Can I display Lyrics and Sheet Music inside my Piano song tutorial videos?

[PayrollHRGuy]

YouTube doesn’t do it right...

YouTube does it in keeping with their TOS.

 

[FlyingRon]

Exactly.

No.

YouTube allows to dispute any copyright claims when appropriate and there is a counter notification and court proceedings process (that the copyright holder needs to complete within 10 days and furnish proof).

That's the DMCA thing (it might get you out of a strike). It does NOT get you out of the other issues I mentioned.

My videos are not cover songs, they are pure tutorials,

Irrelevent. Your work is still infringing. Claiming educational intent isn't a free pass under fair use.

The publisher won’t lose any revenue from my tutorials. If anything, they will make more sales of their songs.

This is a specious argument and will not work. The "I'm making them famous so I'm actually helping by infringing" is not plausible.

I understand song videos need sync license but YouTube works around it by letting copyright holders run ads on such videos. My videos are not copyright claimed and not monetized by copyright holders.

Whether they monetize them on youtube is immaterial. You don't have to claim copyright to be an infringer.

My question was about displaying lyrics and scrolling sheet music horizontally (in a single Stave) corresponding to the notes of the song being played and if that would be Fair Use.

Nothing much here appears to be fair use. If you were using pieces of the material in a review or educational mode, that would be one thing, but reproducing the entire thing for the purpose of a "how to play this" is way more than what would likely fly.

If I’m displaying keyboard notes for the song under Fair Use anyway as tutorial, would it be Fair Use to display lyrics and sheet music notes for the corresponding notes of the song being played? What I was wondering was if I display 1-3 lines of lyrics and 1 line of scrolling sheet music any time for the notes currently being played, that may be like an “excerpt“ at any time and none of these lyrics or sheet music is downloadable.

Infringing a little at a time as you go along with your underlying infringement can't possibly make things better.

If lyrics are “public” inside the song when we listen to it, are they considered private and forbidden to be displayed inside a tutorial video?

What makes you think lyrics are "public." The lyrics are just as protected by copyright as the melody.


Tread lightly. I've seen guys who have what likely are legitimate FAIR USE (where they play only snippets in the part of reviews) pick up strikes. Things aren't as cut and dry as you think. Even if the other party doesn't respond to a counter-notice, you get stuck in Google-limbo until one of you decides to push the issue in federal court.

Again, remember that DMCA is the last resort (and Alphabet does it only begrudgingly to begin with). YouTube is free to ax your content and your permission to use their site for any reason.

 

[quincy]

I agree with the (entire) sheet music part using it for teaching.

I was wondering if I’m showing only parts of sheet music for the notes being played (like excerpts) and it is not downloadable. Also if I’m showing the lyrics only for the notes being played (like excerpts) and it is not downloadable either.

Thanks for your time.

The moderator apparently returned the YouTube video you posted earlier to its place in the thread - with a disclaimer.

Please do not take what you see online - anyplace online - as absolutely positively true. There is a lot of nonsense published online. For any important legal issue (e.g., a legal issue that could cost you thousands upon thousands of dollars in a losing lawsuit), you need to seek out assistance from an attorney licensed to practice in your area. For copyright issues, the attorney you will want to see is an intellectual property attorney.

With that said - and hopefully understood - you could try to partner with a singer/songwriter, giving to your music students some new and original works to use for their piano lessons. You will want copyright agreements drawn up to protect both the musical artist and yourself. The agreement should be drafted by an attorney to meet the wants and needs of both you and the artist.

It is simpler, of course, to just license the rights to use existing music from the copyright holders or to use music that is no longer copyright-protected (e.g., music that was published before 1926).

Again, though, you cannot use the sheet music or lyrics in part or in whole for your piano tutorials without risk of receiving a cease and desist letter, a settlement demand letter, an infringement lawsuit - and termination of your YouTube account.

