Myspace Store

[Rusty K]

Hi,

I was thinking about signing up with the MySpace Store to make my songs available for download/purchase, however after reading the agreement on MySpace I'm hesitant. It seems they have the right to do anything they want with what they term "digital fingerprints" even after one decideds to terminate the agreement with them. Could someone enlighten me on just what this term means?

Thanks,
Rusty K

 

[junplugged]

Hi,

I was thinking about signing up with the MySpace Store to make my songs available for download/purchase, however after reading the agreement on MySpace I'm hesitant. It seems they have the right to do anything they want with what they term "digital fingerprints" even after one decideds to terminate the agreement with them. Could someone enlighten me on just what this term means?

Thanks,
Rusty K

Damn right, it sucks. I even think that they could be selling your stuff with out you even knowing it, but probably not on a cd.

the 'agreement' even goes as far as to say that if you take your content off, even if there is a backup of it somewhere on their data storage, which of course they have kept just for that purpose permanently, forever, then they have the rights to do whatever they want with it. so i stopped after one song, i'm done with that, time to move on to something serious, i'm not just giving away my copyrights like every other musician over the past millenia.

of course, they are constantly selling ads on your content and making money there and not sharing any.

in case any one of the 150,000 songs gets popular, they have rights to it, so they've invested in keeping it. and it costs too much to fight, so i'm not playing their game. if my stuff is worth anything, it's worth it to me to do my own site, even if i pay a monthly fee for hosting.

i'll use myspace to point to it, and i'll just put a clip on there maybe, or an interview with clips, that's my next plan to post on it.

 

[Drumz519]

Does this apply to Snocap as well or is that what this is all about?

 

[DavidK]

Hi,

I was thinking about signing up with the MySpace Store to make my songs available for download/purchase, however after reading the agreement on MySpace I'm hesitant. It seems they have the right to do anything they want with what they term "digital fingerprints" even after one decideds to terminate the agreement with them. Could someone enlighten me on just what this term means?

I wouldnt worry about it. Anyone who signs up for anything has that apply to them in theory. If you have a music site that doesnt offer tunes for sale, it says the same thing. There are bigtime artists on there, those guys arent gonna be taken by myspace, its probably just legalese.

There are 192 million people on myspace. The copyright violations must be in the billions, maybe trillions. That said, its a big business and big businesses do big business on it. Its going to have a major influence on the next election, its for real. With all that, they arent going to steal your songs, there are so many millions of songs on it that the chance they even come across it is astronomical. Dont lose any sleep over it.

 

[Rusty K]

Damn I haven't figure out how to get email notices for posts to my threads. Please don't think I just blew this thread off. I still haven't decided what to do about this.

Yes they probably wouldn't ever get interested in a song on MySpace unless sales somehow took off. I'm betting those songs get noticed by the company....and then what? My lawyer against theirs and they have an agreement which I signed. On the other hand it would be nice to get noticed at all even in that context.

Rusty K

 

[danny.guitar]

I'm pretty sure just about every online music distributor is like that. I think the same rules apply to www.garageband.com.

You should already have your songs copyrighted and registered at the Library of Congress before putting them on the internet, especially before selling.

I personally wouldn't worry about it. It probably just means they are allowed to still use (sell) your song even after canceling your account. Some other sites also may edit the mp3 file before putting it on something like an internet radio. All of these sites share basically the same agreement.

 

[splooiesir]

You should already have your songs copyrighted and registered at the Library of Congress before putting them on the internet, especially before selling.

Could you explain the process of this?

 

[Rusty K]

I've tried to contact MySpace for clarification but they haven't responded.

Danny...no offense but "pretty sure" and "probably" can get you into trouble. The copywright thing is always a good idea but it costs money.

Rusty K

 

[DavidK]

Could you explain the process of this?

You fill out forms and send a check. You might send a lead sheet of copy of the recording. It's fairly easy.

Danny...no offense but "pretty sure" and "probably" can get you into trouble. The copywright thing is always a good idea but it costs money.

Yes, it costs money. However, you are concerned about someone stealing off of you, yet wont go through the expense of protection.

Record labels have been stealing since the days of wax cylinders. Its their turf, if you dont like it you can probably try and start your own. However, if you start to sell myspace downloads like hotcakes, you WILL know. People will talk about your songs, do a vanity search for your name. If there is a buzz going you will find out. In the meantime I really wouldnt sweat it.

