ok. a lot of people post videos on youtube singing major songs. for example there are people singing songs that artists sing such as tupac, lil wayne, furgy, akon, and so on. is this illegal or is it protected somehow? is there anything the users on youtube cant record on thier video?
You cannot legally have a recording artist's music playing (or you playing or singing it) without permission. Lots of people do it but they are not doing so legally. You have to license the rights to use or perform copyrighted music.
Because they comply with the law and take down copyrighted materials when notified. There is no such protection for the user who posts the material.
so if i have a video website and people post videos of themselves singing. i dont have to take the video down until a notice has been filed or complaint to take down the video right?
This is correct. That's not to say they can't sue you though. They'll just have a tough time winning.
Read about the DCMA: DMCA Title II, the Online Copyright Infringement Liability Limitation Act ("OCILLA"), creates a safe harbor for online service providers (OSPs, including ISPs) against copyright liability if they adhere to and qualify for certain prescribed safe harbor guidelines and promptly block access to allegedly infringing material (or remove such material from their systems) if they receive a notification claiming infringement from a copyright holder or the copyright holder's agent. OCILLA also includes a counternotification provision that offers OSPs a safe harbor from liability to their users, if the material upon notice from such users claiming that the material in question is not, in fact, infringing. OCILLA also provides for subpoenas to OSPs to provide their users' identity.
Content will stay on until the service provider takes it off. What protects them legally is the provisions of the DCMA. If I were you I would be more concerned about how to make sure I qualify for the "safe harbor" provisions of the DCMA.
Here is a start: In order to qualify for safe harbor protection, a service provider who hosts content must: have no knowledge of, or financial benefit from, infringing activity on its network have a copyright policy and provide proper notification of that policy to its subscribers list an agent to deal with copyright complaints source You can also read this FAQ about the safe harbor provisions: http://www.chillingeffects.org/dmca512/faq.cgi
But I think that it may be protected somehow by freedom of speech. I have seen just about everything online. Although I think it should be up to the web managers to list it as home videos or something.