I've always been kinda uninformed about this topic, but how does copyright stuff work with electronica? What kind of permission (if any) must someone obtain from original artists to post something like...

1. a Mashup: from what i know its two tracks playing over one another

2. an "edit": dont know much about this one, as far as i know its the same song just with parts rearranged or cut out

3. a Remix: from what i know, its the same melody and stuff, just remade to fit the producer's style.

SIDE QUESTION: There's a song I heard at least 5 years ago and I still remember how it goes but havent been able to find it for the life of me. What if I decide to make this song myself and call it mine? is that okay, or wtf do i do!?

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quote:

Originally posted by littlee1816 I've always been kinda uninformed about this topic, but how does copyright stuff work with electronica? What kind of permission (if any) must someone obtain from original artists to post something like...

It works just like with any other genre. You need to get permission from the copyright holder, which is usually the label (unless the author has kept the rights to himself).

Technically all mashups/remixes/edits are legal for personal use only, but they tend to get overlooked most of the time.

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okay, thanks! but a couple questions... could you define "personal use"? I'm a pretty unexperienced dj, but id like to put a mashup into my set that I'd post on this site, facebook, and maybe a few other forums. Would that be okay? And if i needed to, how would i go about contacting the individuals that i need to talk to about it?

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contacting the individuals will be a huge grind, i personally wouldn't bother.

as for putting bootlegs in dj mixes, go for it. Legally you could get arrested for it, but DJs have been essential in dance music (and hip hop too). Just don't hand out individual tracks or cue files.

and technically, mixing in and out is a mashup if you think about it.

quote:

Originally posted by -FSP- contacting the individuals will be a huge grind, i personally wouldn't bother. as for putting bootlegs in dj mixes, go for it. Legally you could get arrested for it, but DJs have been essential in dance music (and hip hop too). Just don't hand out individual tracks or cue files. and technically, mixing in and out is a mashup if you think about it.

alright thanks a lot mate, appreciate it!

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So long as you are using the songs for promotional use only you should be fine doing a Mash-Up or a reedit/remix. To be safe it wont hurt you to try to get permission to put your spin on the track.

Ive noticed its when you use the song you did for your own financial gain (selling the remix yourself without permission to use the sample) thats when youll run into issues.

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quote:

SIDE QUESTION: There's a song I heard at least 5 years ago and I still remember how it goes but havent been able to find it for the life of me. What if I decide to make this song myself and call it mine? is that okay, or wtf do i do!?

Yes, as long as you don't sample the original at all and reconstruct everything you can release it under your name. (95% certain this is correct)

It's frowned upon however because you should credit the original artist for his work but i think legally it's fine.

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Originally posted by James Mac Yes, as long as you don't sample the original at all and reconstruct everything you can release it under your name. (95% certain this is correct) It's frowned upon however because you should credit the original artist for his work but i think legally it's fine.

Depends on the jurisdiction, what might be fine in Australia could be civil tort in the US or a criminal violation in the UK.

Basically if you arent making any money off of it you are going to be fine most places. Also do not claim it as your own and give credit where credit is due.

As for your example James Mac, in the US there was an artist, who when he was with one label released some songs, then he moved to another label and played essentially the same sounding music (not the exact same songs though) and he was sued for sounding too much like himself and he lost.

Can't remember the artists name, pretty big, I wanna say it was someone from mo-town or someone else but im not sure, it was in the 1980's.

In the US, technically all mashups, edits, remixes are not permitted without the copyright holders' permission. These are all covered under a copyright holder's exclusive rights to all "derivative works" of the original. This is what gives JK Rowling the ability to have rights to authorize all derivatives of her Harry Potter books (consider the market for movies, toys, etc). This is not to say that it doesn't happen all of the time -- the hip hop industry practically thrives off the use of samples -- but should someone seek to enforce their copyright to an original work against you for creating an unauthorized derivative or other work, they can. In some industries it appears that the likelihood of such enforcement is fairly low and industry norms tend to keep that the status quo.

quote:

Originally posted by James Mac Yes, as long as you don't sample the original at all and reconstruct everything you can release it under your name. (95% certain this is correct) It's frowned upon however because you should credit the original artist for his work but i think legally it's fine.

[disclaimer: this is not legal advice]

This is actually not true in the United States, and even if you reconstructed what you had previously heard from memory, this would probably be copyright infringement.

Music can hold a few different layers of rights that can even be owned by different people (even if embodied in one musical work). For example, a typical song can have a copyright in the composition (song writer) and a copyright in the sound recording (song producer/singer/performer).

If you reconstructed a song that you heard from memory, you would be infringing the rights of the holder of the copyright in the composition. If you sampled the actual production of the song, you could be infringing the rights of the sound recording (the actual musical production of the composition) and the composition.

It is a shame, but the state of copyright law is not very pro-remix.