Music Clips

[novida]

I am part of a group who recently released a CD of music for which we have licenses. Is it legal to have sample clips of the tracks off our CD available on our website?

 

[divgradcurl]

What does your license cover? A CD has two copyrights associated with it -- one for the "musical work" and one for the "sound recording." The copyright on the musical work -- that is, the song, is usually owned by whoever wrote the song -- so if the band wrote the song, the band owns the copyright, unless they sold it or otherwise exclusively licensed it to someone else.

The actual recording of the song for the CD has a seperate copyright associated with it, and that copyright is usually owned by whoever paid to have the CD recorded -- usually a record label. In this case, you would have to have a license from the record company to put a clip of the song on your website (I'm assuming, of course, that you own the copyright for the musical work and would be willing to grant yourself license to use it!).

 

[novida]

Thanks for the update info.

We have mechanical and private licenses for some of the pieces we've recorded. Other works are in the public domain, so no licenses req'd. there.

For those mechanical licenses, we have 2000 seats per song.

So, how is that measured? Is it the number of times a music clip as been 'clicked'?

 

[divgradcurl]

"Other works are in the public domain, so no licenses req'd. there"

You still may need a license for the sound recording, even if the music itself is public domain.

"For those mechanical licenses, we have 2000 seats per song.

So, how is that measured? Is it the number of times a music clip as been 'clicked'?"

Have you asked the entity who granted you the license what this means. or what there understanding of the license is? Since those are the people who would come after you if there is a violation of the license terms, you would be well-served to talk with them about what you can and can't do with your licensed music with respect to the internet.