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Geek Culture / Classical Music in games.

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Great Knight
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Posted: 13th Nov 2003 04:41
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I am wondering about classical music. If i add some Kanon to my game will it be breaking any copyrights because since its so old i would not think its copyright or no one owns it or pay royalty for it.

There is this ausome some from Kanon I want to add thats why i am asking and some other songs i might want to add.

AMD Atherlon 2400+ XP, 380 DDr memeory, ATI Radeon 9000 64 DDR, Windos XP home edition.
-----------------------And a Katana.
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Arrow
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Posted: 13th Nov 2003 05:13 Edited at: 13th Nov 2003 05:14
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A) The original song has to be at least 70 years old, no remixes.
B) You have to perfrom it yourself, you can't just get it off an old cd (unless the cd the specifically tells you otherwise).


DDR is the best form of exercise money can buy.
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las6
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Posted: 13th Nov 2003 11:45 Edited at: 13th Nov 2003 11:54
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Quote: "Duration of Copyright
The period of copyright protection is the lifetime of the author plus 70 years from the year in which the author died.
Older music, too, can enjoy copyright protection as a new arranged version. The provisions of the Copyright Act are applicable, besides to compositions, also to arrangements of music."


so you'd need Reeeally old music. :\

It's a shame, cos this is a nice idea. I can just hear the noisy old records playing in the background.

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Van B
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Posted: 13th Nov 2003 11:59
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As far as computer music goes, as long as you re-create it yourself and don't use samples from the original you can usually get away with anything. Put this way, there's no way you'd ever get in trouble for recreating or remixing a song in a tracker then using it on a game, the song would be digitally completely different than the original - it could be very easily argued that your version is inspired by the original, not a direct copy. You should be able to find some classical music tracks, so you could just ask permission from the author to use it, most of them jump at the chance to get their music in a game.

The thing is that using a sample is breaking the copyright held by whoever performed the music, recreating the music from the notation is your safest bet.


Van-B


I laugh in the face of fate!
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klariza
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Posted: 13th Nov 2003 15:29
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what if you want to use a particular piece of music in ur game - BUT u dont want to sell ur game commercially, just distribute it freely on ur website?
does the same copyright still apply?

I am obsessed by Toasters - especially talking ones...bizaare really isn't it?
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las6
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Posted: 13th Nov 2003 15:53 Edited at: 13th Nov 2003 16:00
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yep, it does.

Luckily, many of those old classical pieces have been released for free! http://www.karadar.it (if only you coul get the downloading to start)

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Van B
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Posted: 13th Nov 2003 16:02
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I think it depends on the quality - if the copyright holder feels that their product is being distributed illegaly.

The simple truth is that copyright laws are all fairly lax for ordinary folk like us, we won't make profits from other peoples work, if anything it acts as free advertising. The lawyers come out when professionals rip each other off, the worst that would ever happen is a cease order, meaning you'd have to change the music in your download - that's the very worst case, it'd never end up in a lawsuit because:

1. Lawyers are expensive.
2. Lawyers would know a law suit would be fruitless because amateur game developers tend not to be very rich.
3. The negative publicity generated by a lawsuit against the little guy making free games could be huge.
4. A judge would probably turn his nose up at the case anyway.
5. The chances of being caught in the first place are minute.

The only time you'd ever get in trouble is if you refused to remove the copyrighted material.


Van-B


I laugh in the face of fate!
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Chris K
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Posted: 13th Nov 2003 17:04
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The copyright only lasts for 50 years in Britain.

...and like that; he's gone...
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NickIgoe
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Posted: 13th Nov 2003 20:26
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We have never had a problem getting music for our games. Basically what we do is go to MP3.com download some music find something we like then get in touch with the author. Usually we put a splash screen on loading in the game for them advertising there site. Most if not all the people we have got in touch with are more than happy to help. We have even managed to get original compositions. Basically if you got the balls to ask most people will usually be happy to help.

Nick Igoe
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