tape the LP or get someone else to play for him |
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| Using less than 4 beats of a song may not be theft Interesting.. I haven't been around bm lately so i'm late on the response. It's sad that you have to worry even non-commercially whether it's a taboo or not to play a short cut clip of a song... I'm sure tossing a tune on a torrent and seeding away to a million people is bad for their business, but otherwise, the way they are being so stingy with allowed uses goes with deserving that half the planet does what it does, sharing the music - "it's too bad our son johnny can't have his 13th mercedes on his 13th birthday. Those damn infringing torrenters wont pay $20 for a cd they only like one of our songs on!" |
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| Well, it's two things if you just copy the music to listen to it, or if you put it into your own Art or whatever production, to distribute it commercially or for free. What really counts is the triviality of a record. So if somebody made some recordings of footsteps and someone else is using it without permission - then it's hard to sue the person, because the sound is trivial, anyone could record it, it may not be considered worth to be protected by a court. However, there is still a lot of work, even in trivial recordings. And it's hard to say where triviality ends. Gunshots for example. Can anybody go and record them easily? No. In a lot of Places you need some sort of permission to do that. |
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| If it is just sounds you're after as opposed to music per se, then there are numerous royalty free sound effects packages that can be purchased (and I'mpretty sure some freebies). |
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