Copyright question regarding youtube videos

[cowtothesky]

Hi everyone,
I have a question regarding youtube videos. I have seen some film composers take a video and replace the music with a score they wrote. The composers have given credit to the original film maker and made it clear that they re-wrote the music.

I had a little downtime between projects and found an animation on youtube that was made by an independent animator. The music on it is not very good, so I threw something together for it, which I am very happy with. I have tried contacting the animator, but haven't gotten a response yet.

My question: If I were to post this on a website to show my film scoring skills and give all of the credit (other than the music) to the animator, is this legal? I wouldn't be doing anything for financial gain, other than to provide potential clients material for them to view as an example of my scoring. I would also specifically state that I re-did the music and provide a link to the animator's website. What do you guys think? Yes? No?

Thanks in advance!

[newrigel]

Get permission. Do you want your music up on a site without your knowledge even though there's a little text line there? I wouldn't! People are making money off that because it's making them look more tangible.

[MIDI Life Crisis]

Just because people do it doesn't make it legal and doesn't mean that you won't become the test case for infringement.

Protected intellectual property is protected intellectual property whether it is music, film, dance, photos, etc.

[cowtothesky]

Thanks for your input. I have to agree with both of you. I just didn't know if this was a common thing to do or not. Apparently, it isn't - and if it is, it is frowned upon.

I have decided not to put it up unless I get explicit permission from the animator. I definitely support protecting intellectual property of others and don't want to infringe on that. If I don't get permission, I have a good piece of music for a future animation if the opportunity presents itself!

Thanks so much.

[MIDI Life Crisis]

You might want to contact a school that teaches animation and see if any students are looking to have someone score a project. Film schools as well. And you have a great demo to show them. using the animation for your demo is OK as long as you don't "distribute" it such as on YouTube. Since there is literally no harm done in simply scoring it, you can show people as your demo but you just can't post it online or sell it. No need to let all that work go to waste.

[cowtothesky]

That is a great idea. I guess mailing a demo or emailing it as a demo is ok, as long as I don't take any undeserved credit or put it up for the masses to see.
Thanks again!

[MIDI Life Crisis]

"Technically" sending it anywhere is distribution. Technically. Would you be sued for that? Highly unlikely.

[stickwolf]

How YouTube thinks about copyright (a presentation on the topic):
http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/marga ... right.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[MIDI Life Crisis]

How YouTube thinks about copyright (a presentation on the topic):
http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/marga ... right.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

WARNING!

The above link attempts to load an application. I am submitting it be removed from the thread. It appears to be malware.

It took over my Mac and would not allow me to force quit for about 20 seconds. I do not recommend visiting that page. The little I did see was NOT from YouTube officially but rather someone's opinion - if, in fact anything at all actually loads. I won't jeopardize my Mac for that.

[bkshepard]

Hmmm, that link works fine for me. It loads a web page with a flash video. I don't think there's anything malicious about it.

[MIDI Life Crisis]

I got a warning that a program was loading and could not even force quit from the Finder. Maybe it's fine, I'm just reporting what I see.

Thanks for being so st... I mean brave, Brian.

Hey, I'll PM you about Sept 1....

[gwarder]

The http://www.ted.com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; site is legit. The page was only loading a video player (Flash based I believe).

However, if you prefer, you can watch all of the TED talks for free as podcasts from the iTunes store.

Geoff

[stickwolf]

MIDI,

You've definitely got something weird going on with your computer. It's not my link. TED is an absolutely superb resource, a major interdisciplinary conference that posts their presentations for free online. The link in question is a high-level employee at YouTube giving a very interesting talk about this topic at the TED conference.

I predict not a single other person will have anything like the experience you had. I have no idea why that happened, but it isn't me, or the site, etc.

And if you don't figure it out and make it work to check out TED stuff, you're really missing out. It's really inspiring and superb content.

Is it possible that your computer just hung for a little as it was loading Flash and you just panicked, but that if you'd waited a few more seconds it would have finished processing and just be normal and just play the video?

[MIDI Life Crisis]

All possible. Probably not malware, just those damn flash sites I guess. Don't take it personally.

[stephentayler]

I saw that same screen, but it is nothing to worry about, it is just there while the movie is loading depending on your connection speed.

TED is superb, and there is also a wonderful little TED app.

Cheers

Stephen