Copyright Music In Flash?

[EKublai]

yeah this is question about sponsorships and copyrighted music. Anyone here experienced with sponsorships, I'd like to know if you can still get a flash sponsored if it has copyrighted music, specifically "Bohemian Rhapsody" by Queen is in my flash, I just want to know if it's possible because I don't want to have any future issues. thx.

[Axel-The-Firemaster]

At 2/23/08 03:16 PM, EKublai wrote: yeah this is question about sponsorships and copyrighted music. Anyone here experienced with sponsorships, I'd like to know if you can still get a flash sponsored if it has copyrighted music, specifically "Bohemian Rhapsody" by Queen is in my flash, I just want to know if it's possible because I don't want to have any future issues. thx.

i think so maybe you might need approvial from the artist of record label but they would probably want a cut of the cash

[Luis]

At 2/23/08 03:18 PM, Axel-The-Firemaster wrote:

At 2/23/08 03:16 PM, EKublai wrote: yeah this is question about sponsorships and copyrighted music. Anyone here experienced with sponsorships, I'd like to know if you can still get a flash sponsored if it has copyrighted music, specifically "Bohemian Rhapsody" by Queen is in my flash, I just want to know if it's possible because I don't want to have any future issues. thx.

i think so maybe you might need approvial from the artist of record label but they would probably want a cut of the cash

its kind of dangerous... whenever youre making money on someone elses expense without their approval or knowing its always dangerous....

I mean like when you make a flash movie with copywrited music but its just some shit for fun thats unsponsored or something, some artists may not think youre worth the effort of going after or may think you are actually spreading awareness for them.. like maybe Radiohead, who embraces the internet and the spirit of it may be cool with it. Whereas maybe a band like Metallica or Prince will mercelessly go after you.

I would stay away from getting an animation sponsored if it has copywrited music... your playing russian roulette.

[Luis]

wow i cant spell. *___*

[jmtb02]

http://www.flashrights.com/music.htm

You are earning money on someone else's copyrighted, non-licensed work. Music companies are more eager to tackle games that use their content, even moreso than animation due to the usual financial variable. I would advise you to choose a different song.

[Paranoia]

You can always email the artist or copyright holder to see if they're cool about it.

[EKublai]

At 2/23/08 03:32 PM, jmtb02 wrote: http://www.flashrights.com/music.htm

You are earning money on someone else's copyrighted, non-licensed work. Music companies are more eager to tackle games that use their content, even moreso than animation due to the usual financial variable. I would advise you to choose a different song.

thanks for the info on that. yeah at least it's a game. I'll just email queen or whoever their rep is, im sure they're pretty easy going about this sort of thing.

[ViolentAJ]

Are there any alternatives to making your own music then?

If I use the stuff in the audio portal, some pissaint might want a cut.

[Paranoia]

At 2/23/08 08:36 PM, ViolentAJ wrote: Are there any alternatives to making your own music then?

If I use the stuff in the audio portal, some pissaint might want a cut.

I don't think you can really call someone a pissant for wanting some pay for their hard work :s

Anyway, the situation with the audio portal is a bit weird at the moment. For a start the definition of 'commercial' is a little vague, but even if you count sponsorships as going against the non-commercial auto-license, the actual audio submitting agreement says:

"Every day, over 100 new Flash submissions are uploaded to Newgrounds. These aspiring artists need good, royalty-free music for their games and movies.

By uploading your own creations, you are providing an invaluable service to Flash authors worldwide. Your loops and music will enter the "NG public domain", meaning anyone is welcome to use your audio in their Flash creations free of charge."

Which I guess means that you can't use audio on commercial Flash, but the person who submitted it can't take any legal action if you do.

Anyway, the audio portal is meant to provide a royalty-free collection of sounds - that's its explicit purpose, and anyone submitting to it should be aware of that. You have no obligation to give someone a cut if you use their track.

That said, common courtesy would indicate that you should fully credit the artist(s) used, and in the case of substantial sponsorships, where possible, send a portion their way as a gesture of appreciation.

[Luis]

At 2/24/08 11:44 AM, Paranoia wrote: That said, common courtesy would indicate that you should fully credit the artist(s) used, and in the case of substantial sponsorships, where possible, send a portion their way as a gesture of appreciation.

It's actually in the works to address that issue (somewhat) in the near future.. where audio portal artists .. submit their work or whatever and can tag their piece to have a set percentage of royalties associated with it inside the ng realm...

So for instance say i make a track, i can then use a drop down or whatever to specify that if someone uses that track i'd want 15% or whatever of the royalties from it... obviously its to the advantage of the audio artist to find the sweet spot... where they feel they are making some bank out of their work but they arent like scaring away potential artists who want to use it by using rediculous percentages...

if the ng ad revenue sharing system takes off that's how it sort of will work.. i would imagine.

Obviously it doesnt account for games you have sponsored through poo poo games or whatever the hawt sponsors are these days. :3

[Paranoia]

At 2/24/08 11:59 AM, Luis wrote: So for instance say i make a track, i can then use a drop down or whatever to specify that if someone uses that track i'd want 15% or whatever of the royalties from it... obviously its to the advantage of the audio artist to find the sweet spot... where they feel they are making some bank out of their work but they aren't like scaring away potential artists who want to use it by using ridiculous percentages...

I'm working mainly with big over-ambitious games at the moment, so that system seems a little unfair :s

I mean, your average minigame with such and such a sponsor might feature one track for the entire thing, and the author would pay (for the sake of argument) 10% to that audio artist.

A big game, though, might use as many as one track (or at least a 30-60 second loop from one) per level, plus menus and bosses and things. Someone might even end up owing audio artists over 100% of profits from something like that.

In both cases the audio as a whole probably accounts for about the same amount of enjoyability, but a bigger game means more diverse audio and so a much more unrealistic cut for audio artists.

I'm assuming Tom's taking this into account, but it'd make much more sense to set aside say 20% of revenue from a game and split it evenly between audio artists.

[Luis]

At 2/24/08 12:18 PM, Paranoia wrote: I'm assuming Tom's taking this into account, but it'd make much more sense to set aside say 20% of revenue from a game and split it evenly between audio artists.

Yeah I would assume so. I think its a good start in getting the dialogue among different parties going... we'll see what happens.

[EKublai]

Thx Luis and Paranoia, that stuffs you guys are talkin about will be great for future reference.
Btw, wasn't there an official Sponsorship thread, cuz I searched for it and came up with nothing. :(