Upcoming Music Changes and Copyright Related Action

[anross]

Would be cool if people got refunded with the robux they spent. (gamepasses, uploading audio etc.)

[anross]

As far as I know, sound effects won’t be removed but copyrighted music will.

[Extuls]

So, the question may have been answered, though if it was the answer felt too vague to me to click after reading the whole discussion.

If we make a boombox/radio pass, can we or can we not allow users to play any audio ID they want?

[buildthomas]

@Nightgaladeld

As a reminder, our Terms prohibit the use of music unless you own it or it is properly licensed.

You may only allow players to play properly licensed music.

Meaning:

• Music that has been marked as “free to copy” (previously “free to take”).
• Your game may use up to 250 tracks from this collection by Roblox.
• Any music you upload yourself (assuming you properly licensed this).

This means you may not allow players to play just any music asset, because you don’t have the license to all music assets uploaded to Roblox.

[centraltrains]

It’s too hard to find the long versions of songs in the catalogue. I end up finding lots of shortened versions saying “See for full version” which doesn’t help or a lot of versions which are cut short, and for some I can later find a full version for… Annoying there is no exact search term (which I know of) for the search… #Feedback

[TaaRt]

To give a bit of implementation-based context to this; am I correct to assume that a pass (or boombox gear), that only plays music after the marketplaceservice confirms it’s free to use, is allowed? Essentially still allowing any ID to be entered, but having a check in place to ensure it is free to use before actually playing it, as opposed to completely removing the possibility for users to request their own music.

[KnightGaladeld]

@Ben_Est

To expand on this,
I have a library of a few hundred songs, of which I have a license for. I also have around 10,000 sound effects.

Will sound effects generally be impacted? If I have a proof of license and the audio was taken down, will there be an appeal process where I can send my license to Roblox and have the take down lifted?

We have more information on this and can follow up on your behalf. Please follow the instructions below.

@Nightgaladeld

If you have created or licensed music specifically for Roblox and you are concerned about it being removed as part of our automated process or it has been removed, then please email us at devrelations@roblox.com with the subject “Licensed Music” and provide as much detail as possible about the affected music.

[Ultraw (UltrawGames)]

According to this, It seems like the 250 song rule doesn’t apply to custom music gamepasses

@new_storm

The Licensed Music that Roblox provides is for all to use as long as they follow the ToS. Players who have purchased Game Passes that allow them to play music in a game can still access the hundreds of thousands of licensed works that are available on Roblox. Developers may offer some fun suggestions of the Licensed Music to their players or work with composers to upload original music for their players to listen to.

[Cindering]

I’m still confused about the 250 APM licensed song limit with respect to boomboxes.
From what I’m understanding, you can still let players input their own sound IDs, as long as you respect the “free to copy” setting. But if players can input their own sound IDs into a boombox, there’s literally no way to enforce the 250 APM song limit across your entire game. Does the limit only apply to APM songs that the developer himself inserts into the game?

[Extuls]

Also, the limiting rules are a bit odd to grasp in these cases. If a user plays an APM audio in a server, would that count towards a server total? Or is it fine as long as they can’t possibly go over 250 at once?

[Extuls]

But why is it on the developer if a user plays an audio which shouldn’t even be on Roblox? It seems more like the developer should be able to assume any audio a user can play by ID is okay to be played, otherwise it shouldn’t even be on Roblox.

That being said though, I do understand other developers uploading their own original sounds and not wanting them played in someone else’s game. Though these audios just shouldn’t be playable by a setting in the audio on site, so that the makers of the audio have control over whether or not third parties can play the audio.

[r_r]

Can non-music related sound assets be considered intellectual property, and protected by copyright, such as gun sounds, or UI button click sounds?

In addition to that, there are plenty of free sound effects in the catalog, so is it suggested to immediately remove those as well, if you don’t have sufficient information as to who created them originally? This topic seems to revolve around music, so I’m unsure if the same rules apply to some, or all sound effects.

And finally, do we have to email devrelations even if the audio in question is royalty free?

[buildthomas]

@Extuls

Also, the limiting rules are a bit odd to grasp in these cases. If a user plays an APM audio in a server, would that count towards a server total? Or is it fine as long as they can’t possibly go over 250 at once?

You should ensure your game cannot possibly play more than 250 tracks of this list, regardless of per-server or the time at which they are played.

@Extuls

But why is it on the developer if a user plays an audio which shouldn’t even be on Roblox? It seems more like the developer should be able to assume any audio a user can play by ID is okay to be played, otherwise it shouldn’t even be on Roblox.

As you say: “developers uploading their own original sounds and not wanting them played in someone else’s game”.

@Extuls

Though these audios just shouldn’t be playable by a setting in the audio on site, so that the makers of the audio have control over whether or not third parties can play the audio.

This would make it impossible for developers to license usage of their uploaded sounds to each other. That would inhibit developers in some cases.

[SteadyOn]

This isn’t really a question of whether or not things are intellectual property, it’s a question of whether or not Roblox is enforcing that without the need for a DMCA. From this post it would seem that they are only removing music, but any sounds made by someone else are their IP, and therefore may be removed because of a DMCA or future roblox action.

[SteadyOn]

If I had a changing list of 250 songs, but ensured that, per server, only 250 of these songs would play, would this be ok? Or does the game need to be only able to play 250 songs ever? What if I wanted to switch out the list later on and remove the old audios for new ones from the same APM library?

Also, this setup seems very confusing for literally everyone on the platform, why put them in the library just like any other audio (especially for free) if they have restrictions on them that every other audio does not?

[sleitnick]

So I tried to read this, but maybe I missed it.

I have a bunch of music, but it was royalty-free. I assume this is fine to have uploaded still?

[buildthomas]

@SteadyOn

If I had a changing list of 250 songs, but ensured that, per server, only 250 of these songs would play, would this be ok? Or does the game need to be only able to play 250 songs ever ?

There is no “per-server” terminology used anywhere in this thread. This is per game. Your game may only be able to play up to 250 songs from this collection. It does not matter what one server plays versus the other, the restriction applies over your whole game’s version at any point in time.

You are free to add or remove songs to your game as long as your published version of the game doesn’t use an amount that exceeds 250 from this collection. (servers are not relevant)

[RickyTheFishy]

This is an awesome move that will certainly help increase the quality of the sound in games. Though are there currently any plans for a streamlined way to confirm licensed music? I know this is something that comes up when doing things like featuring.

[buildthomas]

Roblox recently made a change to the “Make free to take” property, it is now displayed as such:

For intents and purposes of the featured category: you may assume you can freely use assets that are marked as “Allow Copying” (coming up as “Free” in the library).

[r_r]

What if the asset allows copying despite not being royalty free? Is the asset creator or the game developer at fault?