Ive written an article on slipknot on my site and now i wonder if im allowed to use the artists picture on my site besides the article..will this be illegal if i take it from their site and put it on mine?
Of course it would, you need their permission as I am sure their content is copyrighted and this can pose a legal issue. I own an online music magazine and only use pictures in which we have documented permission from the owner of the pictures which is the artist themselves.
didn't slipknot have a song called 666? look at the thread number, oooo! also, you can find un-copyrighted stuff on personal photo pages which are legal.
hey urbanstereotype, could i have some resource for the kinda websites your talking about? -Do online portals like ultimate-guitar.com etc take permission for each and every picture they put?
For that matter if i review an album, do i have to take permission for even putting the albums picture besides it?
Reviews will fall into the "fair use" category, depending on how you use it. If you take a pic of the album cover and upload that to your site, together with you review, then you will be pretty safe under the fair use policy. However if you scan in the cover and make the full size available together with your review, then it most likely will not fall under fair use. It's a very thin line to walk. Taking images from some other site and posting them on your site, however, won't be fair use. Even if it's from a fan site, unless you have permission from the person that took the photo, it would be copyright infringement. The best option would be to get in touch with the PR department of the band you are reviewing and ask them for media packages. These should include images that you will be free to use on the site.