(Not technically ASP, just didn't know what forum)
What are the copyright/legal policies on streaming media? I know that a lot of the official and fan sites have streaming media, is it okay to do as long as I don't make it available for download? I tried contacting the 'official' Ben Harper site, and haven't gotten a response after 2 weeks. -Gabe
I imagine there is no difference in copyright law concerning streaming media vs. static media. If it's not your original creation and you don't have permission from the copyright owner, you'll be infringing on the copyright if you display the work.
I believe there's a maximum of 30-seconds to use music and/or videos online unless you have permission to use the whole thing, but don't pin me down on that. Most sites that have previews of music or videos, such as CDnow.com (part of Amazon.com), only let you watch/listen for 30 second (sometimes even less).
If the official site doesn't respond, you can try contacting the record label. Just make sure you don't have any copyright infringing materials on your site, especially when you email the request. I bet that if they take your request into consideration they'll want to check out your site to make sure they're not giving permission to just anybody.
From one source: "Up to 10 percent of a copyright musical composition may be reproduced, performed, and displayed as part of a multimedia program produced under fair use. A maximum of 30 seconds per musical composition may be used."
So...I want to have a preview of 1 or 2 songs from each album. Do you think it would be save to have 30 seconds or 10% (whichever is less) available to play?
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Posted - 31 August 2003 : 00:23:27
