Using copyrighted music on youtube

[Jobos]

I've been trying to get my head round music copyright today as the pupils have been making videos using photo story, added backing music and have now started uploading them to youtube.

 

I understand the school needs a licence to use the music but which one? As I see you can get a ppl or pps licence to be covered for music and to make things worse youtube spotted some of the videos have used copyrighted music and says this clip may be blocked in some countries.

 

I've spoken to prs and they pointed me to this page Limited Online Music Licences (LOML) but after reading other users plight when using music just paying prs £122 looks too easy and I could be heading for a fall.

[sonofsanta]

PPL and PRS are the two music licences, each covers half the labels (simplistically speaking) so you need both.

 

That licences you to play music on your premises, however - e.g. having a radio on, showing films with soundtracks, hold music for a phone system. I imagine the labels would see uploading to YouTube as a separate activity, and require a specific licence/permission.

 

However - and I know nothing about this - doesn't YouTube have a system for linking which song you've used? i.e. when there is a link underneath the video to the Artist - Song. I assume that must cover you in some regards, as loads of videos online do this...

[Jobos]

However - and I know nothing about this - doesn't YouTube have a system for linking which song you've used? i.e. when there is a link underneath the video to the Artist - Song. I assume that must cover you in some regards, as loads of videos online do this...

 

I've called prs back to confirm and was told youtube have their own blanket license so we don't have need one but if the videos were hosted on our own site we would so I'm very happy about that

[Marci]

YouTube's method of covering this is... er... shady at best, but they have their own deals with various labels in various countries to recompense, not that the artist will see a penny of it.

However, PRS are incorrect. YouTube don't have a blanket license. They blanketly allow stuff to be put on there, and allow it to stay on there until an artist files a complaint regarding the use of their copyrighted material. That then starts a process off, and will result in either ads or links being added to your video, or it's soundtrack being removed, or the video being removed. YT also have a ContentMatching system that will scrape and automatically ID copyrighted music within a video. This gets applied regardless, more or less on upload as it processes the vid, and will automatically notify you that such n' such may appear on the page alongside that video or as an ad before it (whether the content they decide to insert is suitable for a school audience is something you have no control over).

 

Basically, that was PRS washing their hands of you. If one of the artists (or their label) doesn't already have a ContentID system going with YouTube, they can still approach YT and demand it be pulled, and also fire you a nice reminder letter regarding the use of their material accompanied by a sternly worded instruction not to do so in the future. I had one 3 months ago from Paramount giving me the option of removing the video inside of 24 hours of receipt of their letter, or outside of 24 hours paying £60k in fees and removing the video, paying £60k in fees and back-paying the correct license fees for the piece, or see them in court.

 

This covers the basics of what PRS and PPL cover...

A guide to licences

 

And this website attempts to inform as best possible on the matter - Schools and Copyright

 

If you google it to dive further, don't confuse US fair use / educational use with the UK's... our laws are much stricter and less flexible than the US's "Fair Use" system in Education (ours is referred as "Fair Dealing" tho if you want to look up on it).

 

Ultimately, the only safe advice I'd give - get familiar with freemusicarchive.org and the CreativeCommons licensing scheme. These are your only truly safe bet for use of music to accompany video (but only if the creativecommons license applied to the work allows it - eg: if it says no modification, you can't crop it short - that's modifying the piece).

Edited May 23, 2013 by Marci

[Jobos]

Damn... and I thought I was out of the woods!

[CAM]

It used to be that you could upload music as a backing video and nobody particularly cared as the odds of someone noticing were slim unless you got a ton of views from the video. Still illegal but the chances of actually getting caught were slim and there wasn't any real comeback for minor infringement.

 

Now we live in a world of content scraping, direct threats, indexing systems, content scraping and a dump-truck full of copyright violation notices landing on Google's door each day with disproportionate fines, fees and extortions being imposed on people for minor infractions. Even prison sentences and deportation to the US for some more major cases. The answer: it just isn't worth it to use commercial tracks as the artists have no say in their music's usage, bullies in suits do and they will bully you and the kids with very unfair threats and sanctions. Stick to your LA's own music archives or use sites like ccmixter.org

[Marci]

Of copyright & licensing in the UK for Education

What are the essential licenses here in the UK then?

 

VIDEO!

