Question about soundtracks, copyrights and ModDB !

[daortir]

Hello there ! I have a question regarding the use of soundtracks in my Custom Story. It is fairly simple : what am I allowed to use if I want to upload it to ModDB ?

I know I can use the full TDD/AMFP/Penumbra without any real issue, but then ?
Some mods have been deleted from ModDB for copyright issues but it was more about stolen models I think (Heart Bondage stealing Alice Madness Returns models like crazy)

Does anyone knows precisely what happens if I use music from other sources ? I know Dark Case did it and I am pretty sure there was no problem with ModDB.

Every mod we make here is free, so can we use anything we want when it comes to audio content ?

I am very noobish with copyrighted stuff, and I would love to beneficiate from more experienced modders.

[DnALANGE]

Just try avoiding original contents as music, models, etc...
just to be sure yourself.
Look at the old skashi mods, with exple, wow models... thats copyright and very wrong!
music you can google for :, free music as, a lot of us do.
models, if they are is any original games, you can not use. Only if you have asked permission.
Let me know guys if im wrong or a bit mistaken here..

[Romulator]

I do not know the full story, but I believe that if you steal copyrighted content and add it to your story, then it can be held for copyright. Copyrighted content will really come under a licensed use kind of thing.

The problem is because we make things for free here, do not charge or whatever, most times it does not count as stealing, rather just to the point of how you got it. I think no matter what however whenever you use other things without proper permissions, you MUST give credits to them.

Edit: One thing I can say is use other music for imagination and inspiration. Final Fantasy VIII's soundtrack focuses entirely on mood during the scenes of the game. Though is not ever much of a horror concept, a castle one is given in The Castle on Disc 4. You can look and listen at other tracks and try and get a sense as to why they communicate a message so well, then make your own. That way, it's your own content and evades copyright

[daortir]

But we are doing it with no commercial purpose ^^. I mean, if I put music in my CS and people like it, all that will happen is that it'll give the artist more popularity. He is not being "stolen" anything since there's no money being exchanged, he gets free reputation.

Edit : posted without seeing your reply, Romulator.

I will give credit whatever I do, of course :3

[DnALANGE]

Wrong. If you use for exmple michael jacksons thriller, youtube will remove it content from the uploader, so its copyrighting.
i would recomment not using any music from puplic, i mean commercial music.
for models, if you make them even from scratch and it looks super familor, i think you can also get problems.
just dont make it hard for yourself, just to be sure.
Like i had a clown in mental memorial from.. i dont even know that game, but fg here cl8sed my tread for that....

[daortir]

Yeah, but that's pretty dumb imo. They would be the ones getting popularity ^^. Still a lot of mods use better music than free music. I don't know if you found great soundtracks on the free websites, but I didn't manage to find good stuff yet.

I'll try again though, see what I can find.

[Magnum Opus]

A lot of mods uses copyrighted content such as soundtracks... Through the Portal contain a magnificent soundtrack from Donnie Darko. And a mod inspired by "Call of Cthulhu : Dcote" use tons of copyrighted sounds as well. I'm not sure your mod can be deleted from Moddb or FG's forums for that reason... That would be pretty dumb...

[Romulator]

Actually copyright is really serious. A lot of content is removed and deleted for content and licensing issues, because companies have them in place to stop stealing from occurring. For things to be deleted after being reported for such infringements is not really dumb at all.

[daortir]

I am not questioning copyrights. But the point of copyright is that people cannot make money with your work. If an artist creates a song, someone puts it into a game and sells it the artist's money got stolen. Because he deserve some of the money that the game's creator got from selling the game, since it contains the artist's song. But when someone uses it for a game that he does not sell , while crediting the artist, I do not see where the artist loses potential money.

Having some issues with making myself clear, sorry x)

[Acies]

If you give someone's work away for free they will lose the potential money that property would have generated from a purchase. :]