Using BBoys music

[jahlaundromat]

Two of my favorite things in the world are the BBoys and Star Trek. I created a Sims 2 video of the song Sabotage with a Star Trek story to it. It is a growing community... people creating videos of songs with video games.

BUT the issue of fair use has arrisen. I did not get permission from the band or the label to do this, even though I was not trying to get money for anything from this. I own the album (all the albums) but that's not allowance to use copyrighted material. I'd like to take it to the fans before taking it to the courts.

PLEASE, tell me if you think I'm a pirating bastard or if this is harmless fair use.

Here's the link if you wanna see:
http://www.sims99.com/movie_details.php?dir=jahlaundromat&id=395

[DJ BC]

How has the issue of fair use arisen? Have you been asked to take it offline? Why the talk about "taking it to the courts?"

Are you planning to sell this? If not, and you are just sharing it, you are probably OK unless it gets huge, in which case you would likely get a cease and desist order from the Sims people. The B-Boys are pretty laid back about it (hence this board) but I am sure they would be annoyed if you were selling their stuff. In any case if you arent making money you probably cant be sued, you would just be ordered to take it offline.

If you do plan to sell it somehow, you would need to get sample/copyright clearance from both the makers/copyright holders of the music and the videogame folks too.

[tracky]

Video game company folks won't care, it's all advertising for them.

[DJ BC]

Actually thats not true, Nintendo sued Lil Flip for "Game Over."

[jahlaundromat]

Thanks guys. No this is not a courtroom issue. On another forum, there was a musician who spoke out about the ethical issues of gamers using copyrighted music in their animated game movies. I thought the BBoys were an especially interesting subject for this debate as they have had complaints of their own in the past from labels for sampling their artists' work. This forum is also unique because the BBoys are offering a place for fans to showcase their own sampled music. Thanks.