Is It legal.....?

[metal_head]

Is it legal to use soundtracks from other games or songs from music bands?

[bernie]

It is if you get the written consent of the copyright owner or if it is royalty free.

[paradoxnj]

To elaborate on what Bernie said...

In order to obtain the permission to use a soundtrack or any other copyrighted music, it is wise to obtain the services of a lawyer as you will have to sign a contract. Most of the time there will be a fee associated with this. Most companies do not send you an email saying "sure go ahead", they will charge you a substantial amount of money and sell you the rights to the music for use in one game. This is where the contract comes in.

You are better off getting yourself a musician that is looking for experience and asking him/her for help.

[Sph!nx]

To elaborate even more ...

There are several ways for you to get your music in your game.

As far as I know, and what has been widely used in the modding comunity around the world is that 'stolen' music snippets of a just a few seconds is no problem. Of course, this is does not mean a constant stream of music, unless you loop your snippet, but it is a great way to set some atmosphere in your game. Not sure about the legal aspects of this, but hey, everybody is publicly doing it and I never heard of anyone getting in trouble for that.

The other possibility is to google for royalty free download sites. I do know that MIDI files are quite easy to obtain but the quality is, as you prolly know, very lacking. There are also plenty of royalty free sound/music libraries you can buy at a retailer or through the net.

The option I have for this is to give a try at Music Maker, Fruityloops or other music making programs. I do know that you can distribute songs made by these kinds of software but you are not allowed to make profit from it. Not sure if you are restricted to release these songs 'as is' and not included to anyting.

But ofcourse, like paradoxnj suggested, you could try to get musician of sorts to aid you. Gives you more time to work on your game. ^^

[metal_head]

and if I edit the track will I have to ask for permision

[Sph!nx]

Well taking music or any other content for that matter is illigal. Even if you change it. Not truly sure about the snippet thing either, it's just widely used. 10-15 secs is hardly a song at all, but could set some atmosphere.

The best thing to do is to find some royalty free stuff or try to figure out the licensing of relative easy to use software.

[metal_head]

OK I'll make a search.and one more question so can I write to a game company if I want to put a soundtrack of their game into my game or that's not OK because this soundtrack is used in another game.

[Sph!nx]

Well, all content created by an artist automaticly falls under creative copyright. Companies always make it official by copyright laws. This counts for everything. Not just music from artists but for all content regarding any form of media or anything else for that matter.

Mailing the gaming company to ask for their music would be pointless I'm afraid. They would see it as a way of freely distributing their song. If they happen to use music you know that has been used elswhere, they have paid big bucks for the rights to use it!

[metal_head]

I think I forgot to mention that I'm not gonna sell my game.Probably I'll just give it to some friends or maybe upload it somewhere so I can give the download link to everybody who wants it

[Destron]

It's still copyright infringement if it's being used in a free/non-commercial game; you're offering what another company or artist offered outside the terms of the copyright.

[paradoxnj]

2 notes is still defined as a song. People copyright the entire song which makes using 10-15 seconds of it still wrong. The score is also copyrighted which means that recreating any portion of it is illegal too.

Vanilla Ice was sued for using the main bass riff of Queen's "Under Pressure" in his "Ice Ice Baby" song. It was a total of 3 seconds looping over and over and Queen won. The Beastie Boys were sued for using Led Zepplin tunes also.

If your game gets the slightest bit of exposure, they WILL come after you. I mean come on, the RIAA is arresting 10 year old kids for downloading music.

[Jay]

Nobody sued Howard Shore because he copied from Gustav Mahler. My sister told me that a part in the eight symphony is just like a part in the soundtrack for Lord of the Rings (she plays violin). Or do copyrights cease when a person is dead? Or do they cease after a specified time?

I personally think this is ridicoulous. EVERY great muscian has copied from other musicians in one way or another. Does the person who invented the cadence have a copyright on it? Who owns the cadence?

If you go this far, even the componists who wrote the music for the games don't even own it. Because they copied from other musicians, musicians that may even be dead by now.

So who can say he 'owns' a musical piece?

So let's say i invent a song that has 2 notes. C-G. Let's say i get a copyright on it. And then i sue everyone who uses C-G in their songs, because it is CLEARLY evident they are STEALING MY SONG! And then i write the next song. C-F#. Get a copyright on it. And THEN i sue every ambulance on the world because they were CLEARLY - STEALING - MY tritone that - I - invented.

I hope you see what i mean

Don't get me wrong, I agree that stealing music is a bad thing, but suing people because they used an existing song, took good parts of it and invented own thinghs of their 'own' to these parts, therefore enhanced the music, this is just annoying.

It's good that people want their rights on a thingh on a paper that they can show everyone (and with todays flow of information, this is surely adviseable, because otherwise somebody else does it) , but some thignhs are jsut annoying.

LOL, i got a bit carried away in this case. So, back to topic:

I am not encouraging anyone to use music form other games and use it in their own. It's called stealing, you know. Also, if they get you, you are in SO much trouble it is not worth it.

But i also think some thinghs fall under 'for personal use'. For example, it is agreed that you can make copies of your mp3 for your personal use, are allowed to burn thenm 10 times or so, as long as you downloaded the mp3 legally (paid for it to the music firms that is) and yourself. So if you paid the game, you may be able to use the soundtrack for personal use or not as i am not sure int this case.

[paradoxnj]

Jay...A 2 note song has been done already. Poison's Every Rose Has It's Thorn is mostly G-C. It's not only about the notes, it's about the rhythm also. If you play C-G and play it with a different rhythm than someone else, that is an entirely different song. Another example is Iron Maiden. All their songs are a 1-6-7 in E minor but yet they all sound different. Papa Roach's Forever is the same progression over and over again (D-F-C-Bb). It just goes to show that notes AND rhythm are the key to a copyright. Again, most radio musicians copyright the recording but not the score. Composers will copyright their scores.

Copyright duration is the author's life plus 70 years past death if the work was created on or after January 1, 1978.

Here's an article explaining how musical copyrights work. According to the article, copyright is automatically implied when the work is recorded.

Under the present copyright law, which became effective January 1, 1978, a work is automatically protected by copyright when it is created. A work is created when it is “fixed” in a copy or phonorecord for the first time. Neither registration in the Copyright Office nor publication is required for copyright protection under the present law.

There is a difference between being influenced and outright copying. I'm sure my music probably sounds close to other stuff because that is my influences (shameless plug).

How they define that stuff is a bit ridiculous but it's to protect someone's creativity. If everyone was allowed to copy everyone else exactly, all music would sound the same and there wouldn't be any musicial professions and guys like me would be out of work. If you watch South Park, we'd be like the Marklars.

[Jay]

I wasn't taking it really serious (well at first time yes, but when i looked at my post a second time, i laughed at my seriousness and added those smilies), but nice you brought up that piece of copyright law. I wasn't so well informed. Thanks.

I write a bit of music myself and therefore got a bit carried away when i read the sueing stuff. Also i misinterpreted it a bit. I fully agree with protecting creativity, of course.

[paradoxnj]

Heh...sorry...I get really serious about my work.