Please obey copyrights!

Dear forum members,

It is important that everyone thinks twice before posting links to content outside the forum. Because the legal position differs from country to country, we have to remain vigilant that posts do not contain links to copyrighted material where the copyright owner is not posting the link. Special attention needs to be paid when you post links to music downloads as well. This means that we might remove links from posts with no further discussion or justification if there’s any doubt.

YouTube etc.
Please do not post links to music tracks or videos unless 1) the site is licenced to do so 2) you own the copyright in that content or 3) you have permission from the copyright holder. Sites like YouTube are currently in high level legal negotiation with various labels, publishers and collection societies and as such Steinberg cannot allow links to tracks and videos on these sites.

Steinberg obviously wants people to respect the copyright in its software and as such we must help protect the rights of other copyright holders.

Once sites like YouTube are properly licenced then we can look at this issue again but until then we cannot allow YouTube, etc links where the material is a copyright infringment and these will have to be deleted.

Steinberg have sought legal advice on this and this is the way we have to do it.

Thanks for your understanding.

7 Likes

Sorry, but, does it mean that we cannot even post links to our own youtube videos?

Is one of these (from above) true in your case?

Hmm, I can’t figure out from that:

  1. What “unless the site is licenced to do so” means. What site? The vid site, e.g., YouTube, etc.? How do we know what licenses YouTube has obtained?

Or, do you mean don’t post a link unless the YouTube poster has the legal permission (i.e., respecting copyright) to do so?

  1. If the latter, how does one determine whether the poster of a specific YouTube, Vimeo, etc. is “licensed to do so”? We’re not lawyers/copyright investigators! If the poster doesn’t say otherwise, can we assume it’s ok? I’m thinking of vids like all the ones with titles like, “5 Tips to Better EQ”, or “Here’s me playing a song I wrote”.

And what about, “Here’s me playing ‘Yesterday’ by the Beatles”. On what basis do we assume the vid performer/poster has or has not become licensed to post? Are we supposed to make judgements that the 15-year old recording from his bedroom didn’t obtain license, but Dolly Parton did? If so, on what basis?

Given what seems like an almost infinite amount of uncertainty about licensing issues associated with probably most/almost all YouTube/Vimeo etc. postings … how does S. determine whether a link to a video runs afoul of its rules?

2 Likes

It’s quite simple. If you own the copyright you can post, if it violates a copyright, don’t.

The purpose of this forum is for people to share and discuss music they make using SB software. Please start a separate thread if you wish to continue discussing these issues.

4 Likes