Members BenOne Posted August 16, 2005 Author Members Share Posted August 16, 2005 Ani, I appreciate your concern, and caution, but I am not very worried, as my intention is not to be derogatory to politicians but simply to make a satirical political work. And my intention in this thread is just to find out the acceptable legal and business parameters for the project. The examples that you mentioned all involved people making threats, albeit in a satirical fashion, and my project would be nothing like that. The demo song is meant to be an amusing (and even bipartisan) satire. On the surface, it may seem like it's simply attacking politicians, but it's based on the following premise: What would aliens think of the human race if all they picked up were transmissions of political speech? It's more a commentary on how the political stage can put a person in the position of saying silly things. The beginning and ending soundbites were taken from "Plan Nine from Outer Space" (a movie that is in the public domain, by the way ) and involves an alien concluding that Earthlings are idiots based on the political talk that he hears in the course of the song. So on the alien's mistaken premise, he decides to attack the earth at the end of the song (the explosion at the end). So not to worry, I'm not planning to spend lots of money, etc., I just wanted to learn what I can do that's legal regarding samples and whether I could sell my project to a few people who like it. And as for my personal background, I'm a peace-loving, US-loving husband and father of a wonderful 3-year old whom I want to live in a safe, violence-free world. This is just my attempt to do a political work. Paul, thanks--the link should still be there--it's mentioned somewhere earlier in the thread. Ben Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members MorePaul Posted August 16, 2005 Members Share Posted August 16, 2005 Rock on, is the clip gone? I couldn't find it, but that might be b/c I'm actually having to do *gasp* work right now The great thing is you can be derogatory as hell - the defamation bar for political figures is set higher so as not to impede political discourse seriously, avail yourself of the free legal help that may be out there for ya - you'll sleep better at night Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members BenOne Posted August 16, 2005 Author Members Share Posted August 16, 2005 Paul, The link to the piece is here ..and frankly, with all my family commitments, doing a full CD worth of politically oriented pieces is a long-term pipe dream. I'm just trying to think out a long-range project for the next couple of years that can keep me happy. I just want to make a (completely peaceful and frequently humorous) political statement through music, just as reporters make political statements in editorials and novelists make political statements in books. Ben Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members MorePaul Posted August 16, 2005 Members Share Posted August 16, 2005 well, I think it's really good that you are addressing the issues up front I just urge you to live the pipe dream I had an art prof once say to me "the difference betwwen a normal person and an artist is that the artist actually follows throgh and does the stupid thoughts and cute ideas" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Ani Posted August 16, 2005 Members Share Posted August 16, 2005 That's cool Ben! I think that a lot of folks living in America are having mixed emotions about ALL of the political figures, both incumbants and challengers of all parties, that have been placed before us in the last few decades. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members franknputer Posted August 16, 2005 Members Share Posted August 16, 2005 Judging myself, I doubt you have anything to worry about as far as political repercussions. None of it seems that strong to me compared to what I've heard some people say, and furthermore those quotes are mostly so well-known you'd have tons of legal precedent even if someone did want to give you trouble. I'd venture that you'd have more to worry about from the copyright owners - and IMO, unless you got into massive distribution for profit you probably wouldn't have much to worry about there, either. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members BenOne Posted August 16, 2005 Author Members Share Posted August 16, 2005 Ani,Thanks for your kind note. Your comments provided some really good feedback for improving the song--if its message was initially lost on you that means I need to make it clearer. Franknputer, I agree that the main question will be from copyright holders--if I ever do complete a full CD of tracks like these, I only expect that it will sell in the low 2 or 3 digits (mostly from friends, family, and other local musicians!). So my interest in finding out about rights/permissions is probably more academic than anything else! Music is a great way to learn so many skills, so I thought it would be fun to learn how one goes about getting copyright clearance and licensing. If it proves too expensive or too complicated, I probably won't go forward with an entire CD--just a few songs that I'd make for myself and my friends and family! Ben Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Zooey Posted August 17, 2005 Members Share Posted August 17, 2005 Originally posted by BenOne Ani, Thanks for all the info, including the link on fair use, and Paul, thanks for mentioning the Beastie Boys case--there's more info on it at http://cyberlaw.stanford.edu/packets/vol_1_no_5/001734.shtmlAs you say, it does make the situation more complicated, because now we have two recent rulings that go in different directions on the sampling issue. Maybe I missed something in the Diamond decision, but I don't see it necessarily as being at odds with Bridgeport. Remember that the Beastie Boys actually obtained a sample license from Newton's record label. Newton's unsuccessful argument was that he, as the copyright holder of the underlying composition, was entitled to a royalty. There could be a de minimus rule for compositions that does not apply to sound recordings. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members MorePaul Posted August 17, 2005 Members Share Posted August 17, 2005 Originally posted by Zooey Maybe I missed something in the Diamond decision, but I don't see it necessarily as being at odds with Bridgeport. Remember that the Beastie Boys actually obtained a sample license from Newton's record label. Newton's unsuccessful argument was that he, as the copyright holder of the underlying composition, was entitled to a royalty. Easy to do for shizzy - yhe cases are often multifaceted (which is why I'm so-pro reading the decision, often more than one part of the law is involved and the decisions will address the core arguments individually) -- in this case of de minimis use of a recorded segment, it was upholding that summary judgement was appropriate as the use wasn't even actionable Look at the last para of Schroeder opinion and at the conclusion (right before the dissent by Graber) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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