Universal Music Shoots Down 8-Bit DJ Hero De-Make

[dakorok]

I feel that the majority of this could be protected under "fair use", but I commend Ruth's civility in the whole exchange.

It also accentuates the dick move on the part of the manager. Telling someone to "complain to their congressman" when they make a small interjection of their views, especially when they've already agreed to remove the offending material, is rather uncalled for.

 

[CrystalShadow]

I think there is easily an argument made against the statement, "Further, I note that by 'mashing-up' multiple copyrights, you are making fundamental changes to the music that may be considered derivative works."
It's not as if he is taking the original works and distributing them for free. The point of that copyright law is to keep people from plagiarizing and making money off that work.
It's not as if people are going to go "holy shit, check out this 8-bit version...why would you listen to the real thing?" If anything it'll get people interested in the real version of the song...and for that matter the ACTUAL FUCKING GAME that didn't do that great and needs all the (positive) publicity it can get.

If that was truly an issue, we wouldn't see any amateur musician on youtube playing their covers or mashups or whatever, as it would be far too damaging to the real thing.

What I don't get is what happened to 'fair use'.

Fair use covers reasonable minor exctracts of materials, but it also provides legal protection to parody works, or even critics for the purposes of being able to do their job at all.

After all, could a film critic do anything if they needed the permission of the copyright holder? They'd end up being coerced into only saying positive things.

Similarly, what copyright holder is ever going to give permission for a parody?

Along the same lines, how else are you supposed to make a project like this happen at all?
Shouldn't this be something that deserves some protection under the notion of 'fair use?'

 

[Nitro_Hedgehog]

at least valve is totally cool with demakes of their games and even ADVERTISED http://www.teamfortress.com/post.php?id=3683

gang garrison 2, a team fortress 2 demake! why? because valve is smart enough to know that parody's attract attention to the work that they parody.

 

[THEoriginalBRIEN]

Aw that's really crummy.

I hadn't heard of the game either, but it sure seems like a good idea.

It's unlikely that copyright law will be changed to anything remotely acceptable to the consumers, fans, and users of any type of media seeing how many other more important (don't take that the wrong way. Yes, I'm talking to you hair-triggered Escapist dweller) issues are on the table right now. And not to turn this into a political discussion, but Obama sure has failed to impress me these past few years and it's not surprising.

The best we can hope for is for big entertainment companies, independent developers, and the all us who enjoy whatever products they create can all come to an understanding on the financial and creative boundaries of the mediums we share. Highly unlikely, but as long as copyright laws are designed to serve primarily the Big Companies and pushed by their lobbyists, artists, developers, and consumers will all suffer at the hands of their lawyers through means legal or otherwise.

 

[Steve the Pocket]

Good ol' Activision, whenever someone does something innovative they swing the Copyright hammer until all the thumbs, and digits mistaken for thumbs, are a bloody mess.

Activision=Cunts

Though it's not like we didn't know that already.

Whats that Activision? Community led aprication and extension of your products? We can't let that happen can we. [http://games.on.net/article/7188/Modern_Warfare_2_shock_No_servers_or_mods_for_PC_version]

Activision get a fing life.

Good ol' Escapist forumites, posting the usual rage about companies they don't like without reading the fucking post. Can you guys please make this a bannable offense? Seriously, it would really improve the quality of posts on this forum.

Correct me if I'm wrong but wouldn's this fall under fair use?

Particularly because this is a tribute/parody that isn't being charged for

8 bit songs plus no money being charged for the thing equals fair use in my book, especially since you can listen to the all or most of those songs on utube in full definition with lyrics and actual instruments.

I feel that the majority of this could be protected under "fair use", but I commend Ruth's civility in the whole exchange.

What I don't get is what happened to 'fair use'.

Fair use covers reasonable minor exctracts of materials, but it also provides legal protection to parody works, or even critics for the purposes of being able to do their job at all.

After all, could a film critic do anything if they needed the permission of the copyright holder? They'd end up being coerced into only saying positive things.

Similarly, what copyright holder is ever going to give permission for a parody?

Along the same lines, how else are you supposed to make a project like this happen at all?
Shouldn't this be something that deserves some protection under the notion of 'fair use?'

Nope. Contrary to what a lot of people think, "fair use" doesn't just mean "It's legal as long as you're not charging money" or even "It's legal as long as it's already accessible for free"; if that were true, piracy would be legal. And this isn't really a parody either. Weird Al actually writes new lyrics and makes the songs into jokes. That's what a parody is. This is more like a cover, and while the absurd amount of covers out there would suggest otherwise, there are royalties involved in producing and distributing a cover legally.

