NOTICE FROM GLOBAL DJ FEDERATION
LL adheres to the DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act) http://secondlife.com/
They are looking specifically for DJ's that are playing OBVIOUSLY stolen music.
We all like being able to fulfill requests, but don't put both yourself and the club at risk. If you don't know how to change the title of a track, ask for Help. It's not hard to do, so stop being lazy and clean up your tracks! If all else fails, DON'T PLAY THE TRACK!!
If an infringement violation is filed against any one DJ, both the DJ and the owner(s) of the stream allowing the music to be played are subject to a $500.00 USD fine. Accounts that are unable to cover the cost of the fine are simply frozen until they can.
If you download music, please ensure that it is LEGAL, or at the very least, ensure that tracks are LABELED CORRECTLY. (i.e. no "with lyrics")
DJ's that are currently including illegal/mislabeled tracks are now putting both the RUBBER ROOM and themselves at risk. Therefore, we cannot afford to send out warnings to individual staff members, but will instead immediately remove offenders from staff. It's nothing personal.
Harsh, but there's not much else that we can do.
If LL employees are going out and about in SL looking for stolen content, this would be an extreme departure in regard tp how they have always handled matters related to theft of intellectual property. The copyright owner must notify LL of the violation, by fax or written letter, before LL acts to remove allegedly infringed upon material. LL does not seek out stolen intellectual property. LL has no authority to act on behalf of copyright holders, that is not their function. In order for LL to police music venues as suggested, LL employees would have to notify the copyright owner, who would then need to respond (and most likely make some attempt to have a listen for him or herself) and file a notice with L, after which LL would act and then it would have to go through legal channels and a court would have to rule on whether it is indeed a copyright violation, etcetera. Essentially, this piece is reporting a rumor ... some verification on such a policy from Linden Labs would give credence to this rumor and would be most welcome. The link to LL's own DMCA policy belies what is stated here.
ReplyDeleteThis rumor has been circulating in Second Life for years, I think most serious DJs are probably well aware of the significant issues surrounding the DMCA and know how to protect themselves. I have to wonder just how valid the report itself is. In the eyes of the law, unless you are making a real monetary profit from the music, many feel it falls under the fair use act, it's no different than having your stereo playing in your living room and having 20 of your friends there for a party. While SL does offer a large audience, fact is, it's still contained and isn't considered a "paying" audience. I think for the most part the best way to go about it, short of buying the music legally, would be to at the very least, rename/retitle the tracks, although let's be realistic on this, you should be doing that anyways, any music I buy, I rename anyhow, it's just good practice, I don't like including album information, it's not needed, I stick to a band name - song name format and put marginal notes sometimes in the titles depending on the song, if it's an acoustic track, if it's an older 70s - 90s track, I'll label it as such, (acoustic) (1972) as it helps me to keep my digital music sorted for special events such as 70s night, or depending on the venue you are in.
DeleteEither way, I think the original post is absolutely necessary in at least showing those who don't know the in(s) and out(s) how to properly protect themselves, but ultimately, I find the validity of a LL bulldog out there trying to bust people for illegal music to be a bit much. If someone comes in an complains that a DJ, club or owner is allowing and/or playing DMCA protected content and an official complaint is registered, I could see why they would interject and fine whomever is responsible. However, it seems to me that this would be an extremely arduous task and highly unlikely to be the normal practice of LL.
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