 

[servicemark]

That would almost certainly be a violation of copyright protection.

I was referring to the earlier link posted by Quincy - US Copyright Office’s summary of Kelly v. Arriba Soft Corp., a case that addressed fair use and thumbnail images:

https://www.copyright.gov/fair-use/summaries/kelly-arriba-9thcir2003.pdf

Video thumbnails are like 3 inches. I meant to reduce their size even further to 70% to accommodate the image of the keyboard at the bottom.

 

[servicemark]

I can download any video from YouTube.

yes, we can download videos from YouTube. Just wanted to clarify, a sheet music is typically a pdf. When you download a video that has scrolling sheet music, you won’t get a pdf. You will get the exact same video that you watched on YouTube and there is no difference between the two.

(I understand using sheet music in tutorial videos is not fair use)

 

[servicemark]

No.

Irrelevent. Your work is still infringing. Claiming educational intent isn't a free pass under fair use.


Whether they monetize them on youtube is immaterial. You don't have to claim copyright to be an infringer.

What makes you think lyrics are "public." The lyrics are just as protected by copyright as the melody.

Tread lightly. I've seen guys who have what likely are legitimate FAIR USE (where they play only snippets in the part of reviews) pick up strikes. Things aren't as cut and dry as you think. Even if the other party doesn't respond to a counter-notice, you get stuck in Google-limbo until one of you decides to push the issue in federal court.

Again, remember that DMCA is the last resort (and Alphabet does it only begrudgingly to begin with). YouTube is free to ax your content and your permission to use their site for any reason.

you mentioned 4 points on how YouTube works in your previous post. When I agreed with your points saying “Exactly”, you are disagreeing saying “No”.

Are you saying teaching piano notes (like I’m doing currently without sheet music and lyrics) is not fair use? Have you checked previous links on Fair Use posted by Quincy? Is teaching is not covered under fair use (without using sheet music)? If we search YouTube for song tutorials, we will get thousands of results with millions of views. Thousands of Tutorial videos could not have slipped through the cracks and they are not copyright claimed by any publishers or labels. Why would any publisher lose revenue from millions of views? I’m not going to post anymore links here but check out videos by lawyer Ian Corzine on copyrights and fair use on his channel.

When I said, “my videos are not copyright claimed”, I meant to say they are not copyright claimed by any publisher/label. When any of my videos get mistakenly claimed by YouTube on behalf of publisher right after I upload, I file a dispute which is forwarded to the claimant and the claim is removed in less than a week and sometimes within a day. Why would the copyright holder knowingly remove the claim and let me monetize it? Obviously, they know the fair use doctrine and ramifications of title17 USC Section 512(F).

when i said “Lyrics are public”, I meant they are clearly audible inside the original song and my audience is not learning the lyrics just because they are displayed inside the videos, they already know the lyrics - I wanted to display them contextually inside the video for the notes being played (I’ll consult with a lawyer on this). We cannot fair use somebody’s private property - we can only fair use what is available openly (see Ian Corzine’s videos).

we do not need to seek permission or license if our use is covered under fair use.

(I understand using sheet music in tutorial videos is not fair use. I still have to find out about using reduced thumbnail images from an IP lawyer)

thanks much for your other points

 

[servicemark]

The moderator apparently returned the YouTube video you posted earlier to its place in the thread - with a disclaimer.

Please do not take what you see online - anyplace online - as absolutely positively true. There is a lot of nonsense published online. For any important legal issue (e.g., a legal issue that could cost you thousands upon thousands of dollars in a losing lawsuit), you need to seek out assistance from an attorney licensed to practice in your area. For copyright issues, the attorney you will want to see is an intellectual property attorney.

With that said - and hopefully understood - you could try to partner with a singer/songwriter, giving to your music students some new and original works to use for their piano lessons. You will want copyright agreements drawn up to protect both the musical artist and yourself. The agreement should be drafted by an attorney to meet the wants and needs of both you and the artist.

