Hi there, I'm looking for some basic legal advice here concerning the streaming of music videos. 1.OK so if i setup my own website, am I allowed to stream commercial music videos i.e that you might find on the TV or YouTube? 2.What are the consequences of this, and is it realistically likely to cause me a problem? 3.Lastly if I need permission who would I contact, the music artist or video producer? 4.Or could I apply for some sort of license, or have some sort of text displayed in small print that clears me of any potential problems? These music videos will be uploaded to my Youtube account, and then embedded onto mysite, so they are not downloadable just streaming. Many thanks to anybody who can provide me with any help.
You need permission from the content owners before you do any of this. Without permission you risk a getting sued for copyright infringement. Getting permission from the owners will likely cost you a royalty fee to stream them.
OK, well I am talking strictly music videos here, and they will be embedded from youtube although the videos will be uploaded to my youtube account. Who do I need to ask for permission, the video producers or the artist themselves? Is it likley to cause me a problem, or do these cases rarley get followed up, after all I am only promoting there music, and they usually have to pay to advertise there videos say on T.V so I am doing them a favour if anything. Should I be worried, there's plenty of other sites doing what i'm talking about. Also say I proceed without permission would I get a warning letter first allowing me to take the videos down or could they sue me straight away.. Lastly is there any licenses or small print I could display on my site. What is the DMCA I see a lot of my copy cat sites displaying in there footer?
You need permission from whoever owns the license to the music, likely a record company and not the individual artist. It doesn't matter if you think it helps them, they own the content so they get to decide what to do with it. Generally if you do this the content owners will either get youtube to remove the video, or make a copyright claim on the video so that it shows advertisements and they make $. Generally they will send a DMCA notice to you first and leave it at that, but there is nothing stopping them from suing you as well. No amount of disclaimer text will protect you here. It is true that many sites still operate this kind of service, again that doesn't make it legal.
OK thanks for the reply again it's appreciated, The genre of music is generally pretty small so I believe I can approach most of the record labels and recieve a response on the issue and hopefully gain the ability to get some exclusives, but i'm also running the risk of being declined or them wanting some $$. We'll see how it goes, i'll approach them without telling them exactly where i'm from so i've got a backup plan I guess. Because I believe generally they are more leninant with videos as oppose to there music (say mp3). I just have one last question, when gaining permission do I need a formal contract of some sort, or would an informal saved e-mail do..