Copyright Law Blog

The Expansion of Music Online

July 31st, 2009 at 06:43am Under music copyright

Mp3 download process started long back in this fast riding tech age. The procedure stopped for a certain time when Napster was sued and had to pay a lot of money. Since then people got afraid for this event. Imprisonment seemed the obvious result of any mp3 download at that time. Downloading songs from any site without proper copyright was a crime.

The free music downloading process sprung up again with the development of technology through websites that allow free music downloads. The fear that was cropped inside the people?s mind after the Napster event started to subside. The revolution of technology adjusted with the changing time.

Just few years? back the whole process was quite complicated. It is said that music download can be considered as ?a gift from the gods? or even ?a cash cow?. Actually the producers of the music companies and the artists are called the cash cow.

Depending on who you ask, mp3s online can range from ?a gift from the gods? to ?a cash cow.? You might be able to guess who says cash cow ? the music producers and artists. Before, in the stone ages of the 80s and 90s, they had to sell a whole CD worth of music to a person, usually at the cost of $14 dollars on up. It took a lot of time for the allowance money to add up, making some CD sales slow or slower than expected.

Because of the increasing demand of song, therefore many song companies have decided to work with other Internet companies, which offer song downloads to get their songs distributed. Who needs a CD when you can get your song downloaded straight to your iPod, cell phone or computers through the Internet? Due to this reason free song downloads appeared again and was made legal. But the downloading website must be a certified website to offer free song downloads.

The songs companies also studied the pulse of this new audience. After this, they came to a conclusion that this generation is not that much interested in buying C.Ds. Their demand is something else. To cope up with this new, emerging demand, they started giving them the option of downloading songs from Internet and that too without charging any price.

The sites that offer free music downloads generate revenue from advertisements, music producers and agencies to cover the copyright fees associated with the featured songs. Now getting free music download is not such a difficult task anymore.

All you have to do is to find a music site that offers free music and download exactly what you want. Keep in mind some sites are free while others have a fee. And make sure the site you go to is legal. Do not copy restricted songs that are not properly paid for.

Once you find a site, you will need to register. Once you are registered, all you have to do is find the songs you are looking for, click away, and presto! They will be downloaded in the format of your choosing. They can be for your iPod, cell phone, MP3 player or whatever device you possess that can play free mp3s online.

Do not Break the Regulation by Way of Free CD Music Download

July 30th, 2009 at 06:41pm Under music copyright

Getting free cd music download was never so easy. All you need to do is use your mouse to click away a few times and lo behold! You are on your way!

Nowadays it is possible to download entire CD collections from the Internet. Even people with no technical skills can download music. You need an Internet connection and some knowledge how to browse. You can download any genre you like ? rock, hip hop, heavy metal, jazz, sufi, etc.

Most of these free CD music downloads are in MP3 format. The MP3 format has caused a splash and has changed the world forever. I must admit that there is a discussion between purists, lawyers and the supporters of free music but this does not change the fact that the world is not the same. There is a considerable demand of MP3 music downloads, especially during the holidays.

Searching on the internet for a song of your choice is also very easy. All you need to do to begin is type the name of the song in any popular search engine. From there you can get the links to the download.

Once you have identified the ?Download? button, simply click on it to start the download process. The files you download would usually be in the mp3 or rar format. Mp3 formats are the more popular of the two and are widely used. Mp3 allows users to compress the music files without greatly affecting the quality of music. But there are illegal links also. Be sure of not downloading from such links as they could land you in trouble. Download only legal collections.

Most of the sites, which provide free CD music downloads are fine but there are site with fake links or sites, that hijack you to another site. These two cheap tricks are among the most unpleasant things you can experience when downloading free CD music.

Other sites may charge a small fee for downloading. We can listen online as well as download the songs, though the former will be possible only in case you have a high speed broadband connection. We can listen to those downloaded songs on our computers and iPods. We can also copy the downloaded songs to a cd or DVDs as required.

We can also share the download with our friends, colleagues etc, though you need to avoid any chance of copyright infringement. Any public display or use for commercial gain generally qualifies for a copyright infringement.

There is no embargo, however, on keeping collections of our favorite songs, and sharing that with your friends. In some websites you will be asked to register and create an account to access the free cd music download offered by the site an incentive.