 

PVSL - The Public Video Screening Licence is an annual licence which allows licence holders to screen unlimited films from participating studios on DVD or Blu Ray. With a PVSL you may screen your own legally acquired DVDs throughout the year for one low annual fee to a non-paying audience. This is the handy one to have to let you show DVDs in the hall at lunch time when it's lashing it down, or whack a DVD on in class on the last day of term, or run a film club. Generally you'll also need an MPLC license too. LEA schools MAY be covered under their LEA's blanket license (but check with them as not all LEAs provide this one). Academies / Independents etc will likely need to source their own to allow staff to show retail DVDs & BluRay in lessons - Public Video Screening Licence - Filmbank Distributors

 

STSL - The Single Title Screening Licence is issued on a title by title basis and allows you to screen either, (a) Commercially (to a paying audience) or (b) Non-Commercially (free of charge with or without external advertising) - Single Title Screening Licence - Filmbank Distributors

 

MPLC - The above video licenses generally will need to be accompanied by an MPLC Umbrella License. The MPLC covers all the studios and production houses that the PVSL doesn't cover - MPLC | Motion Picture Licensing Corporation

 

 

MUSIC!

 

PRS - The 'public performance' license which allows you to play/perform a copyrighted work. Music is performed 'in public' when it is performed outside what could be regarded as the domestic circle or home life. This includes music performances – of live and recorded music or music from TV and radio – in premises from concert halls to corner shops. So basically, all schools need this simply to be able to turn a radio on on the premises, let alone put a CD on in the classroom. However, in the case of recorded music, you ALSO need a PPL license. The important part here: you can only listen to music as part of the curriculum directly relevant to teaching and learning. The license does NOT cover you for simply having background music on in the classroom / office / staffroom - there is a separate tariff that needs to be bolted on to the regular PRS for Education license to cover this (contact CEFM for info - Education licensing with CEFM). Again, LEA tend to have a blanket license. Academies / independants may need their own - Educational establishments

 

PPL - fka MCPS (Mechanical Copyright Protection Society)... PPL collects and distributes licence fees for the use of recorded music on behalf of record companies and performers, while PRS for Music collects and distributes for the use of musical compositions and lyrics on behalf of songwriters, composers and publishers - Businesses - PPL

 

 

RECORDED VIDEO / DIALOGUE FROM TV OR RADIO!

 

ERA - The ERA licensing scheme is specific to schools, and permits us to record for non-commercial, educational use only, broadcast output. This is the license that lets you record something from BBC1, bring it in, and put it on in class for students to watch as part of a planned lesson covering an area of the curriculum. The license is only valid if the recording is labelled in accordance to the ERA's guide - ie: you must label the item with the date you recorded it, the name of the broadcaster, the programme title, and the wording "This recording is to be used only for educational and non-commercial purposes under the terms of the ERA Licence". Recordings stored digitally on a server should include the above four items as a written opening credit or webpage which must be viewed or listened to before access to the recording is permitted. Note this doesn't cover ANYTHING broadcast - you can't record SKY1 for instance and use that - they're not ERA members. This license covers BBC, Channel4, Channel5, and ITV network, and their regional counterparts. Check the memberlist on the ERA website basically - The ERA Licensing Scheme

 

ERA+ - this license specifically allows you to take an item recorded from TV under ERA above, format-shift it, and pop it online for the use of only staff and students for the purposes of home-learning only, and must be secured from public viewing. This'll cost you 30p per student you have on roll. This doesn't allow you to do the same with content from YouTube / that DVD you got for christmas etc. This solely covers stuff recorded from broadcast medium for the purposes of teaching and learning only - The ERA Licensing Scheme

 

 

ASSEMBLIES!

 

CCLI - This one covers the use of religious music, hymn books, lyrics projections etc for the purposes of CHRISTIAN religious worship - CCLI : Welcome to CCLI's Homepage for Schools : Christian Copyright Licensing International (United Kingdom)

 

 

NEWSPAPERS/BOOKS/MAGS!

 

NLA - The NLA license allows you to copy and distribute content from national printed press. They provide a free license to schools - just head to http://www.newspapersforschools.co.uk/paper_copying.aspx to get one.

 

CLA - the CLA license allows you to photocopy, scan or retype books and magazines, copy existing ebooks etc - see http://schools.cla.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/Schools_Licence_User_Guidelines.pdf

 

All of the above must also be renewed annually. There are no perpetual licenses when it comes to copyright.

 

 

Looking specifically at the topic at hand, music on video/powerpoints...

