Ask HN: Female hacker/startup looking for copyright advice
Hi all - I'm working on dance choreography site. My vision is in the slogan, "Take a Choreo, Leave a Choreo": users will upload their original choreography, and in return, be able to freely user others' dance choreography - for recitals, dance workouts, small productions, etc. I'm a dance enthusiast and teach a few Zumba classes for fun; I started this site because I wanted something like this for myself.
Here's the link to my rudimentary prototype: http://choreoshare.com/ . There's no choreography on it yet, because I haven't figured out the legal issues...
Specifically - for the videos to really be useful, most of the choreography will need copyrighted audio in the background (Livin' La Vida Loca, for instance), so that people can tell what's happening on particular beats. There's a TON of choreo, with audio, on YouTube; I'm not exactly sure how they do this legally (or if they do).
So, a few questions... one, does anyone know of a way to legally include copyrighted audio in choreography videos, short of paying giant royalties? Is there a chance this falls under "fair use" laws, since the videos are meant for teaching purposes? Finally, does anyone have any experience with or knowledge about altering tracks to make them legal? For instance, the choreo could still be useful if it were synthesized somehow, or missing beats, and had just enough of the original structure to show the user how the choreography is intended to line up with points in the song...
Or, does the burden of providing legal videos lay enough on the user that I could start to promote the site before resolving all the potential legal issues? Is it better to ask forgiveness than permission and go forth boldly, or watch my back?
Many thanks for any advice you can give me. (: - A female hacker
IANAL, but I suggest taking a look at this book:
Making It in the Music Business: The Business and Legal Guide for Songwriters and Performers.
http://books.google.com/books?id=r8rU60NzsDMC&pg=PA42...
I think in the end you will be sued if you use any non public domain music. You may be found innocent in court under fair use, parody, education or some other loophole but it won't be until after buying your lawyer a new boat.
I'm sorry I can't be more help but this really sounds like you need to seek professional advice on the matter with someone in your jurisdiction. Nobody on Hacker News is going to know your situation well enough to give you anything conclusive.
As an aside, is there any particular reason why you're describing yourself as a female hacker? I'm just curious as to how your sex is relevant (from your perspective at least) to the discussion.
I know you want to hear different but it's illegal to use copyrighted music without paying the owners. Those YouTube users who do not opt to set their video to private are doing it illegally.
Fair use fro educators depends on several factors which I don't think are in your favor. One, fair use limits the percentage of material that can be used, and two, fair use must not hurt sales of the music. With your users likely uploading whole songs, and having the option to obtain paid licenses just like those for dance teachers and studios, either pre-condition is questionable.
BMI, ASCAP, and SESAC are the 3 orgs for the publishers, composers, and lyricists in the United States and they do expect choreographers and dance instructors to have licensing to use the music (Grand Rights). So do recording companies if you plan on using pre-recorded music. You could contact them and see what they offer.
Otherwise, you could make the choreos available to logged in users only. Private exchange of videos may be ok, plus it's much less likely the publishing companies will find out.
Thanks so much for the pointers. For now, I'm thinking that one option might be to just cut the audio out of videos, and expect viewers to figure out how the choreography lies. If the title says "Livin' La Vida Loca", but the video contains no audio, surely there wouldn't be legality issues there, would there?