It is simpler, of course, to just license the rights to use existing music from the copyright holders or to use music that is no longer copyright-protected (e.g., music that was published before 1926).

Again, though, you cannot use the sheet music or lyrics in part or in whole for your piano tutorials without risk of receiving a cease and desist letter, a settlement demand letter, an infringement lawsuit - and termination of your YouTube account.

I added the note under the video saying some videos posted by YouTube staff are misleading and attorney Ian Corzine criticized them in his videos for the wrong information.

i understand using sheet music is not fair use. I’ll consult with an IP attorney on using reduced thumbnail images.

Thanks much for your help.

 

[FlyingRon]

I know what fair use is. If education was carte blanche to steal things from rights holders, there'd never be another instructional book sold.
Whether owners of other songs/material care to enforce their rights HAS NO BEARING ON YOU. You infringe at your peril. I gave you the ranges of things that YouTube will do. You could also get sued in federal court. Unlike trademarks and some other IP, copyrights do not need to be actively enforced to preserve. And an owner is free to be capricious in who he permits to use the works.

I doubt the copyright holder is scared by your specious fair use claims. Many of these takedowns are done semi automatically and answering a counterclaim is more expensive than filing the DMCA complaint to begin with. The failure to respond does not indicate acquiescence or the admission that your work isn't infringing.

The fact that the lyrics are well known is also specious. The fact that I can see the entire libretto from Phantom of the Opera from heart doesn't give me the right to publish it, or even perform it publicly in most cases without license.

Again, much of Fair Use is determined by the amount and character of the use. Teaching someone how to play a riff or two from a song is a far cry from your pseudo-Karaoke lesson.

 

[quincy]

I was referring to the earlier link posted by Quincy - US Copyright Office’s summary of Kelly v. Arriba Soft Corp., a case that addressed fair use and thumbnail images:

https://www.copyright.gov/fair-use/summaries/kelly-arriba-9thcir2003.pdf

Video thumbnails are like 3 inches. I meant to reduce their size even further to 70% to accommodate the image of the keyboard at the bottom.

The courts have said that thumbnail images can be a fair use of an image that is copyright-protected. It matters how exactly the thumbnail image is used, however.

The Kelly court analyzed the use of a small, low-resolution thumbnail image as a search engine tool and determined that this particular use was not infringing on the rights of the copyright holder.

The thumbnail image in the search engine was not used to promote Arriba Soft or to sell the image. The copyright-protected image used as a thumbnail image by the search engine served a different function.

Here is a link to Kelly v. Arriba Soft Corp, the summary by the US Copyright Office of which was provided earlier:

https://www.casemine.com/judgement/us/5914791aadd7b049343f1904

The Court analyzed the four major “fair use” factors. You can read through those to see how the Court weighed each factor to arrive at their decision.

 

[PayrollHRGuy]

I was referring to the earlier link posted by Quincy - US Copyright Office’s summary of Kelly v. Arriba Soft Corp., a case that addressed fair use and thumbnail images:

https://www.copyright.gov/fair-use/summaries/kelly-arriba-9thcir2003.pdf

Video thumbnails are like 3 inches. I meant to reduce their size even further to 70% to accommodate the image of the keyboard at the bottom.

From the PDF you linked.

"...While plaintiff’s images were artistic works, the court found that defendant’s use of them was “unrelated to any aesthetic purpose...”

I'd argue that your use would not be an "unrelated to any aesthetic purpose".

 

[quincy]

From the PDF you linked.

"...While plaintiff’s images were artistic works, the court found that defendant’s use of them was “unrelated to any aesthetic purpose...”

I'd argue that your use would not be an "unrelated to any aesthetic purpose".

The specific use requires a personal review by an IP attorney in servicemark’s jurisdiction. Thumbnail images have generally been found by courts to be non-infringing if the use is merely to direct to related but non-infringing content.