 

NONE of the above allow you to modify any of the works in any way, nor to format-shift them (eg: rip DVD to a video to store on the network, rip an audio CD to MP3), nor to use any piece of music for backing on a powerpoint or video (known as syncronising). To use a piece of copyrighted music on a video or powerpoint, you need to contact the publisher of the work and negotiate 'Mechanical & Synchronisation Rights'. They'll bill you for their time, as well as the licensing fees. The permissions for EACH tune will need to be negotiated individually with each publisher.

 

A Mechanical License – This gives you the right to use a specific song from the publisher of that song. The money from this license is paid to the publisher, and a portion is paid to the song writer(s) through royalties.

 

A Synchronization License – this gives you the right to use a specific recording of a specific song performed by a specific artist. The money from this license is paid to the publisher and a portion is paid to the recording artist(s) through royalties.

 

 

So, what options are available to schools then for adding music to student-created videos?

 

1) Get a student to compose a piece and give you permission to use it (students hold the copyright to all their own work).

2) Compose a piece yourself (but note that if you do this during work hours as part of your job, the copyright belongs to your employer unless you have a contract which specifically states otherwise, not to you, so you can't use the same piece if you leave to work elsewhere).

3) Use something that is Creative Commons Licensed, specifically under Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial license. Now, syncing music to images (ie: adding a soundtrack to a video) is classed as "transforming the music", therefore anything with a Creative Commons No Derivative Works license CANNOT be used - https://creativecommons.org/legalmusicforvideos contains links to websites where you can acquire Creative Commons licensed music, but remember to check the individual license for each piece you want to use before you download it, and ensure that it is licensed under Attribution-Noncommercial.

 

Uploading to YouTube specifically? You have a further option...

 

4) If the video doesn't have dialogue or soundeffects, then use YouTube's audioswap feature which will remove any audio the student has chosen to use and replace it with something that YouTube holds the license for. This only makes the soundtrack legal ON YOUTUBE. If you then download it from YouTube and add it to your own website, or burn it to DVD and distribute for free, that's NOT legal (nor is downloading a video off YouTube to start with, for educational use or otherwise). If you EMBED it from YouTube, that's OK. - AudioSwap - YouTube

 

 

Educational Use / Fair Use

 

Many staff get confused by the whole "Educational Use" and "Fair Use" thing and will try to argue their case that whatever's going in is happening in a school and is thus exempt... it's not. "Fair Use" doesn't exist. That's the US version. Here it's called "Fair Dealing" and the terms are very different from "Fair Use". "Educational Use" does exist, and allows staff to use works for the purposes of teaching and learning only. The last day of term DVD doesn't count as teaching and learning within the curriculum.

 

Fair Dealing breaks down into three areas...

 

1) Non-commercial research and private study

o Music, films & broadcasts are expressly excluded in this instance so may not be copied.

o Whether research is commercial or not has to be judged on a case by case basis. It is the purpose of the research not the researcher that is considered, but any activity which generates income may be regarded as commercial.

o Only single copies may be made & must not be republished, posted on a web page edited or dealt with in any other way.

o The work you copy must be acknowledged – so remember to note the full bibliographic details of the work.

 

2) Criticism and review

o The work being copied must have been made available to the public.

o The work must be sufficiently acknowledged.

o It may be permissible to copy the whole work for these purposes.

The work containing the work being criticised or reviewed must contain a considerable amount of comment and analysis.

 

3) News reporting

o Photographs are not included.

o The work must be sufficiently acknowledged.

o The work being copied need not be current, but the news must be of current concern.

o The reporting must be reporting to the public.

 

And then you have the Educational Exceptions...

 

Giving and receiving of non-commercial instruction (i.e.: for teaching a curriculum lesson where that item is relevant to the lesson not background music), & exams and assessed work – including setting, communicating and answering the questions (the exam board covers this).

 

FINALLY, THE BEST RESOURCE

Copyright and Schools: photocopy, scan, screen or broadcast copyright resources in classrooms - simple advice for teachers - this lovely little website will walk staff through a series of questions finding out what they want to do, and whether they can do it or not and what licenses they'd need to do so. Get this added to your staff portal or VLE and get staff into the habit of referring to it!

 

Links to all the official docs (ie: the full Copyright, Designs and Patens Act 1988, Digital Economy Act 2010 etc etc) can all be found yonder: JISC Legal's Frequently Used Legislation

Edited May 24, 2013 by Marci