Recongize Extra About Downloading Your Favorite Music

July 27th, 2009 at 06:41pm Under music copyright

Nowadays downloading music online is not a Herculean task because you can easily find many websites offering music completely free of cost. Moreover, there are also quite a few networks that even provide you with suitable software required for downloading. These websites are able to grab attention of most music lovers who are constantly on the lookout to enjoy their favourite music without having to pay anything extra for it.

Some websites charges a fee for downloading while others are completely free. It is a general fact that everybody gets attracted to the free service. The chances of getting infected by computer spyware and worms are more in these sites.

While downloading music online it is important to keep certain things in mind. By following these tips downloading music becomes easier and saves your computer from being affected by virus.

The first tip that you should follow while downloading music is to search for some good music websites with the help of some popular search engine. From the list you can sort out those sites from where you can download your preferred music.

Whenever you come across a website offering completely free music downloading, the quality of downloading suffers. Hence, it is better to select a site that makes you pay some amount for downloads. There are times when adware gets attached to your shared files of your computer system unintentionally. This in turn hampers the speed of your computer.

Online music has different file formats like wma, wav, mp3 etc. Before downloading music it is important to find out the required type of file format that you need and added to this ensure that the computer supports that file formats. In this connection we can say that formats are developed so that the quality of the songs can also be improved.

Thus, there are many drawbacks of depending on illegal and free websites for downloading music online. In cases of downloads on payment, it is a better option to go for membership than pay for every music that you download.

One should read the terms and conditions of the website before downloading. Music which can be accessed with the help of windows media player is legal ones which have got the copyright from the concerned artists to download their songs. Thus it is always good to depend on commercial music service rather than file sharing networks there by helping the artists to get compensation for their works in the form of purchase price.

Keeping this point in mind it is better to go for those sites that charge you for downloading music. This will keep on safer side because paid music sites are legal and have cleared all the copyright issues. To a certain extent it can be compared to buying pirated music from illegal stores.

How Do I Take Copyright Protection Of Songs Off Bearshare?

July 18th, 2009 at 10:25pm Under copyright protection

i want to put them to itunes to put them on my ipod and it won’t bring them over. they r in wma format

Lawful on the House Free Music Downloads on the Web

July 18th, 2009 at 06:42pm Under music copyright

Music downloads through internet is a very common thing these days. Due to free downloads available music lovers have a nice time downloading their favorite music and enjoy listening to them. Many websites offering music downloads are available. But you should take care while making music downloads from these sites. These web sites use several methods to avail free music. They provide a wide range of options like rap, classic, jazz, country etc for downloads. In fact many of these sites do not have legal authority to offer free downloads. The works of good and professional singers and musicians are protected under the copyright laws.

The works which have a copyright should not be sold or copied without the consent of the person or authorized company. It is a reasonable act to protect the rights of artists. One should know that these professional and talented artists have worked hard, to bring delightful and marvelous tones and music into light.

They should be rewarded for their work which is generally done in the form of copyright or loyalty fee. Even some web sites offer these downloads, only if we pay the required amount. In case of free download sites though they offer music free, they get payments from some advertisements of commercial interest and from affiliate programs. But in this case the artists who have created the work are the losers. They are not paid for what they have done.

It is also affecting the recording companies, who promote the works of these artists. This is why the artists and recording companies take the aid of law to curb piracy. The websites are forced to pay a fee for offering free downloads. They generate money from ads and other affiliate links and programs. Almost all websites have the same features with regard to offering free downloads. It is better you go through them once to check the one which you really need.

Most of the free music downloading programs have similar features; the best way to decide which suits your requirement best is to take some time to explore their websites.

Piracies also badly affect recording companies that pay huge sums of money to the artists for getting copyright. With internet becoming so vast and difficult to monitor many companies have suffered huge losses due to online piracy. There are many peer to peer sites that allow members to freely copy and distribute music. Authorities are increasingly finding means to curb illegal activity through them. Sites offering free music download also pay royalties. They make use of alternate revenues to make these payments, usually by selling advertising space on their webpage. Some sites that sell free music are also funded by music enthusiasts.

