Again, I will ask, do you own the copyright to those songs? Whether or not they were "released" is immaterial. The person who wrote the songs owns the copyright and has the exclusive right to license the use. If you own the copyright or a license, then you can use them. If you don't, then it's copyright infringement.
The way Epidemic works is you have unlimited access to post for monetary gain as long as you post the videos on Youtube during your subscription. Once your subscription expires they won't take away your rights to the videos you have posted, but anything you post after your subscription expires they reserve the right to monetize your video. Also if you do not have a subscription and you post a video using their tracks, they can monetize your video. All of this is in their terms and conditions.
We have had this argument in another post just in the last month but it is not always copyright infringement. The song writers/artist don't always own the copyright and most of the time they don't manage the copyright. The written words of a song are usually managed by a publishing house and the actual sound recordings are managed by record labels. The artist usually gives copyright management to these two entities and allows them to promote their use. Usually that promotion is in TV, Movies, video games, ringtones, sheet music, music books, etc... But some artists also give the right for the management company to promote their music by allowing it to be used in YouTube videos for monetization by the artist or management company. This benefits the artist in two ways, first they receive a royalty for the use of the music through the advertising monetization, second it gets their music out there for people to hear which can in turn increase their popularity and result in more sales whether it is through buying an album or increasing fan base which can result in increased concert ticket sales or promotional items. If you use one of these songs in your YouTube video, then if you go into your video manager and look at Copyright, you will see a notice from the management company that states the following; "The claimant is allowing their content to be used in your YouTube video. However, ads might appear on it." This statement gives you the right to legally use the work in your video. If you read the details in that authorization it also tells you clearly you can't personally monetize your video in any way or you are in violation of the use agreement. There is also a link in there where you can go and look up thousands of licensing policies for other artists and music houses that tell what their policy is.
when you buy music,their yours,your buying the right to play it whenever or however you want,copy infringement comes into play when you try to profit from that and i doubt putting a song on your movie clip of a waterfall infringes on that.
Actually that isn't quite true. When you buy music you are only buying the right to play it privately for yourself. If you play it in a public setting you are in infringement whether you are profiting from it or not. You can read the fine print of that in copyright law. If you put it on your video you can still be infringing on their rights if the copyright management agency or the artist does not give you the right to do that. That is why you should look at their copyright agreement before you post it. You can find that through YouTube.when you buy music,their yours,your buying the right to play it whenever or however you want,copy infringement comes into play when you try to profit from that and i doubt putting a song on your movie clip of a waterfall infringes on that.
Was about to post the same.
Yep I was trying to think of a good example and I completely forgot about DJ services. I was thinking about a restaurant or bar where they play music, but most people don't understand that one at all.
public?,what about playing music at home or in your car which can be heard by others?
Wouldn't matter whether I was getting paid or doing it free.
That's still classed as personal. Playing music for friends family etc is personal.
Actually, this is incorrect. "Trying to profit" isn't a requirement for it to be copyright infringement.when you buy music,their yours,your buying the right to play it whenever or however you want,copy infringement comes into play when you try to profit from that and i doubt putting a song on your movie clip of a waterfall infringes on that.
when you post it i agree your doing it for personal gain but to put it on a video at home is just another way to play music you own,like making a copy to play in your car.
If it is heard by others it doesn't matter in that case, your intent was to play them for yourself. If you went out though into a park and gathered a lot of people together to do say a dance off or whatever else, then technically it isn't for your own enjoyment anymore it is playing for the public and you would be in infringement. Here is an example though where you wouldn't be in infringement and could monetize though. Say you were making a video of someone in your house of them dancing. And in the background they had music playing, then you aren't in violation because the music was captured incidental to what your intent was. Same thing if you went to a public (free) concert and you were doing a video of your friends acting the fool and you captured the music in the background, it isn't an infringement. Music copyright law is really not cut and dry as you might think it is. I have learned about the nuances over many years of working with a non profit and doing video for them. I still don't know everything there is to know about it, but I do know more than the average person because I have been directly involved with some productions.
Yes you can edit whatever tracks you want into your home videos, it's for personal use.
Again, you aren't reading the license. You DO HAVE PERMISSION if the copyright management company or owner allows you to use them for your video and you don't monetize it. That clause in your licensing agreement that says "The claimant is allowing their content to be used in your YouTube video. However, ads might appear on it." is your permission/license to do so. We can argue this all day long. I have been through this many times in the past 10 years of working with music and copyrights for projects that I have done for Non Profits and we have had council with copyright lawyers who will back my claims here.
Again that only arises if the copyright manager/company/artist does not allow you to do it. If the do allow it, then you are perfectly legal.
Or for yourself for personal gain. I see that is where the grey area is in copyright law is personal gain whether it is monetization or some other form of gain.
