At The Beach Movie

It has been a busy time for us at WBA and Nex-Core...

The venue - SL5B celebration sims.

Theme - At The Beach

Featuring the awesome summertime designs... enjoy

http://www.wba-advertising.com/atthebeach/atthebeach.html

Another good one, AWM.

I was wondering about using copyrighted music for commercial projects.

Any comments about that?

-r

When we use 'commercial' music, we first search various links we have that give us information about the status of the music. Some have lapsed into a level whereby you can use them as long as you use the aknowlements stated in the status of the copyright.
This can range between simply adding the track name and the artist, right up to including the stage hand that swept the floor after the record was cut.

There are a lot that will not allow you to use the music at all. Even some music over 25 years old, cannot be used as the copyright has been bought up and therefore renewed. Michael Jackson purchased a lot of Beatles songs for instance, as we all know, Elvis is still owned by the music producers/estates Graceland.

Some copyright stipulate that you can use a music track with provisions. Those maybe, no rebroadcasting, no editing, no inclusion into media materials that the producer makes money from. It is a potential minefeild. I believe this is how YouTube etc, have lasted so long, with the prolifercation of copyright music being used in various ways, probably on the basis that is it seen as, not for profit. However, should a company/individual use YouTube as a way of exposing their portfilio, and make gains by attracting potential clients, that net may close around them.

There are also numerous websites that you can get either no, or limited copyright, music from, some you have to become a member to gain access.

I sincerely believe the record companies/organisations cannot fully police the situation and maybe only target those that use the music, for copying onto CD's and sell them to the public. DRM is supposed to restrain the potential theft, but then you can download and use programmes freely that convert DRM protected media. However as a media company that do make money from our efforts (although our SL company only deal with the micro economies of SL, so is mainly for fun), we fully respect copyright and try hard to keep within the law.

What did your search results show for Mungo Jerry's In The Summertime?

Is it public domain?

- Infrared

It is not Public Domain... our information said the status was that the track could be used in other media, providing it is not sold. We also included the Artist and track name.

The movie we used it in, has no client and therefore we were not commissioned and or paid for. In fact, we (Nex-Core) held the show free of any charge, at the SL5B for entertainment value. As it was a group activity and great fun, I recorded it.

Thanks for the reply, AWM. I was mostly curious of your response
as you are running a business with a presence outside of SL and I assume
you do a fair amount of "paid" work.

I had misunderstood that the At the Beach movie was just for fun. The video
appears on the Nex-Core website as a promotional item for Nex-Core which
I assume is a "for profit" business.

I think the issue of copyrighted works is a troublesome one; and one
not very well understood.

Btw, where are you getting your information on copyright status?

That might be valuable for other artists here to know.

- Infrared

We have 2 structures within our group of companies.
If a Client is a RL company that is participating within SL, we charge RL values for their contracts.
If a company/organisation/individual is soley operating within SL, we charge SL economy rates. If that status changes to the first, then we swap the type of contract.

We do this to give those in SL, the same level of service and professionalism that would expect, without the RL associated costs. That is our 'investment' to the SL community platform. Some people are under the false assumption that we are expensive. Well that is a matter of personal valuation, some clearly do not, and our client range is from individuals wanting a wedding recorded, to a full blown RL TV media presentation.

The various groups, website associations, blogs and 'clubs' that I subscribe to (many are paid for services), I can gain information regarding copyright. There is no one or two resource places. Sometimes we will try and contact either the Artist, or Record Producers, direct, in order to ascertain copyright status.

Wherever possible, we try and support SL musicians, using their own music within our movies. This we hope will gain them additional exposure. However this is proving quite difficult, despite many many hours spent trying to convince them it would be good for all parties. Quite a lot of responce has been 'I'll supply you with permissions to use this track, for 25kL$', well in some cases, that is 100% of the total budget for the movie. In reflection, quite a lot of RL artists are happy for us to use their music, as they know the power of exposure, free of any charge. Even some older music can see a revival when used in this way.

Copyright is a minefeild. Mungo Jerry btw is alive and kicking, still doing gigs on the road and is well received at many venues throughout the UK. On a side note. In America you can hang your national flag on your property without hinderance, in the UK, we have to apply for special permissions to do so, and it has to be proven that you really need it!

Yes, the At The Beach movie is listed on the Nex-Core website. There would be little point making a movie that would never be seen. Overall, yes, the movie is part of the groups portfolio and could therefore be considered enveloped within our 'For Profit' banner.

You maybe surprised to hear that, quite a few of our movies made in SL, whether directly for a Client or not, rarely make our group any 'real' profit, unless you consider a few thousand L$ for 20+ hours work, real money. We employ 40+ people in our various activities within our groups, that is quite a liability, along with 5 streaming servers, teir, websites, forums etc all supported from our turnover. It is our RL contracts that really pays for everything we do in SL.
There is no doubt we could afford to have a couple of sims to do what we do, but our business plan is to only take on liabilities that will fit within the budget profile, that would make us 'affordable' to a large % of the SL community, not just 'corporates'.

Hey AWM --

Thanks for the lengthy reply.

Mungo Jerry's In the Summertime is probably one of the
safest commerical works you could ever incorporate
into a video.

Read an interview with Ray Dorset (the author and singer
of the song) yesterday and he mentioned living happily
on the returns of that song alone! Sold 30 million copies.

Cheers,
Infrared

Yes... I read that it sold over 17,000 copies on the first day of its launch! In the UK, In The SummerTime song, has become as synomomus with Summertime, as Wizards, I Wish It Could Be Christmas, or Slades, Its Christmas, with ermm Christmas lol.

The BBC would have us believe that Bing Crosby invented Christmas LOL.