Beware of the Music you use on your site you just may be breaking the law and copyright infringements. There are laws that you need to learn about if you are posting music on your website, an on-line slideshow, or even YouTube video. These laws protect the rights of music artists ,their work, and how the consumer uses or shares their product.
A question arose from one of our clients trying to find music that was protected under creative commons. A slideshow of one of their events made by a third party contained music that was violating copyright laws.
How could we help the client understand that the music they are using is violating a law and still help them create a slideshow for the website?
I asked for help from Jose “Pepe” Pesante (@joeprog) radio host of http://frecuenciasalternas.com and editor-in-chief of http://vorticeonline.com for assistance with finding a site under creative commons related to the music industry. Thanks to his expertise, he was able to provided me two sites; one called SoundCloud and the other Bandcamp. Both offer CC licensing and options for purchase, free download or streaming only.
I would recommend SoundCloud over Bandcamp because it is very obvious that it is for sharing. SoundCloud 101 is a simple guide that has a section for music artists and those looking for music, regarding the terms of their site. It also provides details of how one shares music under the creative commons license. There are samples you can listen to on the main page.
You can sign up for both sites as an artist or group promoting your music as long as you are complying with U.S. copyright laws and the websites’ Terms of Use.
Here are the links to some of the sites that I found useful that talk about copyright law for music along with links to SoundCloud and BandCamp.
http://mpa.org/copyright_resource_center/copying
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_copyright_law
photo credit by bwhistler
Very interesting article Raul. I think this is something most of the people forget when using music or other resources suchas images, photos, etc. Thanks for sharing.
Very interesting article Raul. I think this is something most of the people forget when using music or other resources suchas images, photos, etc. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks for bringing this to light. It is extremely important to ensure that the music you place on your site is licensed appropriately. More information regarding the licensing of music on websites can be found on the ASCAP website (http://www.ascap.com/weblicense/) and BMI website (http://www.bmi.com/licensing/entry/533000?q=Web+Site).
Arsernio,
Lucy did a great job. I have touched the issue on my personal blog on images etc.
I think the biggest problem is when people upload videos with music in the background.
Gloria,
I appreciate you stopped by. It is great when you have a High School friend drop by. It would be interesting if you could great a guest post on the subject from your stand point since this is an area you know a lot more about than I do.
Let me know if you would like to create a guest post!
Sorry Lucy! I should pay more attention to the author section. Credits to her then.
Thank you Gloria and Arsenio for commenting on the post. I think clients forget about Napster and all of the other people who have gone to jail for sharing music and not thinking they were breaking the law.