Discussion:
What is the name of your state? Illinois
Here is my question. We have a juke box at our family tavern. We pay the yearly royalty fee on it, plus all state and local licensing fees. Is it legal to make a compulation CD from legally purchased CDs for this juke box. I am not talking about mass production for a group of juke boxes, just the one in my establishment? On the same note, I was always told you could make one copy of each piece of media as a backup. Can you use the backup CD in the juke box and keep the original for safe keeping. Once again just one copy for the one juke box.
Thanks in advance for any help you can offer!
Answer:
What is the name of your state? Illinois
Here is my question. We have a juke box at our family tavern. We pay the yearly royalty fee on it, plus all state and local licensing fees. Is it legal to make a compulation CD from legally purchased CDs for this juke box. I am not talking about mass production for a group of juke boxes, just the one in my establishment? On the same note, I was always told you could make one copy of each piece of media as a backup. Can you use the backup CD in the juke box and keep the original for safe keeping. Once again just one copy for the one juke box.
Thanks in advance for any help you can offer! What you were told is for personal use. You may not, under most circumstances, make copies for commercial use. However, DIV will be along soon and he may shed more light on this.
Answer:
Is it legal to make a compulation CD from legally purchased CDs for this juke box. Generally, yes. See 17 USC 112, at . It's basically legal, so long as you follow these three rules:
(A) the copy or phonorecord is retained and used solely by the transmitting organization that made it, and no further copies or phonorecords are reproduced from it; and
(B) the copy or phonorecord is used solely for the transmitting organization's own transmissions within its local service area, or for purposes of archival preservation or security; and
(C) unless preserved exclusively for archival purposes, the copy or phonorecord is destroyed within six months from the date the transmission program was first transmitted to the public.
On the same note, I was always told you could make one copy of each piece of media as a backup. Can you use the backup CD in the juke box and keep the original for safe keeping. Once again just one copy for the one juke box. Again, generally that is true: see above.
The royalties you pay are for the public performance of the underlying musical works (the songs themselves). By making copies, you are actually worried about the reproduction right of sound recordings -- but in this case, you don't need a separate license (paying royalties), because this is explicitly allowed under 17 USC 112.