Hi there i need to know if i will be running into any problems with the following: 1. Taking Common Music Videos, Adding my watermark to them, Re-uploading them to Youtube and then embedding them onto my site. 2. Posting short mp3 clips of songs off an album, not the FULL song. I think this may be a problem.
That would pretty much be a problem unless you own the copyrights to those music and videos or have explicit permission to use them. http://youtube.com/t/community_guidelines
So the only problem with embedding music videos onto youtube with my watermark and streaming them on my site is with the music video producer? Because if this is the case i'm prepared to take the risk.
Why do you need your water mark on videos that you didn't create? If they are submitted to you, then you can put your production or water mark on them for use in the player on your site. If you are taking them from other sites where they were submitted and presenting them as if they are yours, or were submitted to you, then you are just stealing content and guilty of unauthorized use. Why not just use them as they are, and ask for submissions for all future videos? I use videos on my sites all the time, and I could care less whose watermark is on them...it doesn't make me any more money, why would I take the risk of it costing me money, or, loosing the respect of anyone that would have otherwise taken my site seriously and submitted to me in the future. Not worth it for something so insignificant. As far as posting clips of MP3's...if you are an affiliate of a download company or service, I think that this is allowable as long as you use the same clip that they themselves provide for shoppers. I have a player on my site that plays a snippets of the top 100 downloads, provided by the affiliate themselves. Works great! If you just take it upon yourself to decide what you will post, and for how long, you may run into trouble. Most of the services already have this option...as long as they get there from your affiliate link, what's the difference? It seems you are wanting the bells and whistles of a Music /Video download company, without actually being one. You can use the tools afforded to you from the different affiliates and still put up a good presentation, without breaking the law.
Hey, Thanks for the reply, I agree with your statement about adding the watermark to the video being pointless. However I am planning to possibly spend some time in obtaining some high quality videos, and personally ripping them from the T.V therefore i don't want my work to go to waste and some copycat site to rip my videos. All in all I agree with your point of view, I think I will embed the music videos from Youtube without the Watermark and as my site progresses aim to build relationships with Video Production teams in order to obtain higher quality, and fresh videos, then if this is successful i may consider watermarking the videos with their consent. As for the mp3 clips i'm not too bothered but if I could find a provider of the genre of music i'm looking for that could supply me these clips it would work great as you suggested.
As far as putting the clips on your site, I know of one that provides a player of the top 100, Beatport, but that is Dance, House, and trance Music, (My Niche), other than that, the top 2 Music Download sites [iTunes, and Amazon] already have that on their sites and don't offer it as an option to affiliates. As long as they get there through your affiliate code, they can listen to as many tracks as they want, and you still get the sale. I am not sure, but I think you need to be licensed to host and play clips of copy written material for sale. Also, as for ripping video from T.V., you are still creating an infringement. you do not have permission to rebroadcast. Just ask people for the videos, they will give them to you, as long as they are not using them to make money, via advertising. (T.V., PPV, Etc). Promotional videos are easy to get, and some producers embrace you "mashing" them up to create new ones, but some don't, so just be careful.
Trailers are still copyrighted materials and still a no no. However, if you obtain explicit permissions from the film owner, you can show time on your site.