copyright for Music

[Lilian Laville]

Hi I have started to upload to SL popular songs for my private use, for which I have purchased the CD, converted to MP3 and then to SL format.

1) Is it legal to upload those songs converted to SL sound format, because I have bought them RL with the CD if I use them only for me?

2)  Is it legal to resell those SL sounds which I have created or is there any copyright procedure to be respected?

3) I have found on the Marketplace full perm sounds of songs which are under RL-copyright (eg songs from Rihanna, Madonna etc).

If I purchase those full perm songs do I have the right to resell them inside my creations or would it be considered as resell of stolen content if the Marketplace sellers do not pay copyright fees to the artists?

Thanks for your help

[George Orellana]

Short answer is no you may not sell any copyrighted music that you upload to SL. 

 

Long answer is no you may not sell any copyrighted music that you uploaded to SL.  

 

Btw, just curious why would you upload music files to SL? you can listen to your music on your computer why go through the trouble to upload them? 

[George Orellana]

Btw, just because others are breaking TOS doesn't mean it is allowed to do. A good rule of thumb is "If it's not your original content then it is probably not a good idea to sell it"

[Lilian Laville]

Well, I supposed that it was not legal to upload copyright protected music, I hoped to get an answer HOW to do it correctly. Of course I know that it is not a good idea to do like all those who do not mind, otherwise I would not have posted the question.

WHY to upload music to SL? Well what about sharing music with those on SL, who cannot hear what you have on your computer?
Perhaps there is another creator who already found out how to deal with the question without violation of Copyright? Perhaps to get registered somewhere?

[George Orellana]

If all you want to do is share with others the music you are listening to then the easiest way to do that is by renting a server stream and use a program such as SAM Broadcaster or WInamp to stream the music directly to SL. This is allowed and does not break any copyright infringement as long as you are not "selling" the music. Think of it as playing CDs on your radio at a party in your house.

[Missy Restless]

Yes, it is legal to convert the audio format of legally purchased copyrighted material and playback for your personal use. No, it is not legal to resell copyrighted material without a license to do so. That is, it is only legal to redistribute and resell copyrighted material if either you are the copyright holder or you have obtained a license from the copyright holder to do so. Many free licenses like the GNU Public License, Creative Commons Licenses, BSD license, and so on do expressly convey the right to redistribute and resell copyrighted material.

[George Orellana]

@Qwalyphi,

 

Actually you do not require any licensing to stream music in SL, according to a BMI representative to whom I personally asked this question speceifcaly about SL. BMI (Broadcast Music Inc,) as you know collects licensing fees on behalf of music performers. I have shared this email on these forums before but here it goes again.

 

 

Hi George,

 

In response to your inquiry below, the licensing obligation falls on the website from which music is made available. Therefore, if the music is appearing somewhere other than your own website, you are not responsible for securing a Public Performance license for that use.

 

Thanks,

 

 

Music that Works for You

 

Alaina XXXXX

Manager, New Media Business Development

New Media & Strategic Development

10 Music Square East

Nashville, TN 37203-4399

XXXXX@bmi.com

www.bmi.com/newmedia

 

________________________________________

Hello,

 

I would like to be a DJ in the virtual world Second Life, and would like to be able to broadcast music using a shoutcast server so other Second Life residents can listen to the music being played. I have been browsing the internet trying to figure out what kinds of licenses are needed to no avail. Your website does not provide an option for DJs. How can a DJ (a virtual DJ in this case) be able to comply with all licensing laws? Can you please tell me what licenses are needed and how to obtain them? Thank you in advance for your time.

 

George XXXXXX

 

[Pari Perenti]

haha, i knew this was going to be a big issue to resolve. well, i do know that in real life, venues, bars and restaurants have to get the required licensing and pay the royalties, which covers the singers/dj's they hire. On the internet, if you have a website you are required to get the required licensing and pay the royalties if you are going to stream the songs. Being that these viewers, which are not websites, but they are part of the internet, and are "Platforms" that LL provide, then to me, LL should get the licensing and pay the royalties like the rl bars and restaurants have to, but on the other hand, i can see that if the stream is coming from the singer/djs own connection, then perhaps they should also be the responsible ones, however LL says that the streams are not coming from SL, but they are going through SL. i think that this is a very touchy issue that someone is going to have to solve.

[Iasin Vandeverre]

@Pari

This is not a huge issue and believe it or not I see it come up often since I am an I.P. Arbitrator in the real world. The stream server owners (a/k/a Provider) are the responsible party for licensing. It make no sense to pay a multi-tiered fee on a product that is already paid the dues for the end user by the provider, this process is similar to double taxation. The process you are describing would require every person that listens to the stream they need to pay the license fees since it connects to their computer through various routing of URLs. I guess in the current economy every one wants to find a way to squeeze as much money out of people as possible, even if it is grossly malicious and in the end destroys the product enjoyability.

[TalonNite]

Ok folks few questions if im playing radio in sl or even music how the hell do they know if i havent purchased it??? how do they know im not playing from a radio station which isnt illegal also to play music isnt illegal to make money off it maybe but how can this be proven ??? tips tips are just that and defined as that tips not a service etc also then lets ll go after all that pull pictures from google??????????? until theres a court case stream away and tell whom evers posting this BS to get lost...................

[SonicJosephTheBatOc]

well no but all i know for a fact that the music is licensed once but it might be hard to remove it though. which the grand theft auto once had these music licensed digitally but now it's not there for some reason idk.