I have this song loop I've made and have found the perfect "lyrics" to go with it, so I'd like to create a live mix and put the lyrics on top. But: they are from a video I found on an underground web site. The owner of these videos has 2 official web sites, but the audio I'm interested in using came from a video of his, but which isn't for sale on his web sites. I found it on a site where all sorts of copyrighted videos/clips are uploaded (a lot of his are there), and no one seems to really care about any infringement.
Another very important remark: due to complicated circumstances I'm basically not allowed to make any money from my music-making, so the final song in question would never be for sale. Does this fact change any copyright rules, are they less strict or totally absent?
Thanks to all who read this.
Sam Spoons wrote: ↑Fri Oct 15, 2021 7:32 pm
Have you tried to contact the writer to see if he's prepared to let you use the lyrics, either for free or for a fee?
No I haven't, I'd like to finish the song part first. Well I've made a quick improv live mix that I like but its length is 12' at the moment. The audio I'd like to use is also along 12', I really don't want to start messing with fx and re-use audio parts. But I could shave off 10 seconds here and there by removing (near) silence. Or shorten my live mix to around 8' or so.
@RichardT: thanks for the welcome. So is there really no place anymore where one could upload a song while using eg movie dialogue that isn't cleared?
I know of a Sound On Sound reader song that was put onto the mag cd somewhere in the 90s, where the producer used a few lines of dialogue from the movie "Evil Dead 2". And I'm 90% sure he didn't have them cleared. Good times, gone forever?
MonoTeksist_vs_Mutanty_Phenab wrote: ↑Sun Oct 17, 2021 11:58 pm
I know of a Sound On Sound reader song that was put onto the mag cd somewhere in the 90s, where the producer used a few lines of dialogue from the movie "Evil Dead 2". And I'm 90% sure he didn't have them cleared. Good times, gone forever?
It will always be possible to find examples where someone has taken copyright material and managed to get away with it.
That doesn't mean that there were once "good times" that have gone forever. It just means someone got lucky but remains at risk of getting caught and chased for reparations at some point in the future.
Copyright-related question (kind of complicated)
It really isn't complicated at all. It only appears complicated once you start looking for ways to get around copyright.
I find it very easy to compose alternative lyrics to existing songs. Occasionally, I think it would be possible to profit from producing material using those alternate lyrics. Then I stop and remember that I am thinking of profiting directly from someone else's work and to do that I need their permission.
Sam Spoons wrote: ↑Fri Oct 15, 2021 7:32 pm
Have you tried to contact the writer to see if he's prepared to let you use the lyrics, either for free or for a fee?
No I haven't, I'd like to finish the song part first. Well I've made a quick improv live mix that I like but its length is 12' at the moment. The audio I'd like to use is also along 12', I really don't want to start messing with fx and re-use audio parts. But I could shave off 10 seconds here and there by removing (near) silence. Or shorten my live mix to around 8' or so.
@RichardT: thanks for the welcome. So is there really no place anymore where one could upload a song while using eg movie dialogue that isn't cleared?
I know of a Sound On Sound reader song that was put onto the mag cd somewhere in the 90s, where the producer used a few lines of dialogue from the movie "Evil Dead 2". And I'm 90% sure he didn't have them cleared. Good times, gone forever?
There may be material around that is ‘public domain’, and you can use that. For example the US Library of Congress has a lot of audio material available - all you have to do is give them credit if you use it. I’ve used some myself.
zenguitar wrote: ↑Mon Oct 18, 2021 12:44 am
It really isn't complicated at all. It only appears complicated once you start looking for ways to get around copyright.
I'm going to disagree with you slightly here Andy, but only in saying that it can be hard to establish who actually owns a copyright on piece of work - so trying to actually get a licence can be a very arduous task.
Building on Richard's comment, as well as stuff that's sufficiently old to be public domain (which will vary depending on content type and geographical region) there are also the Creative Commons licensing options: https://creativecommons.org/ which are worth investigating if this something you do regularly.
zenguitar wrote: ↑Mon Oct 18, 2021 12:44 am
It really isn't complicated at all. It only appears complicated once you start looking for ways to get around copyright.
I'm going to disagree with you slightly here Andy, but only in saying that it can be hard to establish who actually owns a copyright on piece of work - so trying to actually get a licence can be a very arduous task.
And getting them to reply to you, let alone give you a license, can be a nightmare in itself.
