bilboinsa

Our band is wanting to cut a demo CD, also maybe post a few "listen to" clips on a website. None of it is for sale--only freebies for marketing.

Do we need to worry about copyright/royalties issues?

Thanks.

swissdude

yes you do. If you post clips online you will have to pay royalties on the actual time recorded.
It does not matter what kind of recording you do. If the music is protected you got to get permission.

MrWho3421

Are you sure JC? I kinda think if you aren't selling anything there are no royalties to pay. Maybe I'll dig out my copy of the US copyright law. It's around here somewhere in a box.

BergeronWannabe

I don't think so. The key word here is 'selling', but if you give away CDs free it's no big deal. My college big band recorded a CD and we were going to sell it for a fundraiser until the director was told about copyrights and royalties. We gave them away and no problem.
-Andrew

johnmarkpainter

Technically, even posting clips is a no no....but if you did it on your own website you wouldn't get into trouble. MySpace would pull the content eventually.

As far as giving them away, that doesn't clear you from copyright infringement. But you would have to give a way A LOT of them to cause any problems.

jmp

rowuk

The issue is that you have commercial advantage from a demo - even if you give it away - it is like an ad. That is why it is not "free". Copyright is exactly that: the right to copy.

johnmarkpainter

Yes, but at the same time, there is no system in place to license Demo recordings.

Once a song has been 'released', it can be recorded by anyone. There are "Sync" licenses for syncing to Picture and there are Mechanical compulsory licenses for album sales.

I managed to stay awake through most of copyright law :)

There are some uses that companies basically just don't worry about unless they are infringing on the copyright owner.
Like if you did your own recording a song, pressed a million copies of them and gave it away on the street. It diminishes the value of the song.

rdt1959

I see questions like this repeatedly (on TM and other forums too). Without fail, the original poster gets conflicting answers.

Now, I am not trying to start trouble here (this actually IS a serious question)...but....

If a band or performer is to the point where they need to ask this question (or similar questions) about copy right issues, would it not be prudent to spend 30 minutes with a copy right lawyer?

I recently asked this same question of a web site administrator. His response was something like "Hey, it's my site. What do you think? DUH!" (Thanks for the help pal! )

That is when I decided that when the time comes for me to do a demo CD, and web spots, I will spend that 30 minutes with a lawyer just to make sure.

It is not my intent to diminish the value of anybody's response. But copy right issues seem to be incredibly complex, even without the web spots like youtude or myspace.

Just my opinions. I am going back to something simple now, like designing a bridge!

swissdude

demo or not you are recording a protected material. Talking with a lawyer is the best thing you can do. It is difficult because people use demos for marketing purposes. Marketing means revenue in the long term so you are basically using your demo for profit. There is probably more flexibility for college tape demos.
The website is definitely a no go if you don't get permission because license people have access to the worldwide web and only need to type the name of the composer to have it pop up on their computer.
At the end people can do what they want but just be ready to prove you are right if they come after you.
I personnally would go the safe way. Money spent but might save me big bucks in the long run

JunkyT

Swissdude is right...better safe than sorry.

And really, licensing a couple songs is no big deal. Go to www.harryfox.com. They are the licensing agency for almost every song you'll want to record. It costs something like 8 cents per song per CD (and something similar for digital downloads). I recently licensed two songs through HFA for my new CD and for both CD and digital download rights it cost me around $160.

Do your homework and respect the people who own the rights to these songs and you'll be much happier in the long run.