Can you provide a code snippet ala Anaminus’s that determines this “Free” state? I don’t know MarketPlaceService well and the “Free” label seems ambiguous: title, description, free-to-take, a new metadata tag for this purpose, etc.
If you’re referring to the existing free-to-take/public domain/free model/whatever, that will interfere with non-APM songs on roblox that have been made free (although many of these I foresee being removed as they are copyrighted)
So just so I’m understanding this correctly, when it comes to player played sounds, just make sure they’re free to take. If they are free to take, they also can’t be from the APM library? This seems like it’d involve making a lot of unnecessary calls to GetProductInfo.
Honestly, this could be handled in a better way.
AAA games use copyrighted music all the time, but they give credit where it is due. As long as there is no money being derived from the audio itself, and credit is given, it falls under the fair usage act.
Instead of just purging radios and the audio asset library, enforce a credit system. Youtube does this. Don’t allow revenue to be generated from the audio. Revenue generated by the game itself is not related to the audio. Require that any copyrighted music used in game is credited under a “Credits” tab on a game’s page or something similar. Even better, do what youtube does - automatically add the audio credit under the “credits” page on the game’s page.
Seriously, do not remove the ability to play any audio in-game. Players love playing music over radios in game. Not from presets, they want a specific song.
A youtube-like approach would be a lot better than just blatantly purging the audio pages. Allow developers to upload licences proving that they can use audio, etc.
This next part is probably irrelevant, but I find a lot of music I like through Roblox. A lot of the audio I have in my inventory serves as ‘bookmarks’ to songs I like listening to on youtube. A good portion of music I listen to nowadays is music I initially discovered on Roblox. Had it not been for Roblox, I wouldn’t have found these songs and bought them for my personal music library. Purging the library will destroy this for everyone.
TL;DR : As long as a game isn’t making money from audio itself, the use of said audio shouldn’t be restricted.
EDIT : Will update this post with more feedback as it comes to mind.
Developers are able to contact roblox and provide license information via e-mail. Info about this is at the top of the thread.
RE: your edit: players are still allowed to play audio in games. The only restrictions are being set on the APM audio.
So wait, you gotta contact Roblox for every individual song?
Surely you’d think Resh’s idea is a lot more efficient.
https://wiki.roblox.com/index.php?title=API:Class/MarketplaceService/GetProductInfo
I am referring to the “IsForSale” “IsPublicDomain” key. For sounds this is set to true when the user checks this box: (this was formerly the “Copylocked” button)
I agree this should be implemented in a less messy/confusing way.
This can be done in one GetProductInfo call, see Anaminus’ snippet above (only needs to be adjusted to filter out non-free assets as well with the same result from the GetProductInfo call).
That’s really helpful, thanks!
I don’t see anything in the instructions about emailing that limit it to one e-mail per song.
It’s still more of a hassle than it should be
I doubt an automated system would work because as soon as someone finds a way to trick the automated system into falsely-approving a song, the method will spread and illegal copies of other audio will be uploaded.
I think you should be using IsPublicDomain instead. IsForSale only returns true if you can actually buy the asset with Robux, not get it for free.
Thanks for the correction! That does indeed seem right.
I don’t know how efficient it would be but couldn’t they have moderators that would check the audio off as good to go?
Anything’s better than having to personally email Roblox to get your audio approved for use. That should all be done on site, without having to contact them via email externally.
I don’t see why this is an issue. You registered your account to an e-mail, correct? At least with an e-mail, you can get a return e-mail with the status of your license acceptance. Currently Roblox moderation has very little in the way of feedback.
A credit system like @Reshiram110 suggested seems a lot more efficient, that way the information and credit about the audio is displayed right there on the game page too. Audio being accepted is a yes or no question.
I like Resh’s idea because it seems a lot more ‘friendly’ to me than having to send an e-mail. I feel like in the long run something along the lines of his idea should be incorporated. Whether it’s by e-mail or not. It’d be nice to keep track of the tracks that are used in game on the games page along with if they were accepted or (if declined they wouldn’t show in the credits). It would need a lot of refining but yea.
Anything to keep track of what songs you can use in your game would be nice and as long as we can use the music we’ve always liked using (with permission of course) we wouldn’t mind as much. I’m questioning if things like Nintendo music will be allowed with permission considering Youtube allows videos with Nintendo music in them (such as gameplay) and that doesn’t result in your video being taken down.
I am using music that is copyrighted by a popular artist but I have written permission to use it from the artist directly. It will probably be automatically flagged. If the audio is flagged for copyright, how can I dispute the decision?
You can send an email to Developer Relations (see details below):
Will Roblox be taking down audio that has been re-orchestrated (as such music is not a violation of copyright)? As long as I have the rights to use it? ie. Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker (Morning Chime) re-orchestrated by ZREO
Performances are copyright to their creators. So, instead of breaking Nintendo’s copyright (although I’m dubious about this ‘it doesn’t break the original owner’s copyright’ thing), you’re breaking the copyright of the performers or whoever else owns the performance.
This is why my church, The Robloxian Christians, has its own license from Christian Copyright Licensing International. Now all of our audios are actually protected. 