I searched for a bit about copyrights and stuff about published Minecraft maps. Some provide useful information, but it didn't clear all of my doubts. So since 2019 is coming, I'd like to ask here.
(Here we assume that Minecraft Maps don't make money at all. It's purely published for people to play)
1. If I used copyrighted music (such as those in iTunes), without asking, is there ABSOLUTELY no way I can use it?
2. Are there free musics/sound effects online that allow us to use in-game? Played either by note blocks or by resource pack. If I can, how should I credit it? (like the format or requirements of it). If I play the music, do I have to do /tellraw to display the credits immediately? Or can I just put the credits at the end of the map?
3. If I ask somebody to create original music for me for my maps (not for sale so it might not be found on the Internet), can I use it? If so, how should I credit it? Or, is it necessary to credit them at all? (like if I don't credit it, somebody will email me and ask where the music comes from)
4. If I make my own music for my own map, do I have an option of not crediting myself?
Thanks for your time. It will save me a lot of time deciding whether I should put custom music or not.
I searched for a bit about copyrights and stuff about published Minecraft maps. Some provide useful information, but it didn't clear all of my doubts. So since 2019 is coming, I'd like to ask here.
(Here we assume that Minecraft Maps don't make money at all. It's purely published for people to play)
1. If I used copyrighted music (such as those in iTunes), without asking, is there ABSOLUTELY no way I can use it?
2. Are there free musics/sound effects online that allow us to use in-game? Played either by note blocks or by resource pack. If I can, how should I credit it? (like the format or requirements of it). If I play the music, do I have to do /tellraw to display the credits immediately? Or can I just put the credits at the end of the map?
3. If I ask somebody to create original music for me for my maps (not for sale so it might not be found on the Internet), can I use it? If so, how should I credit it? Or, is it necessary to credit them at all? (like if I don't credit it, somebody will email me and ask where the music comes from)
4. If I make my own music for my own map, do I have an option of not crediting myself?
Thanks for your time. It will save me a lot of time deciding whether I should put custom music or not.
1. No. You cannot use any copyrighted songs. The owner of the song can easily sue you.
2. Yes and no. Ask the owner for proper credits but, it doesn't confirm the fact that it is still made by the owner, so there's a small chance he/she can sue you for monetizing his/her work.
3. Yes with proper documents and proof that the song was made for you. You wont have any trouble using the song.
1. It's very unlikely that the publisher of the music that you used would come after you, but it's still preferable to either create your own music for the map or use other's music (with permission). Copyrighted music in maps is, legally, not advisable, but in reality, all it would really affect is any potential playthroughs of the map posted online (I'd personally recommend making a musicless version of a map in addition to a music version for this reason, alongside space and performance reasons). Just, don't attempt to make money from your map in any way if you're using copyrighted material in it.
2. I'm not aware of any places to find free-to-use music made specifically for Minecraft, but technically, you can use any music that's in the public domain or, once again, ask permission from a smaller artist (say, on YouTube) to use their music in the map. Depending on the type of map, I'd argue credits should go at the end of the map if it's meant to be an immersive adventure map experience or upon playing the song if it's a map focusing on minigames or similar things tonally. You can also include a document listing all the music/map credits separately if you have a large number of them.
3. You can use it as long as you have permission. Credits for the song would be done as you would expect or differently if the music artist requests a different method of crediting (this would likely be done in the "ask permission" part). By default you would credit the music artist, but if they request to remain uncredited, you must honor that request.
4. You would be the music artist in this case, so you wouldn't be required to credit yourself if you do not desire to be credited.
The main takeaway is that, if something isn't made by you, you should obtain permission if possible to use it and credit it in a certain way.
1. No. You cannot use any copyrighted songs. The owner of the song can easily sue you.
2. Yes and no. Ask the owner for proper credits but, it doesn't confirm the fact that it is still made by the owner, so there's a small chance he/she can sue you for monetizing his/her work.
3. Yes with proper documents and proof that the song was made for you. You wont have any trouble using the song.
4. Yes
We know it is rude to monetize other people's work without their permission.
But I don't agree that music shouldn't be allowed to be used for non profit reasons in private. In fact one can make an argument of fair use since when you purchased a copy of a song off itunes or whatever other organization, you are entitled to use it for personal use in the privacy of your own home anyway.
Mojang could have introduced a feature where you could conveniently load mp3's, oggs or flacs of custom music for the Jukebox if they wanted to
the easiest way to evade a copyright lawsuit is to code this feature in a way that prevents it from being audible by people who watch a stream.
