Songs in my game?

hey,

I was wondering if I could use like a mp3 of Racsal Flatts in my game... Is it legal, or do I have to like you know have permission from them to use it?

Thanks

Matt (Mapper2100)

If you're not going to sell it, then it's fine.

Thanks

Well, it's fine in the sense that they won't catch you and if they do, they won't care. But it is illegal to use it unless they've given you a license.

  umm well im not usre but i think it would be alright as long as u give them credit

If I where you i'd aviod using music from a popular artist such as rascal flatts.
I mean if I did then i'd have various songs from Kamelot all over my game.

But it's your call.

There are so many issues about using public artists' music that if they do find out you are using their music, voice, image or anything to do with this group or band, you will most likely be asked to remove the game from the public or they will put advertisements in there.  Just try posting your favorite band on youtube and you'll see what could happen.  I put a piece by Bach on as background for a fractal zoom and it got pegged as copyright infringement on sound recording.  Not because Bach wrote it but because of the studio that recorded it.  Also I found out that I can't sell my own music without asking permission from the ones who played in it AND THE ONES WHO RECORDED IT, not to mention if any visuals are done, you need to clear it with the building the music was played in.  Copyright is all over the place when it comes to the recording artist, the studio, the musician, composer etc.

It takes a lot to produce music in real time. Copyright is there to make sure all who helped in this performance is compensated.  Unfortunately the labels get most of the money, and seemingly composers get the least of it, unless you're John Williams or the like.

I signed up for ASCAP just so that if anyone uses a song of mine without my permission, they will enforce payment from them for me.  I suggest all composers do this.  ASCAP is just one royalty enforcer.  There are others. Also, I only own what I produce alone, and then it must be protected in Government copyright library, see your gov's website for copyright methods.  I protected a whole book of music as one copyright payment of $20.  Otherwise each song would cost $20.

There is a poor man's copyright, such as sealing your works in an envelope that confirms delivery and mail it to yourself, but never open it.  The point is, everybody seems to want artists' works for free.  "Oh, I can just record my Favorite song from youtube and then I never have to purchase it."  Guess who gets the short end?  Not just the musicians but the composer as well, depending the composer is not a musician or two, or more. 

You know I should make this it's own thread.....  I think I will write up a nice thread about copyright laws and infringements.  It works for all types of artists including pixel artists.  And boy the issues RM2k had!  If you read my story about that from the RMRK Member Factfiles, you will see that copyright is a serious issue a lot of people take for granted or just ignore altogether.

YOU CAN'T JUST TAKE SOMETHING FROM SOMEONE ELSE AND USE IT AS IF IT'S YOURS WITHOUT THEIR PERMISSION!

You're in the wrong place if you care this much about CI.

You're in the wrong place if you care this much about CI.

It's not that I care, it's that the rules must be known in order to bend them.  My honest opinion can be read between the lines.