Question About Clearing A Sample

[Mix Master Deluxe]

Hi guys, first post here. I'm a noob to making my own music so forgive me if this is a stupid question.

I recorded a short sample of a YouTube video clip of the movie '2001' that I loop throughout my song. It's clearly identifiable as being from that movie. What are the copyright infringement implications of this?

If I was to use it on a demo song, i.e. not on an album that I sell... I'm OK there right?

What if I was to include it in a song on an album that I'll (attempt to) sell?

[Retrosaurus Rex]

Actually, you can be dinged just for posting it on YouTube, altho practically the only thing that will probably happen is your vid would get taken down. It would be impossible to release commercially without clearing or replacing the sample.

[Mix Master Deluxe]

No no. I took the sample from a video clip on Youtube, I guess that doesn't matter cuz it was just a clip of a movie and that's the matter at hand. So the answer is yes, I need to clear the sample, thanks.

[john]

yep, you would be advised to clear the sample especially for any commercial release, the simple fact being that no matter how you came by it, it is still a sample of a copyrighted work being used without permission. True on the demo you maybe less likely to be taken to court, but it does not alter the fact that you would be acting in breach of copyright. if you are at all contemplating a commercial release, and using it as a demo to shop around labels, publishers, venues etc... it is surely better to build upon songs that would not be cause for concern. Better to take the steps now to get it cleared so you can get ahead and make something of the track knowing you have the owner's permission.

Getting it cleared should be a fairly straightforward process.

[Prometheus]

On youtube you can often get away with it because google have agreements with many royalty collection agencies.

Releasing something commercially would be another matter of course.

[TapperMike]

How youtube treats the content varies. I did a video tute with a song in the background that lasted 5 seconds which is supposed to be well within the fair use policy and was in reference to a commentary on the song. I still got a take down order from youtube of which I quickly complied. The notification came via EMI to youtube and then to me.

Honestly I didn't want to lose my channel and even though I did everything right in regards to copyrights and usage EMI still wanted to send me a message. I may have chosen to ignore the notice of infraction and nothing would have happened. I could have stated my own case which is well within "acceptable use" but it really wasn't worth the aggravation and further hassle.

[Prometheus]

Yeah it varies dramatically... You can find your video blocked in some countries but not in others, you find that it varies dramatically depending on who owns the copyright.

One thing I will say for them, they have recently drastically changed the appeal process and made it much easier.