KVR Audio

Jellydonut · Post by **Jellydonut** » Sat Feb 14, 2015 7:56 pm

Hello all,

What are the laws surrounding remixing someone else's work or covering it? For example, if I decided I wanted to reproduce a song by Lil Wayne or remix some theme song from a game, would I be able to post it on my SoundCloud or hypothetical YouTube account without running into copyright issues and being forced to take it down?

I realize that there are loads of people that make bootleg remixes and that sort of thing, but what are the risks involved, and do people really go through the trouble to get licenses? Or is that only if you're selling your remix/cover?

Thanks,
Jellydonut

thecontrolcentre · Post by **thecontrolcentre** » Sat Feb 14, 2015 8:15 pm

AFAIK remixing would need permission from the copyright owner to be legal. Doing a cover is OK but you have to pay royalties on any money made from it. I'm not a lawyer.

DJ Warmonger · Post by **DJ Warmonger** » Sat Feb 14, 2015 9:34 pm

Copyright is the right of author. As long as the author (or label) does not care about your deeds, you are safe.

Reality shows as long as you play the music on your own, no one will chase you. People make remixes, mashups and play them in the clubs with no issues. Things change dramatically if you try to release cover / remix commercially and sooner or later they will be after you.

Whatever you do, it's nice to contact the author as soon as your remix is ready.

Jellydonut · Post by **Jellydonut** » Sun Feb 15, 2015 12:59 am

Hi guys,

Thanks for the insight. So lets say I reproduced the Morrowind theme for example, and I posted it on my SoundCloud. It's a song from a game from 2003 (same series as Skyrim; very similar theme), and it's not supported anymore. Odds are I wouldn't get kicked out for it, am I right?

I'm not doing performances, and I'm not selling any of my music, so odds are that I (and others) are OK and wouldn't have to pay royalties or that sort of thing?

Thanks again,
Jellydonut

msorrels · Post by **msorrels** » Sun Feb 15, 2015 3:03 am

Bethesda has a pretty open policy on fan made things. I can't get their site to load right now but you can find it here:

http://www.bethblog.com/bethesda-video-policy/

Google's Cache has this:

Bethesda Video Policy

We encourage (and are big fans of) the many videos created by our community that use assets from our games – including, but not limited to “Let’s Play” videos, instructional videos demonstrating our modding tools, and fan service tributes using gameplay and music from our games. We’re okay (and encourage) these videos being posted on video services like YouTube or on your personal website and/or blog. It’s also okay for you to monetize your videos via the YouTube partner program and similar programs on other video sharing sites. Keep in mind that if you use content from someone else (i.e., music) you will have to get permission from the owner as well. If you run into issues with this process, please reference this page when talking to site administrators. Due to the large number of videos created based upon our games, we ask that you reference this post when corresponding with YouTube or other video services. Note: There are particular cases where we may pull down or request videos be removed. Such cases include, but are not limited to:

Posting leaked video content from illegally obtained versions of our game or share information on illegally obtaining our games. This includes retailers that break violate our release dates.
Videos, including Beta content, that violate non-disclosure agreements between our company and players.
Videos that feature wildly inappropriate content. While we’re generally okay with most content, some content crosses a line we’re not comfortable with.
Any videos that we deem need to be removed – because, let’s be honest, people come up with stuff that hasn’t even occurred to us yet.

We hope this answers questions regarding our video policy. Thank you for supporting our games.

2ZrgE · Post by **2ZrgE** » Tue Feb 17, 2015 8:56 am

DJ Warmonger wrote:Copyright is the right of author. As long as the author (or label) does not care about your deeds, you are safe.

Reality shows as long as you play the music on your own, no one will chase you. People make remixes, mashups and play them in the clubs with no issues. Things change dramatically if you try to release cover / remix commercially and sooner or later they will be after you.

Whatever you do, it's nice to contact the author as soon as your remix is ready.

If you haven't contacted the author before, it's not a remix but a bootleg (if it isn't a remix competition).

BertKoor · Post by **BertKoor** » Thu Feb 19, 2015 11:59 am

There's a big legal difference in using samples / remixing / mashups and doing covers.

If you make a proper cover or total reproduction, you don't use the original recording material. That means you're then not violating publishing copyright on the recordings themselves. Only the author's copyright on melody and lyrics then applies.

An example I know of was a Dutch rapper duo that wanted to use Madonna's "Holiday" as a backing track. They figured it was more cost-effective to hire some session musicians and create their own reproduction than to get a license for Madonna's original. The result could fool Madonna herself, they would have a hard time proving it was not her recording they used. Ofcourse they were obliged to credit the original author of "Holiday", since it was not their own composition.

2ZrgE · Post by **2ZrgE** » Thu Feb 19, 2015 3:08 pm

BertKoor wrote:There's a big legal difference in using samples / remixing / mashups and doing covers.

If you make a proper cover or total reproduction, you don't use the original recording material. That means you're then not violating publishing copyright on the recordings themselves. Only the author's copyright on melody and lyrics then applies.

An example I know of was a Dutch rapper duo that wanted to use Madonna's "Holiday" as a backing track. They figured it was more cost-effective to hire some session musicians and create their own reproduction than to get a license for Madonna's original. The result could fool Madonna herself, they would have a hard time proving it was not her recording they used. Ofcourse they were obliged to credit the original author of "Holiday", since it was not their own composition.

The latter is common practice. I once read that there are studios which spezialize in this kind of reproduction of sounds for sample CDs.

Concerning covering, it also depends on the country's legal situation. For example in Germany you are allowed to do covers (you have to pay royalties of course), but you are not allowed to change the music you are covering.

That also means that remixing without permission is forbidden.

For example our German "Schlagergott" (that is: king of cheesy popular music) Heino covered songs by Rammstein etc, and they couldn't do anything about it because he didn't change the music...

In the US it may be different: remixing for 'educational purposes' seems to be allowed, e.g. on Youtube AFAIK.

But with jurisdiction, you never know.

Questions about the legality of remixing and covering.