Music Copyright on a network

[rocknrollstar]

Hi, anyone know have ideas on this situation?

 

The school wants to improve their childrens knowledge of current songs through utilising their interactive whiteboards. They want to know if they can place backing tracks of songs on their teachers pool in files relating to each term. This would give the teachers the opportunity to reinforce the learning from assemblies. If the school owns the original copy is it ok for them to do this or will they be breaching copyright?

Cheers!

[LeMarchand]

Sounds legally iffy to me, but is yours the only school in the world where the kids aren't more up to date on "current songs" than the staff? Also, if they are planning terms in advance, surely what's current this term will be out by next term (if not next month?).

 

(I'm getting very cynical in my old age!)

[JJonas]

Sounds dodgy to me as well. You are not allowed to reproduce music in electronic form without permission of the copyright holder. Technically any music on an IPOD not purchased from ITunes is illegal. If you are putting MP3 files in a common staff user area how are you going to stop the staff ripping off all the latest songs and taking them home?

[ryxin]

It is better to ask permission first to the Music copy holder, so you will not breaching as being copyright.

[tonyd]

Technically any music on an IPOD not purchased from ITunes is illegal.

 

I think this is taking it a little far, I know Apple dominate this market, but there are many ways you can legally purchase MP3s (with or without protection), and other ways than iTunes to get them onto an iPod.

[Tcsltd]

I think you might need a music license for this.....a few months ago the Performing rights society started ringing business (not sure if schools got the pleasure also) and telling them that if they had a radio, tv or cd player on playing music (even hold music) we would get fined for not having a license!!

 

This might tell you.....

 

Educational establishments

[powdarrmonkey]

OP: you need a PRS license, and you need to take advice from them and not us who are not copyright experts.

[rocknrollstar]

Thanks for your quick replies- very helpful!

[stinkfoot]

You need to find out if your school or the local authority are responsible for the payment of a music copyright licance. The likely hood is that the school is responsible. check out the link below for advice

 

A Guide to Copyright Licensing in Schools

 

as other posters ahve pointed out, a pool of music on a network without w licence is a big no-no!

[MrBeatnik]

If it's from a CD, being a CDA format, it's only sybolic links on the disc that you can see, so a direct "file copy" wouldn't work anyway. You probably can't rip to MP3 for placing on a network under most licenses, if I remember correctly.

 

In similar situations, we have created an ISO and used such tools as MagicDisk to mount the ISO. Provided there is a license available to play the disk "in class", this has not been a problem with copyright holders we have checked with (most CD's in this situation are for teaching - ie languages etc).

 

With certain App Management tools, you can point the application to have permissions on the network directory, rather then the user - in effect the user cannot "see" the ISO file, but the program can.

 

Of course, there is a matter of trust in this situation as with giving them the physical disk - once the ISO is mounted or a physical disk is inserted in the drive, they could use another ISO tool to take an ISO copy.

 

Ultimately, as mentioned, PRS would be required (as clubs/restaurants etc need to play music to public), or a special license (ie if the disk is specifically purchased for classroom environment).

[Sylv3r]

Not sure what the legal implications are for the use of spotify or we7.com in an educational establishment - but this may be possible if you read the small print or someone else on here might have a better idea.

[AngryTechnician]

Not sure what the legal implications are for the use of spotify or we7.com in an educational establishment - but this may be possible if you read the small print or someone else on here might have a better idea.

I've recently read the Spotify licence for this very reason and there is no provision for educational use. The licence is very clear that it is for personal use, and that any use not expressly mentioned in the T&Cs is prohibited.

[elsiegee40]

We have a PRS license and staff have to log every piece of recorded music that's used in the school when they use it.

[buzzard]

I knocked back spotify also in our schools as it clearly states personal use only in the T&C

[K.C.Leblanc]

We have a PRS license and staff have to log every piece of recorded music that's used in the school when they use it.

 

I've presented on my local radio station. We were required to write down the song name, artist, the length of time we played the track for and the serial number from the spine of the CD. I really can't see teachers taking the time to do this.

[zag]

Most people will tell you to do things officially, but I personally wouldn't bother