using a soundtrack for your videos and copyright infringement

[king of nowhere]

today i created a video for my last mission. unlike previous videos, where i just left the background ksp music, this time i tried to use an actual soundtrack. with my limited knowledge of music i picked conquest of paradise by Vangelis, because it fit the mood. as i uploaded the video on youtube, immediately i got a notification for copyright infringement. not very surprisingly. it said that since it had protected content, the video would be demotetized (no problems there, i am just using youtube as a convenient platform to upload) and that it would be blocked in some countries. which is the part that worries me.

i know very little of copyright laws, but i know (or i think i know, at least) that there are clauses for "fair use", where basically you can get away with mild stuff as long as you don't try to make money out of it. which i was hoping would apply to my video. indeed, if i was just notified about the demonetization, i wouldn't even ask. but the part aabout "banned in some countries" worries me. what's the point of uploading a video if random people around the world cannot see it?

so i ask to those others of you who make and post videos - with soundtrack - how do you deal with copyright issues

[Gargamel]

As this isn't about the game, rather copyright laws, it has been moved to The Lounge.

Kevin MacLeod did the royalty free music for KSP.   Rather, SQUAD used some of his royalty free works.   And now those tunes in particular are forever associated with KSP.   You can find literally thousands of his works at https://incompetech.com/.  I actually started playing the streams from the front page while typing this out.   Catchy stuff.

Another site I've used in the past is https://freesound.org/.   Although, those are just sound files, but they are CC licensed, royalty free. 

I've only made a couple videos with sounds tracks, but each time I did, I made sure I used royalty free music.  I did not even want to get into the Fair Use department at all, as that concept doesn't apply everywhere.  

While I haven't played with this option yet, I know YouTube will allow you to annotate the video file with the name of the music track you are currently playing.   If you don't do this, you can just list links to the sources of your music, that should prevent anybody from being able to make a successful claim against your works..... maybe. 

But for you in this case, you used what I assume was a copyrighted piece of music, with the best intentions, on a monetized video.   There's really not a fair use argument here.    If you were doing something about the track, as in a breakdown of how the composer wrote it, or how it was played, then maybe there would be a case for fair use.   But the bottom line is, I'm not a copyright lawyer, and seeing as you're asking the KSP forums about this, I don't think you are either.   Unless somebody is a lawyer in this specific field of practice, it's all hearsay and second hand info.  

The best way to deal with copyright issues is to avoid them altogether. 

[cubinator]

I write my own music.  

[Kerbart]

Fair use covers some non-profit use (for instance in textbooks or classrooms, under certain conditions) but that doesn't mean that most non-profit use is covered; far from that. As @Gargamelpointed out: stick to royalty free music, and consult a copyright lawyer if you want to know more about it (they tend to be expensive though).

Edited March 1, 2021 by Kerbart

[king of nowhere]

On 2/28/2021 at 3:31 PM, Gargamel said:

As this isn't about the game, rather copyright laws, it has been moved to The Lounge.

Kevin MacLeod did the royalty free music for KSP.   Rather, SQUAD used some of his royalty free works.   And now those tunes in particular are forever associated with KSP.   You can find literally thousands of his works at https://incompetech.com/.  I actually started playing the streams from the front page while typing this out.   Catchy stuff.

ok, thanks for answers.

unfortunately, this is the worst outcome for me. first, to choose a soundtrack i'd have to go and listen to dozens of them. this takes time, but the worst part is, i have some sort of psycological block where, if i listen to music to "judge" it, i never like it. I go in some kind of hyper-critical mode and i reject everything. I can only like new music if i hear it by accident. perhaps i should skip the soundtrack completely

Edited March 1, 2021 by king of nowhere

[Nuke]

i don't have patience for licensing shenanigans. ive stopped all activities that require it. 

10 hours ago, cubinator said:

I write my own music.  

i wrote the i think im a cat blues, i still haven't released it. still trying to summon the devil to sell my soul for blues fame.  you know how hard it is to source unholy goat blood.

Edited March 2, 2021 by Nuke