Copyright Infringement Awareness

Everyone posting videos to YouTube wants popular music for their videos, including our own "Wildcat TV", a high school TV show made by student, for students. 

It's vital to know what Copyright Infringement is and how to respect the law that respects original artistic creativity. 

From the Web:

Copyright infringement is the use of works protected by copyright law without permission, infringing certain exclusive rights granted to the copyright holder, such as the right to reproduce, distribute, display or perform the protected work, or to make derivative works.

Wildcat TV is one of the many school-based non-profit TV programs offered to students in educational institutions and may rely on 'fair use' to only a certain extent. Many songs are protected by the distributor of an artist's music. YouTube will not hesitate to mute [silence] any part of a school TV show that has used a song that is protected. 

So, research what will happen if a particular song is used. This music policy search service is provided by YouTube (see here: https://www.youtube.com/music_policies ). They make it easy to allow users enjoy popular music without disrespecting the artists that create it. As we all have seen, a throwback song can enjoy fame again through a viral video with a ton of shares. 

Visit ASCAP web site to see what efforts are made to protect artists: https://www.ascap.com/help/ascap-licensing

Learn the process: write a letter to the distribution company asking for permission to use a song. Review Chapter 12 in Textbook: 'Legalities, Releases, Copyright and Forums' to become the smartest person in the room when it comes to fair song use and lawsuits. 

Yes, of course there have been many lawsuits over music! Here is Rolling Stone magazine's "10 famous Copyright Infringement Cases" here: songs-on-trial-10-landmark-music-copyright-cases