Soundclick and copyright

[Stavencrows]

I joined soundclick - it looks like a good place to post up songs for free however I was unnerved by the legal disclaimer you have to agree to. It states that they reserve the right to perform and/or distribute your songs royalty free although you still retain copyright. I've not posted up any music on there yet as I didn't particularly like the sound of clause 1) in their contract. Can anyone put my mind at rest?

[scrubs]

Originally Posted by Stavencrows

I joined soundclick - it looks like a good place to post up songs for free however I was unnerved by the legal disclaimer you have to agree to. It states that they reserve the right to perform and/or distribute your songs royalty free although you still retain copyright. I've not posted up any music on there yet as I didn't particularly like the sound of clause 1) in their contract. Can anyone put my mind at rest?

Well, I don't know if I can put your mind to rest, but, basically, they are saying if you post mp3s on their site for free listening and/or download, those songs are not subject to normal performance royalties from P.R.O.s such as BMI & ASCAP. Soundclick is a free hosting site and doesn't want to pay/charge royalties every time someone listens to or downloads a song.

I guess they are also saying that, if your song is really great, they might use a sample of it to promote their website. The contract is terminable by you at any time, so, if you don't like what they have done to your song, you can pull your material from their site.

[Stavencrows]

I see, that doesn't sound too bad. Fortunately my they wouldn't play my stuff for free anyway the way it sounds at the moment.

[Toonsmith]

Scrubs has it right and I would add they also have a page during there upload process that specifically asks if you want to grant a license to others to use your music. I guess like beats, etc. That kind of stuff. I usually just put no to that. I figure if someone wants to use something of mine they should contact me directly.