Posting music on video site

[zoom]

What is the name of your state? Texas

Hello all,

I run a website that has videos of soccer players performing tricks with the ball. In the background, there is usually music. The way the site works at the moment is through user video submissions. I have the following in my Terms of Service:

In order to make us grow, we highly encourage everyone to send in as many freestyle videos as possible. This however, does not mean that you can submit videos or music that is copyrighted. The submitters are responsible for everything that is part of their video, including audio and video. We will take no responsibility in the case of infringement and/or copyright violations. Make sure you are using music and video that you have the right to use. There are various sites online that have music for everyone’s use, so please take a look at those websites.

Now my question... am I doing anything wrong here? Will I be okay with that disclaimer? Any advice will be greatly appreciated.

 

[seniorjudge]

Q: Now my question... am I doing anything wrong here? Will I be okay with that disclaimer? Any advice will be greatly appreciated.

A: If you are asking if that will help you when an enraged copyright holder sues you, the answer is no, it will not help you.

 

[zoom]

Is there anything I can do to make my site comply with all legal laws? The people that are submitting the videos are doing it just for fun... is there any way around it? Should I be OK?

 

[zoom]

I just found this article: http://mp3.about.com/od/freemusicdownloads/tp/freeandlegalmp3.htm

Would I be able to use songs from those sites on those videos? For example, can I use the songs I download on http://www.epitonic.com/ in my clips legally?

 

[shortbus]

You can protect yourself from liability for your users' infringements if you comply with the Digital Miillennium Copyright Act's "safe harbor" provisions. You can find that on google or wikipedia.

As for Epitonic and other sites, those mp3s are not public domain. They are copyrighted, and even though they're free for you to download, there are still restrictions on their use. You'd have to read the license terms on each site. Obviously, it's ok to listen to them yourself. But usually it's not okay to incorporate them into your own work.

 

[zoom]

Thanks for the advice shortbus. The way my site works is that people submit soccer videos, usually with some background music. The videos get submitted by the users and show up on the site right away. I don't get that many videos so I can control whats coming in and out fairly well. Does this still qualify me for the "safe harbor" provisions? I don't know if the submitters have or don't have the rights to their music in their videos, so I don't know what exactly to do.

If I'm not covered by the "safe harbor" rule, is there anything I can do to allow my members to still have some background music in their videos, or is there any way around this?

By the way, if I buy a CD and make a video of myself, I can't use a song from that CD to play in the background? What's wrong with that? Can the "fair use" laws be used in that case?

Thanks again!

 

[zoom]

shortbus, any comments on my last post maybe?

Is there anything I can do to play some kind of music in the background of videos legally?

 

[shortbus]

You cannot put copyrighted music in a video and distribute that video to the public via a website. There isn't any legal way to do this, short of paying for a license. There is no category of "fair use" that would apply to your situation.

 

[zoom]

Someone told me this on another forum. Can you please comment on any of it?

Well with fair use you can create a backup for yourself, but there are restrictions against distributing the content, ESPECIALLY if there is ANY kind of profit involved, because the big thing with ANY copyright dispute is whether or not one side can claim and subtantiate a loss in their profits by your actions.

My advice would to be careful with your language and instead of saying that you got the song from a CD, perhaps saying you recorded it from a PUBLIC RADIO broadcast would be the more intelligent thing to do or say that you recorded it off MTV. Also throw in a disclaimer on your site saying that in order to view the content you must be a cable television subscriber, this will essentially allow you to distribute the content without liability to yourself. Although, history has shown that music videos are pretty much untouched by copyright holders as they only serve to promote their music and are in such a form that they cannot be easily burned to a CD so the final result is that it's not really going to make any kind of a dent in their profit margin. This is why you never hear any copyright holders complaining about the Anime Music Videos site:
http://www.animemusicvideos.org/home/home.php

Technically speaking there are THOUSANDS of hosted copyright songs on that site, but no tries to get it taken down because it's only serving to INCREASE their CD sales because the video promote the songs...as well as the anime series.

So the bottom line is that if you're going to step over into a grey area...be careful about your wording and make sure that at least in SOME respect it's promoting the original copyright holder and HELPING them, as long as you do that they're not gonna have a problem with it.

 

[zoom]

Also, how about this site: http://music.download.com/1hundredfreebeats/3600-10686_32-100580040.html

The guy is offering over 100 beats that can be used for non-profit purposes. If I was to allow the submitters on my site to use them, would that be OK? I'm making a small profit on my website but the people that are submitting their videos are not doing it for profit, so if they were to put these beats into their songs, would that be OK?

 

[shortbus]

Someone told me this on another forum. Can you please comment on any of it?

It's mostly false. Redistributing a copyrighted song in any form is a copyright infringement, regardless of where you recorded the song (CD / radio / MTV). The idea that you're off the hook if you can say that you're "promoting" or "helping" the copyright holder is garbage. By that argument, every infringement of a copyrighted work should be permissible, since it gets more exposure for the work and increases sales.

As for the 100 Beats, since the guy is offering his beats to the public to use & redistribute, it's okay for your submitters to use them.

 

[zoom]

Awesome! How about this site that offers beats: http://www.glishproductions.net/downloads.htm

They say:

ATTENTION - Use Beat FREE For NON PROFITABLE Uses Only (demos, websites, freestyles, and other non-profitable purposes) Once You Use Make Sure You GIVE CREDITS: (PRODUCED BY GLISH PRODUCTIONS) or (PRODUCED BY GLISH). Interested In Buying LEASE or EXCLUSIVE RIGHTS For PROFITABLE Uses (albums, singles, compilations, mixtapes...)

Can I put this in my help page or the control panel where visitors submit their videos? I want to post the links to these downloads and tell them that they have to use one of these beats in their videos. Would that be OK?