Using copyrighted music in a non-profit game

[Niki]

I wonder what people's opinions are of this. How acceptable would you find it if someone used a commercial band/singer/musician's music as the opening/ending a non-profit game by a team that does not ask for donations and gave the band/singer/musician due credit and disclaimed everything bombastically? (correct me if I'm wrong, I'm sure this isn't legal, but people on YouTube do it and a large majority of them don't get "caught")

NOT THAT I WAS PLANNING ON DOING ANYTHING LIKE THAT, but sometimes you hear a really good song and you start to visualize your game's OP and then feeling inspired you go and ask everyone around you if it's okay but no one really knows and copyright law is too confusing to understand so you go post a post like this on a forum without checking beforehand if someone two pages back asked the same thing. Heh heh.

[Camille]

It's not legal (at all), but if it's a free game, I don't think they'll kill you for it. (also what are the chances of them actually finding your game?) At best, they might ask you to take it down. At worst, you might get sued. :c

[Niki]

But have you heard of anyone who's actually done it (and gotten away with it), though? :<
edit: as in, in a VN, or a free game. ._.

[Camille]

I dunno, I make up FSTs for my games/stories/ideas all the time, but I would never use copyrighted material in my own games because I'm scared to death of getting sued and don't like the idea of using other people's work without permission. I'm sure plenty of people do it and get away with it, though I couldn't tell you whom.

[Aleema]

Yeah, I've played/seen many games on here that just have music from wherever. You shouldn't think you're entitled to use the music because you're non-commercial or give credit (which is what some people think), so long as you're modest about it, I would have no problems playing your game.

[Niki]

So, is it all right to assume no one here has ~*extremely strong opinions*~ about playing or allowing someone to make a game which has commercial music in it then? Since, in the end, it's my neck on the line. :'D Of course, I'll only do that if I've really exhausted every other alternative.

[Efreet]

The bottom line has always been don't use copyrighted material (unless you have the permission to do so, this is good business practice).

Sure there are countless YouTube videos made by people who have used copyrighted music (they have a three strike policy but it won't really mean a thing since you won't be getting letters in your post) and even if they've put up a disclaimer, it still doesn't excuse them from using their music. Furthermore even if it's for non-profit, the artist could also throw in a clause about their song being misrepresented in your game (think of a popular love song in an eroge).

To use copyrighted material usually costs a lot of money, so I imagine that's not good either (for a private individual).

Though there are always alternatives, such as the Creative Commons, for example Moby will allow anyone to use some of his selected music for both non-profit stuff, you just need to make an account. Then there are open sourced music which usually has some sort of Creative Commons license, they differ and have certain requirements with their use.

Here are a couple of other open source music sites.
archive.org/details/opensource_audio
opsound.org/
jamendo.com

07th Expansion used some open sourced stuff when they made Higurashi no Naku Koro ni. If you really like a song, you could make a rendition of it yourself.

[sake-bento]

By US law, I think you can make a cover of the song without having to pay money as long as you're distributing the cover for free. So if you're really set on using a specific song, you could make a cover song. I strongly advise against using copyrighted material, even for free games.

[PyTom]

By US law, I think you can make a cover of the song without having to pay money as long as you're distributing the cover for free. So if you're really set on using a specific song, you could make a cover song. I strongly advise against using copyrighted material, even for free games.

I don't think so - don't you have to get a mechanical license in that case?

[Greeny]

So, is it all right to assume no one here has ~*extremely strong opinions*~ about playing or allowing someone to make a game which has commercial music in it then? Since, in the end, it's my neck on the line. :'D Of course, I'll only do that if I've really exhausted every other alternative.

I have extremely strong opinions about it. But I have extremely strong opinions about many things, so you'll probably not want to hear it. Also because it's exactly the thing you don't want to hear.

[sake-bento]

By US law, I think you can make a cover of the song without having to pay money as long as you're distributing the cover for free. So if you're really set on using a specific song, you could make a cover song. I strongly advise against using copyrighted material, even for free games.

I don't think so - don't you have to get a mechanical license in that case?

Legally, you're required to notify the artist that you're doing a cover, but the fee for doing so is based on how much you'll be planning to sell, how much you'll be performing it live, etc. It's basically a percentage of the cut based on your estimated earnings for making a cover version. I don't think the artist can actually stop you from making the cover, only charge you for making money off of it. Insert standard "I read it on some law site a year ago and I'm not a lawyer" disclaimer here.

[papillon]

So, is it all right to assume no one here has ~*extremely strong opinions*~ about playing or allowing someone to make a game which has commercial music in it then? Since, in the end, it's my neck on the line. :'D Of course, I'll only do that if I've really exhausted every other alternative.

Many people here have strong opinions on the subject, but I don't think anyone has strong enough opinions to attempt to find the copyright police to report you to, if that's what you're wondering.

Using any illegal content will bar you from certain game hosting sites as well.

[Sapphi]

By US law, I think you can make a cover of the song without having to pay money as long as you're distributing the cover for free. So if you're really set on using a specific song, you could make a cover song. I strongly advise against using copyrighted material, even for free games.

I don't think so - don't you have to get a mechanical license in that case?

Legally, you're required to notify the artist that you're doing a cover, but the fee for doing so is based on how much you'll be planning to sell, how much you'll be performing it live, etc. It's basically a percentage of the cut based on your estimated earnings for making a cover version. I don't think the artist can actually stop you from making the cover, only charge you for making money off of it. Insert standard "I read it on some law site a year ago and I'm not a lawyer" disclaimer here.

This discussion is relevant to my interests. Does anybody know where they keep the rules for this stuff? If it's true I would be thrilled.

[Adorya]

The most recent example of copyright issue I can recall is with Street of Rage Remake, a free game that compiled and enhanced all the previous Street of Rage and the only things they "burrowed" was the music (everything else was hand made).

After some years of works and a free release, Sega sent them a DMCA notice for music and name copyright violation.

[Niki]

Okay, thanks for your input guys! I've decided not to use copyrighted music, but all the same this thread has helped me better understand copyright law Hopefully this thread can help clear things up for other people too x)