You aware of a California court ruling against Sirius XM radio and for the musicians The Turtles?

[chesterburnett]

This ruling is for non-payment of royalties. Will this affect LindenLabs

or the hundreds of live artists,disc jockeys,and music clubs in SL?

We are talking virtually all of the music now playing or used on SL.

[Freya Mokusei]

You're talking to volunteers - users of Second Life who don't have any authority or representation within LL or California. Definitely not lawyers, so cannot answer your question.

If there's something the userbase should be aware of, you're welcome to post it in the Forums.

If you need legal advice, you should consult a professional.

LL have their own legal team and probably don't need tapping on the shoulder by rando's.

[Theresa Tennyson]

---

chesterburnett wrote:

This ruling is for non-payment of royalties. Will this affect LindenLabs

or the hundreds of live artists,disc jockeys,and music clubs in SL?

We are talking virtually all of the music now playing or used on SL.

---

Actually the ruling only deals with music from before 1972, not "virtually all the music now playing or used on SL."

DJ's and live artists were always responsible for getting rights for what they play; this doesn't change that.

Shouldn't affect Linden Lab because all music in SL is handled by streams provided by others and the servers are only a conduit.

 

[KarenMichelle Lane]

Theresa is spot on regarding this ruling in California.

Further, Linden Research, Inc. provides no music streaming services what so ever. What they do provide is akin to purchasing an Internet radio. You the consumer can tune in any station by walking into a Business or Venue where that "station" is broadcasting. When you do this, all the SL Viewer does is passes the Station ID to your PC so that the FMOD Player included with your viewer can play the associated stream.

It is up to the person that is "Broadcasting" the stream to make sure that they are in compliance with current copyright regulations.

Just as a radio manufacturer is not liable for creating a device that can receive broadcasts, Linden Research is also not liable for including the ability to hear Internet Broadcasts in their software. Further, neither is responsible for collecting royalty payments to artists.

Now in the case of Sirius XM Radio, they are both a radio manufacturer / stream enabler AND a Broadcaster. The broadcasting side of the business must have their ASCAP / BMI / Royalty Compliance licensing in place to broadcast copyrighted content.

So, when you as an Avatar Account use an Internet Radio DNAS URL to listen to music via the SL Viewer, you are a content consumer nothing else. Venues in SL currently also fall into this class as well. More on this later.

The Company and DJ that brings that DNAS URL to you is the point of the the above mentioned lawsuit and must have their licensing in place. I as a Internet Radio Station provider have a ASCAP / EMI / BMI blanket royality license under my legal name. This is because I also broadcast music on my own Internet Radio Station.

Technically, Broadcasters & DJs in SL need to

1) Own a legally purchased copy of the media they are streaming;

2) Self subscribe to a recognized royalty license agreement authority.

I use a Blanket Royalty License Agreement so i don't have to submit a annual or quarterly play list report.

 

Now, a grey area exists in regards to in-world venues that has not been specifically tested legally or have any case law on file at this time.

In the Real World, a store or a dance club can play content from the radio station or a record player or a PC or an Internet Radio Station.  However there is licensing required when you do this. A legal representative/agent of ASCAP / EMI / BMI would have to wander into your place of business and log the music they hear to see if any of the songs are content that thier particular agency governs the royalty's of. Only then can they bring a suit against you for non-payment of royalty's. I've a friend who is a wedding DJ in Los Angeles that got nailed this way because one of those damn agents was on the guest list. The resolution for this for brick & mortar businesses and elevators is to use a service such as Muzak. That service covers your royalty payment rebroadcast requirements.

In the Virtual World, the case law on this is very very thin. At this time there is not any "settled" case law regarding the use of music in Virtual World Venues although I expect some soon in regards to how Pandora and IHeartRadio contracts are tested out in court. There is case law in place regarding using music on a website and in a game such as the Sims. That said, there would need to be a test case where a judge would have to specifically rule that jurisdictional music / performance copyright laws cover music streaming into virtual world venues in the same way as music streaming into a real life brick & mortar business is covered.

MORE TO COME.

As a hobby I keep very close track of this legal area.