Kitelife needs music!

[Jeff]

Jeff

Thank you for the info. I figured it was something like that.

Next question.....

Where do kite fliers stand using recorded music at Kite Festivals and the like? Is it OK since no money is charged? What is the story there?

Anyone?

The answer to that is a complex path through copyright law...

Section 106 of U.S. Copyright Law says, (emphasis mine...)

Subject to sections 107 through 122, the owner of copyright under this title has the exclusive rights to do and to authorize any of the following:

(1) to reproduce the copyrighted work in copies or phonorecords;

(2) to prepare derivative works based upon the copyrighted work;

(3) to distribute copies or phonorecords of the copyrighted work to the public by sale or other transfer of ownership, or by rental, lease, or lending;

(4) in the case of literary, musical, dramatic, and choreographic works, pantomimes, and motion pictures and other audiovisual works, to perform the copyrighted work publicly;

(5) in the case of literary, musical, dramatic, and choreographic works, pantomimes, and pictorial, graphic, or sculptural works, including the individual images of a motion picture or other audiovisual work, to display the copyrighted work publicly; and

(6) in the case of sound recordings, to perform the copyrighted work publicly by means of a digital audio transmission.

Basically that says you can't perform (play, in the case of music) the work publicly without permission. However, later on in section 114 sound recordings are exempted from that:

§ 114. Scope of exclusive rights in sound recordings

(a) The exclusive rights of the owner of copyright in a sound recording are limited to the rights specified by clauses (1), (2), (3) and (6) of section 106, and do not include any right of performance under section 106(4).

<...>

c) This section does not limit or impair the exclusive right to perform publicly, by means of a phonorecord*, any of the works specified by section 106(4).

*" "Phonorecords" are material objects in which sounds, other than those accompanying a motion picture or other audiovisual work, are fixed by any method now known or later developed, and from which the sounds can be perceived, reproduced, or otherwise communicated, either directly or with the aid of a machine or device. The term "phonorecords" includes the material object in which the sounds are first fixed."

So basically, playing music in a public place appears to be OK. But, that does not necessarily apply if the source of the audio is an FCC regulated over-the-air transmission, such as radio or television. If that's the case, there's further paragraphs that lay out conditions where a public transmission is not ok, depending on the size of the area, and the number of speakers used, and crazy stuff like that.

It's pretty insane.

[Jim Foster]

Jeff

Thank you so much for your detailed reply. I thought that what we are all doing is OK, I just didn't know why it is OK.

I figured that if it was wrong, it would have been stopped long ago.

Thanks again........

[Penny Lingenfelter]

I like this thread. the main reason is all those kites and people on the beach.. The avatars help me make it through the winter.

John, I'll check w/my little sister and see if their band is only into religious music or what. She use to do more.

How do copyrights work for international music? Techno from a S .American band?

BB Penny

[Jeff]

I like this thread. the main reason is all those kites and people on the beach.. The avatars help me make it through the winter.

John, I'll check w/my little sister and see if their band is only into religious music or what. She use to do more.

How do copyrights work for international music? Techno from a S .American band?

BB Penny

Great question. Obviously, our own law is not enforceable in or by other countries. Not without some sort of treaty between nations. And wouldn't you know it, we have just that.

The Berne Convention is one of the International treaties that covers copyright, and most nations have signed on. Here is a map showing the 163 nations that are members... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Berne_Convention.png

Basically, the treaty says that the copyright protection of the country where the copyright is claimed is applied.

[Jeff]

OK, well that was ironic...

I just took delivery today of my first B-series kite. I took a look at the DVD that came with it, and what do you know...the music on there is from Stock20, who I suggested several posts ago. I've used those very same tracks myself.

[wen]

http://www.newgrounds.com/audio/ most of the music only requires you give the author credit and the licensing terms are just above the author comments, easy to find! hope this helps