I found this audio
https://www.roblox.com/library/246131152/Africa-8-bit
I really like it but I’m not sure if I’m allowed to use it.
The original Africa by Toto song is copyrighted but am I allowed to use this version?
This would go well with my game’s theme
(shameless plug)
https://www.roblox.com/games/4419893655/Whisperbit-BETA
I’m no lawyer, but I believe no
Having study copyright with music in particular, to remix someones work you technically need permission from copyright holder of the original piece of work. That’s why on a lot of royalty free assets it may excpicility say that you may or may not make changes on their piece of work. I highly doubt this person has gained permission by Toto to remix their work. So while yes, it’s technically breaking copyright laws, the chance of Toto filing a claim against your game and near nil.
So in short, no you can’t because it’s still under copyright. But the person who remixed it is also breaking the copyright, and they haven’t gotten in trouble, so I highly doubt you would either. I know a ton of games that use original music that is well and truly copyrighted, but don’t get any warnings.
The person who remixed the track would definitely need a license to do so as producing remixed music doesn’t fall under fair use of copyrighted work, but they might have remixed and published the track for personal/non-commercial use. Using the track in your game is by definition using the track for commercial purposes which is 100% not allowed when you do not have a license.
“They got away with it so you can likely get away with it as well” doesn’t apply when the two cases are widely different. Because something was made and will now exist on the internet forever doesn’t equal being able to actively use that something in a commercial product.
You do not have a license, so you are not allowed to use it. Copyright action can be taken against you or your game even though you have used a sound that was uploaded by someone else.
Ahh ok fairo. I knew of all the copyright stuff, but just figured since I’ve seen people use copyrighted stuff before and not get into any problems, kinda just assumed that you could ‘technically’ do it, whether or not it’s allowed, as copyright law seems to be abused on Roblox quite a bit
Getting away with something now doesn’t mean being able to get away with it going forward. While there might not be any direct impact from using copyrighted work in your game, you will not be able to enter the STARS program (without breaching the agreement) or be featured on the platform.
I get where you’re coming from, but never give the advice that someone can get away with using copyrighted work when there is plenty of royalty-free music out there. Artists, composers and musicians are game developers too and you don’t want to steal from your industry colleagues.