Having Real Song in a Project

[Mini P]

On my current project, I have a couple of real songs, written by bands in my bgm. I wasn't real sure if it was illegal or whatever if I had them in my game. If I was allowed to add them to the game, would I have to give credit to the band who wrote it, or would I have to contact the band directly and ask if I could use that song?



Thanks


Mini

 

[shiroun]

Depends,

1) Are you selling the product?

2) Did you get it from an online site i.e. Newgrounds

3) Did you [buy] the item in a certain amount thereby giving you license to sell?

 

[Mini P]

1.) No the project isn't for sale.
2.) No
3.) I did buy the cd from the store.

 

[shiroun]

Not entirely sure, depends where you bought it, but you should be ok.


However, I might suggest making your own music, look to me if you need music ;P

 

[Rare]

Q: What about registered music or registered movies (i.e. songs by Pearl Jam or movies like 300)?
A: NO. NO. NO. If you are using a royalty-based or a registered song, you MAY NOT USE IT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES unless you have SIGNED PERMISSION with NOTARIZATION that you can use it to be distributed. That includes commercial games and non-commercial.
WHY? That could take forever. Basically, as of late, the RIAA and the MPAA have been suing like crazy for damages against people who have their works on P2P sites and who download/distrubute MP3's of them illegally.
How can they? Well, they claim that sound and video is the sole method of distributing their property and if they can't control that they can't control anything.
This seems fishy and it is, but judges have backed them up. They have a lot more money than you and can "define their case" better with said money.
JUST DON'T DO IT.
If the music/videos are non-registered (i.e. songs for free on Download.com or a video of your dog on YouTube), then you may distribute like crazy. Just don't forget to credit or else they can take measures toward stopping the distribution.

 

[Mini P]

I guess that settles it then. Shiroun, I'll get back to you for music.