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FamiTracker > General > FamiTracker Talk > Huge Project! Owner: Quickman

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Posted: 2008-09-20 17:39

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Cheez

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#1723

furrykef wrote:

Quickman wrote:

As far as I know, they can only sue if I make money out of this.

Well, you're still infringing on the copyright, which means they can sue you. They very very probably won't, but they have the legal right to and you'd have no way to win if they do. I don't think it's really worth worrying about, but Metallica is one of the more litigation-happy bands out there.

I must say you're a lot safer if you only cover a few songs instead of a whole bunch of them, though.

- Kef

Last time I checked it wasn't illegal to make a cover.

Posted: 2008-09-21 04:55 (Last Edited: 2008-09-21 04:56)

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furrykef

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#1730

It's not illegal to make a cover, no. It is illegal to make a cover without permission or paying royalties, at least under U.S. law (and probably almost everywhere else). A cover version is a derivative work of the original, and only the original copyright holder or people they authorize are allowed to create derivative works.

An exception exists in U.S. copyright law: you're allowed to make a cover version of a song by taking advantage of a "compulsory license" wherein you're free to use the song as long as you pay royalties for it as specified by the law. But you can't do it without paying the royalties. So making legal chip tune covers is beyond the means of most people unless you're selling them for enough money to cover the royalties -- not very likely. If we could make money doing chip music, we'd be doing it, right?

But, as I said, I don't think anybody really cares, as long as you're not doing it on a large scale. It's not terribly different from, say, fan fiction, which is also illegal, but it's everywhere and nobody ever sues.

- Kef

Posted: 2008-09-21 09:05

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Dave
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#1735

Yeah like furrykef said, and if vgmusic.com is anything to go by, unless you make a big scene or are making a profit, it isn't going to be an issue. It's been running for over a decade now, and only a few people have ever filed complaints/cease & desists/etc. to the site.

So yeah. Technically illegal, in reality it's more of a fair use thing (fan-art if you will).

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