I am working on a game which focuses on driving. While you are driving, you’re able to listen to turn on the vehicles radio and flip through different stations. And so it’s important, for the quality of the game, and for user experience, that I pick decent, high quality music which fits the feeling of the game. One problem is that, I don’t know what’s copyrighted and what’s royalty free, as some of the music I’ve picked out have very limited information on the internet, some don’t even have publishers.
A - If I use copyrighted music without knowing, or if I use or preform a cover of copyrighted music, what are the consequences?
How would Roblox deal with it? Would it get my game or account taken down?
B - How would I go about licensing music for use in my game?
I know some small time record businesses in small areas with top notch music, who would accept a couple of hundred dollar bills.
C - If I could get licensed music, but only for my games on the Roblox platform, how would Roblox deal with other players using the sound ID?
A - If you don’t own the asset, or the explicit rights to use the asset, and there’s no other info available, that typically means you can’t use it. If the asset owner sends Roblox a DMCA takedown request (people, please for the love of god stop saying you’ll get sued), the consequence is the asset is removed and you receive a strike. Three strikes, your account (or game?) are removed from the platform.
B - Not every song can be licensed, either due to the creator not making that info public, or not being able to contact the licensing people for whatever reason. That still doesn’t mean you’re allowed to use the song though. If you want to at least explore this option, I’m sure with enough digging you can find their email to get the ball rolling.
C - Same rules apply for other devs on Roblox. Just because you bought the permission, doesn’t mean they did, and can receive their own copyright strike if the creator sends Roblox a DMCA takedown request.
D? - If you really want to be safe, you can use the songs Roblox corp uploaded to the site to use for free, or google specifically Creative Commons License 0 songs, since that means a creator has put their work online for free, no strings attached (it’s still nice to give credit though!).
A - That’s understandable. I’ll always assume a song or cover isn’t for reuse, first. Then research it.
B - Yes, not every song can be licensed. But there’s one small time record business, and they have an office literally a few hours away from me, with their email on their website and easily contactable. I’m just not sure how the process of licensing music would work out.
C - Here’s a scenario: Let’s say I was really lucky and I was given the rights to use Мы - русские (We are the Russians’) by Zhanna Bichevskaya, but the license states that the music can only be used in my games on the Roblox platform. How would Roblox deal with people taking the sound ID and using it in their own games? If the creator files a DMCA takedown on those other games, would Roblox replace the music with Jazz, even though I have the rights to use it?
D - Not possible for my goals. I’ve spent hours through out the days on the Roblox library looking at what Roblox has uploaded. And I’m sorry to say this, but the free to use music Roblox uploads are just terrible, and even the ones which are somewhat acceptable, just don’t suit the feel of my game.
There’s plenty of places to start researching on google. Nobody here is a licensing lawyer, and I only told you what was posted from previous announcements about the strike system.
That’s likely something you’ll need to figure out with the contract, and deal with Roblox if that happens.
Search google for CC0 music then. I’ve looked before, there’s plenty.
The real issue is that all these things are pretty variable and case-by-case, so we can’t give you a step-by-step guide on how to do this. Just treat your game as a business (it is one), do some research, and take baby steps. If your game doesn’t have 100 songs on launch, nobody is going to complain.
I have a load of place holders, some of which I’m going to keep. I have taken a look at some Creative Commons License 0 audio, but again, only very few of them are suitable. Thanks for the recommendation again. I’ll just have to discuss it with my team.
I do have one more question I’d like to ask.
Depending on the year of which a record was released, it’s classified as public domain. I believe anything before 1972 falls into this category, but I maybe wrong. I’m also not sure if this is the case for European law. I also know for a fact that the Beetles’ single “Love me do” is under public domain, thought it was released during the 1960s. But it wasn’t public domain until recently (2019). So if I do upload “Love me do” by the Beetles’, would Roblox filter it out and deem it copyrighted after scanning the audio, like it does with other music?
Again, I’m not a copyright lawyer, so this is something you’ll have to find out yourself. I don’t know if some counties have different laws for copyright, but it’s worth ensuring that the US one at least is followed.
I’ll keep that in mind, thanks for all your help. I’ll just have to work my way around it for now while I’m in the process of gaining information about licensing.
As a composer and arranger for music outside of Roblox, I have a bit more info for this on top of what @Aotrou has already shared with you.
Public domain, well, anything, is something created over 100 years ago. 1970’s music does not, and will not, fall into this category, at least for another 50 years. Furthermore, using big-name band music, like the Beatles, Led Zepplin, AC-DC, or other larger name bands(Or composers) will likely end up in copyright strikes even past this 100 year mark because oftentimes, these songs weren’t copyrighted for a decade after their creation, and there is no statue of limitation on when you can copyright music.
An example of a song being copyrighted way, way after it’s time is Happy Birthday, by Chuck E Cheese’s. Your best bet in order to get music to fit your game specifically is simply to pay someone to make it for you. You then have license to use that music for whatever you want.
I’m sorry none of this is particularly helpful for you to get what you want, but it is the reality of the world we live in. Because ROBLOX is a US based company, and because US patents/copyrights are accepted just about everywhere except China, US Copyright Law is the most prevalent to follow.
If you’d like more info, the US Copyright office has published the full, up-to-date text of Title 17 online. Look up “US Copyright Law” or “US Copyright Title 17” and find the .gov website that has a 2 megabyte link when you scroll down.
Thank you for that information, I’ve found a solution after discussing it with my team. However, I’m unable to access some U.S. government websites. I’d assume my ISP is either blocking them or they are flagging my IP. Regardless, I’ve found a quick solution for now, so I’ll come back to this topic later when I plan to start removing place holder music for something higher quality.
Understandably, there wasn’t a clear answer to this, but I get the idea. Of course we’re not lawyers’ or solicitors’. Thank you for your time and research, at this time, I’m in need of information regarding this topic, and you (plural) helped me well.