 

[splooiesir]

Isn't there a free way to do that though? I remember something about a digital copyright that doesn't cost any money.

 

[DavidK]

Isn't there a free way to do that though? I remember something about a digital copyright that doesn't cost any money.

Not that I am aware of. In theory, once you write a song, it is copyrighted.
However, if one is ever in the position to test that, it means that some substantial amounts of money are involved. Lets face it, nobody will sue you for 5 bucks, and likewise you wont do the same.

If there is a copyright battle, odds are very good that some serious money is involved unless it is a company like MacDonalds or Disney suing over a name. Otherwise, if a company somehow rips you off, they are definitely going to have a top lawyer and know what they are doing. Therefore, any grey area might not stand up in court but a proven copyright method will.

 

[danny.guitar]

I've tried to contact MySpace for clarification but they haven't responded.

Danny...no offense but "pretty sure" and "probably" can get you into trouble. The copywright thing is always a good idea but it costs money.

Rusty K

Yeah, don't take my word as a guarantee, but in reality there really isn't much to worry about. It's your music though, so of course you will need to make your own decision.

Copyrighting used to be $15. Then it went to $30. Now I believe it is $45. You need to download the correct documents, I think it is a Form PR or Form SR or something. I've only done it once awhile ago and have forgotten. You should check out:

http://www.copyright.gov/

Also, I'm pretty sure you can copyright a whole album at once, thus only paying the $45 fee once. This is something that I believe they explain on their website.

 

[splooiesir]

I can only post URLs after I have 5 posts or more, so....

 

[splooiesir]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Creative_Commons_licenses

is what I was thinking of.

 

[Rusty K]

I didn't mean to get a tread started about copyrighting....That's probably been covered here and could be easily searched.

My original question was about the "digital fingerprints" thing in the MySpace Store agreement. I'll say one last thing about this....I've never been particularly worried about being ripped off, however, to me in consenting to this agreement you are actually signing away some of your artists rights.

All your audio files are time dated on your computer. That's validation in a court of law. So is an unopened registered letter of your material to yourself but we've seen the horror stories like the George Harrison lawsuit where he was found liable for four notes of a melody. Do you think that he didn't have a copyright on his song? I'm sure he did. It just points out that anything can happen in a court of law. It's my lawyers againt yours and the outcome is most likely determined by who was able to buy the best. That's not to say that justice is never served, it is, but often times it's a crap-shoot.

Rusty K

 

[DavidK]

All your audio files are time dated on your computer. That's validation in a court of law. So is an unopened registered letter of your material to yourself but we've seen the horror stories like the George Harrison lawsuit where he was found liable for four notes of a melody. Do you think that he didn't have a copyright on his song? I'm sure he did. It just points out that anything can happen in a court of law.

I cant think of a better example of copyright infringement than George Harrisons song. It's not "4 notes", not by a long shot. I was about 7 when "My Sweet Lord" came out. I heard it and said " Hey, thats the same song as that other song". Copyrighting doesnt mean squat if you copyright someone elses song.

 

[Rusty K]

I never made the connection of My Sweet Lord and 4 or 7 notes, big deal. I doubt that George H. ever made the connection either. Intent should have something to do with it as well. There are only so many notes and cords in music, you're bound to use some of them over. I could find you hundreds of worse infringements that go unlitigated.

Having said that I certainly would never deny that black artists have been ripped off over the years and I'd bet except for the public humiliation of the whole trial that G H felt the same. The very idea that a Beatle had to rip someone off is ridiculous. Had he known there was a problem he could have bought their whole portfolio. Get real!

Rusty K

 

[Rusty K]

DavidK,

Let me see in 1970 when My Sweet Lord came out you were 5 years old. Man you were really hip for your age!

Rusty K

 

[DavidK]

DavidK,

Let me see in 1970 when My Sweet Lord came out you were 5 years old. Man you were really hip for your age!

Rusty K

It was released in January of 71, I was born in 64.

I was a child prodigy, I was studying at the time. Classical music is WAAAAY different than popular. I was taking violin lessons off of a Boston Symphony member in 1970. I was really getting into Beethoven, my parents bought me all the symphonies in a set.

Almost every pro classical musician started at an incredibly early age. Yo-Yo Ma played at the White House when he was 5. I was doing concerts at 7. I was a little freak.

 

[DavidK]

BTW, Harrison eventually bought She's so Fine.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_Sweet_Lord