Discussion:
What is the name of your state? Virginia
I'm thinking of starting a business that creates video slide show DVDs from my customer's personal photos. Music would be added to the slide show.
Is it legal to use music tracks on the DVD, legally purchased, on the customer's behalf (and for the customers personal use only), from a source like Dell Music Match or other legal download site? If so, what statute protects me?
Stipulations:
1. I would Not retain a copy of the track, digital or analog, in any way, shape, or form after the DVD has been produced.
2. I would pay for and re-download the track again each time a new customer requested the same track.
3. Only one copy of the DVD would be produced and for only one customer.
4. I would probably try to print a confirmation of the download purchase to prove that I paid for the music.
5. I would argue that my fee would be for the service of producing the DVD from their photos, Not for the music.
Answer:
Only the owner of the COPYright holder may give permission to make a COPY of the work unless what you're doing falls under Fair Use (google it). I don't believe what you're doing falls under Fair Use because the recording studios could make the argument that your slideshows would not sell as well if you did not include music as a part of it.
Answer:
Only the owner of the COPYright holder may give permission to make a COPY of the work unless what you're doing falls under Fair Use (google it). I don't believe what you're doing falls under Fair Use because the recording studios could make the argument that your slideshows would not sell as well if you did not include music as a part of it.
I posed the same question to another legal forum and was told that if I can show a receipt for my purchase I will have no copyright problem.
Fair Use applies when you are Not purchasing and not using for personal use, i.e. public presentations, eduacation presentations, reports, etc. This would be a legal purchase and the item purhased would be in the posession of the customer and for their personal use only. Thoughts?
Answer:
Fair Use applies when you're not purchasing? If you're not purchasing, then how are you paying for the tracks, exactly?
I also have to disagree with the second condition of that statement. Fair Use would be much easier to prove if it was indeed only for personal use.
Anywho: as long as you can prove that you are indeed paying for each track, including each multiple of the same song, and immediately deleting them after the transfer to the DVD, then you probably will avoid a lawsuit. But, please keep this in mind: if you are taken to court, and you do manage to win, that is still a lot of money you put into the trial that you will not get back, so if you're not willing to pump that much money into a trial, you may wish to rethink this business venture.
Answer:
It is my understanding that if a copyright owner sells his/her works (or even gives someone a free copy of said work), then the purchaser/owner of that copy has the right to resell or give away that one particular piece of work. This is based upon the first sale doctrine () which should cover both copyrighted music (provided it was legally purchased and deleted upon transfer to the slideshow customer) and copyrighted photos (such as professional wedding photos.)
Are there any copyright lawyers available that could clear that up for us?
Answer:
Here's another wrinkle...
Found this from:
"When copyrighted music is included in a production, be it a television program, motion picture, home video or interactive media, there are potentially two (2) separate copyrights involved that need to be licensed: (1) the musical composition, owned by the music publisher; and (2) the specific recording of that composition, owned by the artist's record company. Licensing of these two copyrights is generally called synchronization (sync) rights and master recording rights, respectively."
This makes me think that even if you purchase and download the music legally, add it to video, then delete the original download so that the purchased track exists only on the video, you still have to get permission from the copyright owner and/or pay royalty fees to add it to the video... even your own home movies.
OK, copyright lawyers, what say ye?
It's a no brainer, I think, to spend a few $$ to purchase some royalty free music. Even though it's expensive, I agree with The Occultist, it would be cheaper to buy royalty free music than to pay lawyer and court costs defending a law suit.
Answer:
Although I do not have the actual knowledge to back this, I do not believe that for your intended purpose that you would need to get those licenses. The reasons why you'd need those licenses for a movie is because SEVERAL copies of movies are made with a large potential of people that will view each copy, and thus be exposed to the copyrighted work.
Just as an FYI, I do not believe there are any actual copyright lawyers on this board. There are a couple, though, that do happen to know a lot in this area and may post something helpful. Do note, however, that copyright law is, at best, very fuzzy, and that's why if you can make it as a copyright lawyer you do tend to make a lot of money.
Answer:
Three issues here:
1. If you download from Dell or iTunes or whoever, there is a licensing agreement that you agree to abide by when you download, and none of the licenses I have seen allow for commercial use of the downloaded work.
2. With respect to first sale doctrine, the problem is you CANNOT move the downloaded song from one medium to another without making a copy of the work. It's not physically possible unless you take out the entire memory medium the song is stored on and hand it over. Even though making said copy is sometimes fair use and sometimes specifically allowed under copyright law, you may not then resell that copy -- that is outside the bounds of first sale. For example, it would not be legal to buy a CD, make a copy of the CD, and sell (or even give) the copy of the CD to another, even if you destroyed the original copy. You COULD give away or sell the copy IF you also included the original CD -- but unless the original CD accompanies the transfer in ownership, it's just an illegal reproduction, and not a valid exercise of first sale doctrine combined with a legal backup copy.
3. You are correct that there are two licenses for each recorded work -- one for the underlying "musical work," and one for the "sound recording." Both are required to legally make a copy of a recorded song (except in the limited cases of backup copies and format shifting for noncommercial use) in most cases. You obtain a musical work license from the Harry Fox Agency -- this license is compulsory (meaning they have to give you one if you ask), but they aren't free, although fees are set by statute. A sound recording license is NOT compulsory, you have to negotiate with the sound recording copyright owner (usually the record label) directly, and they do not have to give you a license, no matter how much you are willing to pay. And, chances are, your download agreement specifically notes that you are NOT being granted a license to further reproduction of the sound recording.
Answer:
Thanks Div. That clears up a lot.
Still, it would be a shame if the record labels went after people who were merely fascillitating the legal sale of their music, especially if we were not planning to directly profit from the music. (I'm in the same boat as the original poster, starting a slideshow biz.)
I think I'm going to go ahead and offer to download music for my customers. They will be paying for a legal download. iTunes (or whoever I download from) and the record company will still get their money. IMO, no one will have lost anything financially. In fact they will have made more than they would have without my participation, since the song likely would not have been purchased at all without my services.
I really feel like the whole copyright infringement thing has gotten out of hand. The record companies are just getting greedy IMO. It's one thing to fight against piracy and illegal distribution, but if they decide to go after people that trying to operate with honest intentions then there's really a problem.
Fortunately I've found some affordable royalty-free music and photos. I also have a musical contact that will compose and record royalty-free music for me (for a much smaller fee) if I need it.
Good luck in your venture photosnvideos.