And also only make it audible to friends on a server if they have a legal and legit copy of the same song from either itunes or Amazon music etc.
Otherwise only the person playing the song would hear it.
A feature like this isn't beyond the capability of Mojang, if they need permission what reason would the copyright holders deny it? it can't be that complicated to program into the game.
The way I see it is the copyright excuse is just a cop-out, free texture packs could potentially be used to violate someone's copyrights on artwork, but so far Mojang hasn't removed this ability from the Java version of the game for said reasons.
I searched for a bit about copyrights and stuff about published Minecraft maps. Some provide useful information, but it didn't clear all of my doubts. So since 2019 is coming, I'd like to ask here.
(Here we assume that Minecraft Maps don't make money at all. It's purely published for people to play)
1. If I used copyrighted music (such as those in iTunes), without asking, is there ABSOLUTELY no way I can use it?
2. Are there free musics/sound effects online that allow us to use in-game? Played either by note blocks or by resource pack. If I can, how should I credit it? (like the format or requirements of it). If I play the music, do I have to do /tellraw to display the credits immediately? Or can I just put the credits at the end of the map?
3. If I ask somebody to create original music for me for my maps (not for sale so it might not be found on the Internet), can I use it? If so, how should I credit it? Or, is it necessary to credit them at all? (like if I don't credit it, somebody will email me and ask where the music comes from)
4. If I make my own music for my own map, do I have an option of not crediting myself?
Thanks for your time. It will save me a lot of time deciding whether I should put custom music or not.
1. No. You cannot use any copyrighted songs. The owner of the song can easily sue you.
2. Yes and no. Ask the owner for proper credits but, it doesn't confirm the fact that it is still made by the owner, so there's a small chance he/she can sue you for monetizing his/her work.
3. Yes with proper documents and proof that the song was made for you. You wont have any trouble using the song.
4. Yes
Hey, I was checking out my old threads and realized that somebody answered to this thread.
There are still some questions unanswered, so I'd want to bump this thread instead of making another one.
Can somebody else give this question a try as well?
Also, thanks for the reply, Euvrounin.
1. It's very unlikely that the publisher of the music that you used would come after you, but it's still preferable to either create your own music for the map or use other's music (with permission). Copyrighted music in maps is, legally, not advisable, but in reality, all it would really affect is any potential playthroughs of the map posted online (I'd personally recommend making a musicless version of a map in addition to a music version for this reason, alongside space and performance reasons). Just, don't attempt to make money from your map in any way if you're using copyrighted material in it.
2. I'm not aware of any places to find free-to-use music made specifically for Minecraft, but technically, you can use any music that's in the public domain or, once again, ask permission from a smaller artist (say, on YouTube) to use their music in the map. Depending on the type of map, I'd argue credits should go at the end of the map if it's meant to be an immersive adventure map experience or upon playing the song if it's a map focusing on minigames or similar things tonally. You can also include a document listing all the music/map credits separately if you have a large number of them.
3. You can use it as long as you have permission. Credits for the song would be done as you would expect or differently if the music artist requests a different method of crediting (this would likely be done in the "ask permission" part). By default you would credit the music artist, but if they request to remain uncredited, you must honor that request.
4. You would be the music artist in this case, so you wouldn't be required to credit yourself if you do not desire to be credited.
The main takeaway is that, if something isn't made by you, you should obtain permission if possible to use it and credit it in a certain way.
We know it is rude to monetize other people's work without their permission.
But I don't agree that music shouldn't be allowed to be used for non profit reasons in private. In fact one can make an argument of fair use since when you purchased a copy of a song off itunes or whatever other organization, you are entitled to use it for personal use in the privacy of your own home anyway.
Mojang could have introduced a feature where you could conveniently load mp3's, oggs or flacs of custom music for the Jukebox if they wanted to
the easiest way to evade a copyright lawsuit is to code this feature in a way that prevents it from being audible by people who watch a stream.
And also only make it audible to friends on a server if they have a legal and legit copy of the same song from either itunes or Amazon music etc.
Otherwise only the person playing the song would hear it.
A feature like this isn't beyond the capability of Mojang, if they need permission what reason would the copyright holders deny it? it can't be that complicated to program into the game.
The way I see it is the copyright excuse is just a cop-out, free texture packs could potentially be used to violate someone's copyrights on artwork, but so far Mojang hasn't removed this ability from the Java version of the game for said reasons.