Shoutbox

If I make a vacation video is it illegal to use copyrighted music in the video? It's not used for anything commercial. Just a re-edited version of a home-video.

Also will I be abled to distribute this video with this music in it on the internet?
Like Google-video, bittorrent or even my own website?

The video is for personal use only, but I thought it might also be shared with the rest of the world

TIA

im not sure as long as your not making anyone pay to watch it.. i think its perfectly legal...though dont take my word for it...

I'm not making anyone pay for it, just so I can safely make it and distribute it on my website

i might be way off, but if you just use the music and not the words then its ok
im not sure about that so correct me if im wrong

I know you need licenses and everything if you make anyone pay for it, but it's for non-commercial use...

* Ezra hopes Cookie reads this

You might want to try writing to the musicians company. Or something like that.

usually says on the inside of the CD leaflet etc

check there....?

I think as long as you give the artist credit and you dont profit from it then it should be legal. If you want to make sure, contact the artist whose music your using and ask them.

The law is different in many countries. In Australia, I tried to get a song licensed for a short film. I had to go through the red tape bull shit.

I had to tell them all this stuff like, how long I wanted the song to be played for, where it was going to be shown, was I asking for money to see my short film etc etc.

For example:

Work:        I'm So Tired (Eskimo Joe)
> Copyright:    100% MMP
> Project:        Short Film
> Media:        Non-theatrical Film Festivals
> Territory:    Australia only
> Term:        In perpetuity
> Duration:    Whole track
> Publishing Fee:    AUD$300 + GST

Since I was showing mine at a film festival, I had to get permission from the record company. Even though I wasn't going to be getting any money from it.

So, if you make something and just share it around with family etc, it shouldn't be too bad. If you were going to publicily release it on the Internet, and they found out about it you could get into a lot of trouble (they threatened to sue me because I said I changed my mind about the song. I hadn't even signed any of the papers yet so it wasn't mine).

Then again.. the net is a big place

As much as I've heard about copyright issue:

I hope I'm not lying...

Even when not for profit - as soon as there are more than 1 or 2 copies for personal use (or backup) you are in violation of the copyright (for example, including music (or other files) in webpages or making them available to others (per FTP or downloading) constitutes (re-)publishing/broadcasting of this music to the public).

You can use most clips (short part of the original) without license cost or royalties by displaying a proper notice where the clip was taken from.

So if you are going to publish the video to more than 1 or 2 people, it's illegal to use copyrighted music in it.

PS. Besides clips, there are some works you can use without needing a license:

• the term of copyright for the work has expired;
  
• the author failed to satisfy formalities to perfect the copyright;
  
• the work is a work of the U.S. Government;
  
• copyright licensed MIDI music files