Music copyright law on the Internet
We hope that none of the scenarios listed below describe how you use or listen to music… because they all amount to copyright violation.
- While surfing the Internet, you find a site with MP3 files of chartbuster songs, and you can download them for free. Sounds too good to be true. So you go ahead and now you have all your favorite songs on your computer and you play them on your website. Problem? Like many other people, you have assumed that everything posted on the Internet is in the public domain.
- Trisha posts the home video she shot of her 2 year-old on YouTube She has used music clips from a CD that she bought recently. Problem? She thinks that because she has paid for the CD, it’s alright to use the music in her online postings.
- Some people you know download MP3 files from the net, burn them on CDs, and sell them for a profit. Problem? Republishing and distributing copyrighted content commercially infringes on the creator’s copyright.
- Sharing MP3 files on peer-to-peer networks is the latest craze among high school students. Problem? This is unauthorized distribution of copyrighted music.
Digital music, like any other recorded piece of music, is protected by intellectual property law. Unfortunately, one of the biggest drawbacks of the digital technology is that anyone with an Internet connection can easily and freely upload or download copyrighted content, especially music, without paying for it. Clearly, this spells doom for musicians, songwriters, singers, composers, publishers and recording companies; in fact it impacts anyone and everyone who depends on the sale of music to make a living. That’s where copyright laws come in.
Consider the case of YouTube. YouTube.com is a free of charge website for anyone who wants to use it. And you can find literally thousands of postings on YouTube that include multimedia and video clips with copyrighted music as the background score. Viacom identified more than 150,000 such clips posted on YouTube that have been viewed 1.5 billion times! And for Viacom that means lost revenue. Understandably, it has filed a lawsuit against YouTube seeking massive damages for copyright infringement.
So what is copyright, anyway?
When you own the copyright of a piece of work, it means literally that you have the “right to make copies” of that work. By extension you also have the right to license that work to others who want to use it. It is a form of intellectual property law that protects an original piece of work from being pirated and used without permission of its creator.
But isn’t the Internet a free for all medium?
The Internet might be a medium that’s accessible to anyone with an Internet connection. But the content posted online, unless specified otherwise, is not in the public domain. You cannot just take and use whatever you feel like.
That means if I want to use music, say on my website or in a school project, I can’t?
Not on your website unless you have a license to do it! The simple rule here is, if you didn’t create it - yourself, it’s not for you to share.
But yes, the use of copyrighted works for non-profit documentaries or educational purposes is more likely to be considered fair use. But the question of how much of the work you can copy or how many times you can copy it still remains. Always ask for permission.
To avoid getting on the wrong side of the law, consider purchasing a legal music license from royalty free music websites such as www.premiumbeat.com. Whether you are looking for production music for your video or background music for a multimedia presentation, you can choose from literally thousands of royalty free soundtracks. What’s more, buying royalty free music online is really easy and affordable. All you have to do is pay a one-time, reasonable amount as fee through a secure payment gateway and you are free to use the royalty free music on the Internet in anyway you want for lifetime. Inexpensive licensing is also available for Broadcast advertising and mass duplication of DVDs or CDs.
Stay clear of unauthorized reproduction and distribution of copyrighted music, and keep the copyright police from knocking at your door!
This article was originally published at www.premiumbeat.com a leading Royalty Free Music Library.
This text may be copied and published on-line or otherwise in its entirety but cannot be modified or edited without permission. Contact: info@premiumbeat.com |