Also, Weird Al does get permission for all his parodies (even though, yes, he doesn't need to), even the ones that openly mock the people he's parodying ("Achy Breaky Song", anyone?). I think most musicians would gladly allow that sort of thing, unless they're really full of themselves and super-serious. Which, ironically, would probably describe indie acts who distribute free MP3s of their songs more than the sell-outs on major labels.

This. This right here is why I hate copyrights and want to see them done away with.

Lest anyone infer from the above that I am some kind of copyright Nazi sympathizer, let the record show that I agree with this statement.

 

[Oilerfan92]

Is anyone being hurt or negatively effected ?

Is any money being LOST ?

Then why is this illegal ? I know by the books it's illegal. But why ?

If they were making it and intending on selling it. And a week before it came out some guy copied it and put it out for free (I know it's improbable and all that. But work with me here) then I atleast understand trying to stop it. This free version is taking money that would've been going to the company.

Sometimes I really do hate our laws and the system. They keep us safe and often help us. But every so often something like this comes along and brings us back down to earth.

 

[008Zulu_v1legacy]

Good ol' Escapist forumites, posting the usual rage about companies they don't like without reading the fucking post. Can you guys please make this a bannable offense? Seriously, it would really improve the quality of posts on this forum.

If you had read the entire topic, you would have seen that my original post had already been called out for misblaming Activision. An error I did infact acknowladge.

Its hard to see past rage, isnt it?

 

[binvjoh]

snip

I read the post. Still think they're cunts.

Also, banning me for expressing my opinion would be a rather big offense to my freedom of speech, wouldn't it?

 

[CrystalShadow]

Correct me if I'm wrong but wouldn's this fall under fair use?

Particularly because this is a tribute/parody that isn't being charged for

8 bit songs plus no money being charged for the thing equals fair use in my book, especially since you can listen to the all or most of those songs on utube in full definition with lyrics and actual instruments.

I feel that the majority of this could be protected under "fair use", but I commend Ruth's civility in the whole exchange.

What I don't get is what happened to 'fair use'.

Fair use covers reasonable minor exctracts of materials, but it also provides legal protection to parody works, or even critics for the purposes of being able to do their job at all.

After all, could a film critic do anything if they needed the permission of the copyright holder? They'd end up being coerced into only saying positive things.

Similarly, what copyright holder is ever going to give permission for a parody?

Along the same lines, how else are you supposed to make a project like this happen at all?
Shouldn't this be something that deserves some protection under the notion of 'fair use?'

Nope. Contrary to what a lot of people think, "fair use" doesn't just mean "It's legal as long as you're not charging money" or even "It's legal as long as it's already accessible for free"; if that were true, piracy would be legal. And this isn't really a parody either. Weird Al actually writes new lyrics and makes the songs into jokes. That's what a parody is. This is more like a cover, and while the absurd amount of covers out there would suggest otherwise, there are royalties involved in producing and distributing a cover legally.

Also, Weird Al does get permission for all his parodies (even though, yes, he doesn't need to), even the ones that openly mock the people he's parodying ("Achy Breaky Song", anyone?). I think most musicians would gladly allow that sort of thing, unless they're really full of themselves and super-serious. Which, ironically, would probably describe indie acts who distribute free MP3s of their songs more than the sell-outs on major labels.

I realise this is a response to multiple people, but I wasn't implying that it should be legal as long as it's free, but more expressing a degree of exasperation at the amount of interesting ideas that are crippled by the need to ask permission from copyright holders under circumstances where it's highly unlikely they would do so.

What is the point behind 'fair use', if not balancing out the rights involved after all? (mind you, fair use doesn't even exist as a legal concept in the country I live in, so it's a bit of a moot point.)

Let's put this slightly differently; Can you concieve of a practical way of doing a project like this at all, considering the limitations imposed by copyright?

(Actually, that reminds me of the website of the person that created 'Classical Gas', which explicitly says he won't give permission to use his song for charity or 'free' purposes.
Why not? Because giving legal permission for something costs him money. - Of all the reasons I can think of, that one is perhaps the most messed up of all.)

 

[The Great JT]

Played it, beat it, enjoyed it. Play it if you can.

EDIT: Uh...whoops. Wrong thread. I am so sorry for dragging this back up.