Some websites which provides free downloads will take advantage of the users. Along with the downloaded music they will send spyware and adware. Spyware are dangerous programs which has the ability to find out the personal details of the users through the computer system. Reports regarding the interests of the users and the browsing habits of the users are sent by these applications to the marketing companies. Thus while choosing a website for free music downloads one should select one which offers legal free music downloads.

Hi,does Anybody Know How To Cancel Itunes Copyright Protection On Songs?

July 18th, 2009 at 04:25am Under copyright protection

I downloaded few songs from itunes and I want to transfer them to my sony mp3 device but I can’t because they are protected or something. Is there any program to cancel that protection? Can anybody help please? Thank you!!!

How Do You Know What Songs U Can Use In Videos Without Violating A Copyright Law?

July 17th, 2009 at 10:26am Under copyright law

I want to make a video of a Linkin Park song and put it on myspace and youtube. I made a video of clint eastwood byt he gorrilaz and that got taken off because it violated copyright, The song is high voltage and its an underground linkin park song thats not on an album, will i be able to post it? i dont want to violate it again because they might delete my myspace account.

Music Online Glossary – When Music, Music Careers and Pcs Collide

July 13th, 2009 at 12:42pm Under music copyright

The Internet has proven to be where music can be discovered, reviewed, discussed, shared, and purchased. Musicians know this and get online to upload their music and become a part of the world wide music machine process. They come on the Web at every age, at every experience level – musically and computer savvy. From youngsters starting out to seasoned musicians just learning where the computer on switch is, the workings of being on a computer can be overwhelming with everything else they have going on in their lives.

