Music on Roblox TOS Rule

Hello, I just want clarification about this particular TOS rule.

It says creators cannot create a “music library” within an experience containing licensed music, however, Murder Mystery 2 shows a collection of songs which you can pick from and therefore it’s classified as a small library.
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I’m not sure if it means a library of songs to sell. If I were to create a library of licensed songs from APM (for example) into a scrolling frame, I can’t do that? and if I can’t, does it only apply to APM music or all licensed music?

It doesn’t seem clear, what if I wanted to increase the discoverability of songs for players in my game by adding a library to play songs from a boombox rather than getting them to find a song externally?

@sleitnick ’s plugin is technically a music library within a UGC, you have to buy the plugin to access a library of songs…

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Hey @Abroxus ,

I suggest fully reading the entire section again (if needed)
not just the part you highlighted, for better clarification.

And this article should probably give you the answer to your solicitousness :+1:t6:

I read everything, it’s just the music library part doesn’t make sense.

I see you edited your original post as I sent mine, and included further detail.

First of all,
I want to say I get where the confusion comes in, but it makes sense.
it’s probably both the reports you made just happened to fly under the radar, for as long as it did.

Secondly I personally do not play Murder Mystery 2,
therefore I cannot speak on that specifically, but there seems to possibly be ambiguity or a loophole with the rule itself.

But I will say according to the “foregoing” rule the plugin should definitely be flagged,
as for the game,
Going by your screenshot I do not recognize any of the listed songs shown, nor am I able to tell how many songs are included so I cannot tell if it exceeds the allowable limit.

In the case that it does, then your report is fair and they were the ones in the wrong and there’s nothing you should be puzzled about.

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The rule is that an experience cannot be a music player in and of itself. This is due to licensing restrictions with APM which require that it’s used as part of other media (movies, games), and can’t be used or uploaded to a streaming platform.

An experience that is a game where music can be played is allowed.
An experience that is solely a music player is not allowed.

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This rule enforces that you cannot create e.g. audio player used to stream the catalog audio (in a way how e.g. Apple Music or Spotify does).

Murder Mystery’s player is a boombox player, which is allowed.

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So let’s assume, that a player had a UI of songs that they can pick from, is able to navigate through different type of songs, they can use that to copy a song ID and put it in the boombox ID through UI, at the bottom of the screen it shows the type of song that they are playing. So essentially, because the music is coming out of a boombox it doesn’t fall into being a music player?

I get what you are coming from, though, thank you.

It’s because it’s a murder mystery game, not a music streaming application.

So a music library/catalog type of game is not appropriate on Roblox for the purpose of making music more discoverable for players? Players can be given codes which they can use to use it in a boombox, that’s the purpose of the game. They can also hangout & possibly try changing audio properties in game.

Correct, that would violate the terms of use.

Understood. I just want 1 more confirmation, I heard about a 250 sound limit where one must only have their experience hold up to 250 songs, however, this rule seemed to only apply for APM music, and not other licensed music, so I’m wondering whether this “licensing restriction” (the one I noted initially) is just part of APM or applies to all other licensors as well that Roblox has connected such as Clippsly (@CryBlania), monstercat etc

From what I’m seeing inside of the Roblox’s Terms of Use, Music on Roblox section refers to all audio assets provided by a third-party onto the platform.
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And if you dig deeper APM is shown as an example of a third party

For example, if Roblox identifies the owner of Licensed Music as APM Music, Creator can message that the Licensed Music is provided “Courtesy of APM Music.”

And then the section 5.a.iii comes in which says:

Notwithstanding the foregoing, Creator may not use Licensed Music to create a streaming service or music library within an Experience or other UGC, nor may Creator charge Users to listen to a specific track of the Licensed Music. Creator has the right to place, play, and have played up to 250 distinct tracks of Licensed Music at any one time in a single Experience or other UGC With Licensed Music. Creator can replace existing tracks of Licensed Music in an Experience or other UGC with new tracks at any time, provided that at any one time there are no more than 250 tracks in such Experience or UGC With Licensed Music.

That directly means that this rule involves ALL of the audio assets provided by a third-party, terms-wise of course. However it may be different and a case to case situation as not every distributor is on the same licensing terms.

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Yeah I get that, my worries came from the assumption that not every distributor has the same licensing terms so perhaps, I could create a music library using music by that particular distributor, but to be safe I will just assume the rule applies to all distributors, thanks.

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