Copyright issues on Webpage

[jeuda]

It is free... what's there to complain. Any restriction on the bandwidth?

I have a starting background music ending with mp3. Will I get penalized?
It is not the full song, just part of it.

[in_flu_ence]

Regarding the mp3 issue, I will have to check further into our policy guidelines before giving you the green light. I will contact you further on this matter via email asap.

Thanks for your kind interest.

[in_flu_ence]

Latest update on the mp3 issue:
It is a pity that I cannot permit the use of mp3 in our server for copyright reasons as this can lead to very serious consequences both to you and to our servers.

Hope you may understand

[jeuda]

roger roger....

That is the case, i will have to sort out other ways...

How about swf? flash? can i have that instead?

[in_flu_ence]

Of course you can have swf, flash with original work.
However, if you are converting the mp3 into a flash format, it will be the same issue.

For your kind understanding.

[jeuda]

Hmmm,

This is tricky....

[ktwilight]

you can always convert it to wmv and use it that way. the quality wont' be high, but it's still acceptable, you also can't, not advisable at least, put the entire song. so it will be a clip or it or so.

[in_flu_ence]

It is not really about the quality of the song but rather the copyright of the song.

I was once very interested in knowing more on copyright laws and in fact, it is not permitted to publicly playing any part/whole of the song in any type of quality.

It is a great pity but i can't change the law.

[jeuda]

I think, it is quite similar to copyrights law for using referencing even in your thesis and papers. You can quote them, but you have to give due reference to the source.

The case can be more complicated when comes to commercial sites. As for personal, if we can give the singer name and title, and we are not distributing it, like full song, it should be ok. Well, officially we still need to seek singer or even their managers for such uses.

Well... this is quite complicated, what if you were making some personal video and it happens that the background music is there. So are we supposed to mute the sound when we want to share it online?

A little unreasonable here.... dont u think so?

[jeuda]

Originally Posted by ktwilight

you can always convert it to wmv and use it that way. the quality wont' be high, but it's still acceptable, you also can't, not advisable at least, put the entire song. so it will be a clip or it or so.

Actually it should be a wma, audio.
This is getting interesting....

[in_flu_ence]

WMA is definitely a better alternative for music compression compared to MP3.

As most english songs are from the US, the following link is from the US copyright office and carries the whole copyright law in US.
http://www.copyright.gov/title17/

I am no legal expert to advise on this matter but the followings are found that might be relevant.

The Exclusive Right of Sound Recording
http://www.copyright.gov/title17/92chap1.html#114

Limitations of this copyright law
http://www.copyright.gov/title17/92chap1.html#107

Playing a song in a website are very commonly found. I would think they have infringed the copyright in technical speaking but either the original singer are not aware of this or they don't find it a threat to their business.

My two cents.

*Some of the irrelevant posts are deleted to make the topic more concise.

[paperclip]

Most times the "owners" are not aware of the song being published, used, etc. Look how long napster was around for free before the lawsuits started.

[kelkat]

If it's a new song, don't use it. If it's an old song, you might still want to check it out. "Happy Birthday" is still under copyright. That's why so many restaurants have their own birthday song.

[penguinmama]

Originally Posted by kelkat

If it's a new song, don't use it. If it's an old song, you might still want to check it out. "Happy Birthday" is still under copyright. That's why so many restaurants have their own birthday song.

And nearly *all* television shows, too.

I would think, though, that if you can get in touch with the artist or their agent(s), you might be able to get permission to use a clip. One would think they would enjoy the free advertising!

[kelkat]

It probably depends on how big the band is and what you are doing with or on your site.

But do check. Copyright infringments fees will start to add up quick, and their are people who make their living just searching them out - especially AFTER all the lawsuits started.