The Web also allows musicians access to music knowledge. Artists will come across difficult terminology and phrases that they do not understand. Compiled in the following mini glossary are music business, digital, organizations, record biz lingo, computer terms and basic need-to-know info. Hopefully, something listed here will help you navigate music online a bit easier, and so you know, this glossary is an excerpt of an extensive list found on Artistopia. A&R – Artist and Repertoire, aka talent scouts: a record company liaison whose duties may include to find, select and develop the music artist, band and/or songwriter.Affiliate Program – a way to earn income by linking your Web site to another site, depending on the action taken by the visitor. ASCAP – American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers which licenses and distributes royalties to it’s members’ copyrighted works. Bandwidth – has nothing to do with the size of a band but is a measure of the amount of information (data) that can be sent over a network connection in a given period of time. Bandwidth is usually measured in bits per second. Bitrate – The number of kilobits per second of data in your audio file. The bitrate you choose when creating an MP3 file determines the size and quality of the resulting MP3. The highest commonly available bitrate is 320 kbps and the higher the bitrate, the closer the encoding is to the original source of music. Blanket License – allows the user to perform any or all, in part or all, of the songs in the ASCAP repertory. What a warm and cozy license. Business Manager – an artist or band manager that specializes in the financial matters, including planning, investing, income, taxes, decisions and contracts. Buzz – to get people talking about a new artist, band, song or album, creating intense excitement and/or rumors. Clause – a chubby fellow in a red suit is Claus: in a record contract, there might be certain limitations, specifications, or modifications that stipulate the final outcome of that contract. Concert Promoter – with duties including ticketing, PR, marketing, and booking, this agency or agent responsibilities are for concert event promotion. Content – to make the Search Engines happy and have pages rank well in a search result, a good quantity of well written text aligning with the site’s keywords and theme updated regularly is a Webmaster’s steak and potatoes. Cookie – no, not chocolate chip, but a piece of software that records info about your visit to a Web site, then holds the info until the server requests it. Copyright – a set of exclusive rights regulating the use of a particular expression of an idea or information, in our case artistic properties, the songs and sound recordings. Derivative Work – a new work based on or resulting from one or more preceding works. Digital Licensing – the use of copyrighted music compositions including downloads, on demand streaming, limited use downloads and CD burning. Distributor – the agency or agent that handles the sales and shipment of the music (records, CDs) to the marketplace or basically, gets the product to the consumers. Domain Name – a sign post on the Internet, it is a unique name that identifies an Internet site. DRM – Digital Rights Management is a technology that protects a piece of intellectual digital property such as a music, video, or text file. Encoding – the process of converting audio to or from a compressed format like MP3 or WMA. Exclusive Rights – under copyright law, the privileges that only a copyright owner has with respect to the copyrighted work. Free Lossless Audio Codec (FLAC) – a file format for audio data compression that does not remove information from the audio stream, as MP3, AAC, and Vorbis do. Grammy Awards – an award ceremony for all genres presented by the Recording Academy for outstanding achievements in the recording industry: a gold megaphone for your mantel. Groupie – what’s the point of being an act without groupies? Overly enthusiastic fans with much love to offer. HTML – HyperText Markup Language, programming language for the world wide web. A web browser interprets the code written and displays it for a web page and web sites. Some very basic knowledge of HTML may help on some sites. Hook – a pirate: a music phrase, a passage, an idea – something (catchy and/or repetitive) that makes the song stand out and be more appealing and remembered. Hype – sensational and extreme promotion of a person, idea or product. Indie – an independent artist or band that desires to do-it-all-themselves and/or not affiliated with a larger record label. Intern – usually a college student job at a record label in a no or low paying position, more of an apprenticeship learning the ropes and gaining business experience. Internet Service Provider (ISP) – how and who connects your computer or network to the Internet, whether dialup, DSL, Cable, T1 or T3. Master Recording License – pertains to the recording of a performance itself, which are usually controlled by the record label. Mastering – the final stage and preparation in a recording before weapons of mass duplication, includes the consistency of audio levels and quality perfecting. Mechanical License – the use of copyrighted musical compositions for use on CDs, cassettes, record albums. Music Contracts – all the various bits of paperwork used in the music business, always read the “fine print” to the many contracts – recording, management, finders fee, general release contracts. When the contracts come in – time to get an Entertainment Attorney. Music Industry – all things pertaining and related to the business of music, dominated by the Big Four major labels: Sony BMG, Warner, Universal and EMI. Music Publisher – provides services such as marketing, pitching and promoting works written by songwriters. Deals with the commercial exploitation of music catalogs and songs. Press Kit – aka media kit, a prepackaged set of promotional materials for a music artist or band for distribution including song samples, bio, historical info, photos and contact information. Producer – duties include: controlling the recording session, guidance of the artist(s), coaching, organizing, scheduling of production resources and budgets, as well as supervising the process of recording, mixing and mastering. Publishing Royalties – income paid to the writer of a song. RIAA – Recording Industry Association of America, the organization that represents the interests of record labels and producers in the USA. Ripping – means to take an audio CD and record it to a computer in an uncompressed file format (wav). Digital audio extraction from one media form to a hard disk. Roadie – the road crew that travels with a band on tour. These hard working individuals do everything but the performance, are technicians, do the set up and take down, security, bodyguards, pyrotechnics, and lighting. Sampling Rate – the number of samples taken per second when digitizing sound. The higher the number, the better the quality of the digital reproduction. SoundExchange – an independent, nonprofit performance rights organization that collects and distributes digital performance royalties for recording artists and record labels when their sound recordings are performed on digital cable, satellite TV music, internet and satellite radio. Sound Recording – the copyright of the recording itself (what you hear, the entire production) as distinguished from the copyright of the song (words and music owned by the songwriter or publisher). Synchronization License – aka “synch” license, allows the user to reproduce a musical composition “in connection with” or “in timed relation with” a visual image, motion picture, video, advertising commercial – from the copyright owner of the music. Talent Agent – or booking agent, the representative of the music artist(s) that sets up the live performances. Vanity Label – a celebrity recording artist is given a label within a label and runs under the umbrella of the parent label.

Would It Be A Copyright Law Violation To Use Already Produced Songs In A Community Theatre Show?

July 12th, 2009 at 04:24am Under copyright law

A friend of mine wrote a show that uses already produced songs for dance numbers. Would it violate copyright laws to put this on at a community youth theatre?

How Do I Get Music Copyright Permission In Canada For American Jazz Songs?

July 9th, 2009 at 04:26am Under music copyright

I live in Canada. I want to record a cd with music jazz standards like Fever, Misty, Skylark, etc, how do I pay for the permission of copyrighted songs. Why is it so difficult to figure this out?