Music in your game, legal?

[Bahamut 0]

Maybe somebody with more legal knowledge can help me on this. Is it legal to use copyrighted music in your game? Does it make a difference if your game is free?

 

Thanks in advance.

[Polraudio 122]

It all depends on a few things.

If your going to sell your game here is what you need to answer.

Did you buy the music legally?

Are you going to give credit?

Did you get there permission?

 

If your not going to sell your game here is what you need to answer.

Are you going to give credit?

[Bahamut 0]

Oops I forgot to mention that. Since it was obvious to me. But of course I will give credit.

 

So if my game is going to be distributed for free, and I give credit it is fine to use copyrighted music in my game?

[Polraudio 122]

It should be.

[EmilyAnnCoons 7]

I use copyrighted music in my game, so, yeah, it should be fine, so long as you give credit to the original designer of the music.

[Bahamut 0]

[Mr. Burns]Excelent[/Mr. Burns]

[Wyzrd 12]

Me being a music artist myself can give clarification to this.

 

If you sell your game and don't have permission from the original maker of the song. Then no you can't use it without a possible lawsuit coming to hands.

 

If your not selling your game but you do give credit to the original maker of the song. then yes you can use it with no problems. As long as you don't attempt to make money off of it in anyway.

[Bahamut 0]

Great! thanks for the clarifications. I can rest assured I'm not breaking any laws in doing my game. :)

[Chief 30]

actually, they are all right except for this:

 

if the music you use is in a .mp3 format, only 5,000 or less copies of the game may be released or it then becomes a lawsuit if you get caught... you would have to use a .midi file or convert it into one... if I can find the source for this info, ill get ti to you. but, i would suggest only using a .midi file...

[isaacsol 10]

Depending on which country you live in, the length of copyright differs. If you use music of someone who has been dead for a certain time (50 years in the UK I think, not sure about other places. Make sure to check), the copyright no longer exists. This is why people can arrange sheet music of composers from the classical era etc. So if you used a bit of music from the 30's and before for instance, it would not break copyright.

 

I hope that helped a bit with certain music :)

[Unka Josh 0]

Don't forget that RIAA is infamous for overreacting, though.

 

On the other hand, MIDIs are tiny. And there's a lot of awesome music in the public domain, available for free download on MIDIs.

 

Yeah, I'm cheap. But a 12k piece of music will help keep my games smaller, so...

[Wyzrd 12]

Depending on which country you live in, the length of copyright differs. If you use music of someone who has been dead for a certain time (50 years in the UK I think, not sure about other places. Make sure to check), the copyright no longer exists. This is why people can arrange sheet music of composers from the classical era etc. So if you used a bit of music from the 30's and before for instance, it would not break copyright.

 

I hope that helped a bit with certain music :)

If I stand corrected and I remember right in the US it's 70 years.

[Noob Saibot 38]

If your not selling your game but you do give credit to the original maker of the song. then yes you can use it with no problems. As long as you don't attempt to make money off of it in anyway.

 

That's not true. Sell or free you still need legal permission. The only reason why lawsuits are not stacking up on our free makers is artists have better things to do then take some 12-17 year old to court.

 

If I stand corrected and I remember right in the US it's 70 years.

 

You are correct.

[Obsession 3]

This should solve all your legal worries:

http://freeplaymusic.com/

The music is royalty free, I think all it requires is that you credit the authors, double check the ToS before distributing in your project though.

[Kiriashi 117]

Non commercial game + giving credit to author = legal.

Commercial game + giving credit to author + paying royalty fee/getting permission = legal

Non commercial game + not giving credit to author = legal but really not cool.

Commercial game + giving credit to author = illegal (cease and desist letters will yield from this at most).

Commercial game + Using music uncredited = Say hello to lawsuits.

That should settle everything.

[AbnormalHairGrowth 0]

Hrm... I was under the impression that unless you had permission from the creator, using copyrighted music (or any copyrighted material, for that matter) was not permitted under any circumstances. I could be wrong, but that was the idea that I got from RPGXP's very strict TOS document - and the ban-rampage that WMG has made across YouTube.

[Dark Den 4]

I have'nt used ounds in my game since the day i began rm, because there's no electricity and speakers kill the inverter.

[AbnormalHairGrowth 0]

This should solve all your legal worries:

http://freeplaymusic.com/

The music is royalty free, I think all it requires is that you credit the authors, double check the ToS before distributing in your project though.

I just took a look at their TOS. If you want to use their music for anything other than personal listening (whether you charge for the result or not), you are required to purchase a license.

[Noob Saibot 38]

Hrm... I was under the impression that unless you had permission from the creator, using copyrighted music (or any copyrighted material, for that matter) was not permitted under any circumstances. I could be wrong, but that was the idea that I got from RPGXP's very strict TOS document - and the ban-rampage that WMG has made across YouTube.

 

This is corect you need permission regardless if you credit or not. But also remember that artist are not going to care about a 15 who used their music ina game. Of course sell it and the parents (or if they are over 171/2) of the 15 yaer old might find themselves in a lawsuit.