Tuesday, February 16, 2010
MP3 Ringtones : Legal VS Illegal
Thousands of music in MP3 format are downloaded everyday through the internet. Some of them are bought then downloaded and some of them are downloaded for free. For example, you can buy Ricky Martin
Songs for $0.99 from Amazon. They even give you a link to download Amazon MP3 Downloader for that matter. They even claim that the files are free of DRM ( Digital Rights Management
) Software.
Songs for $0.99 from Amazon. They even give you a link to download Amazon MP3 Downloader for that matter. They even claim that the files are free of DRM ( Digital Rights Management ) Software.It’s kind of hard to find a website that have information about what’s legal and what’s not about downloading MP3. I even tried to Google it but unfortunately to many unrelated results showed up. But one of the websites have some information that claims MP3 format itself is completely legal because it’s a mere technology. So where’s the illegal part in this ? It becomes illegal as soon as someone has taken copyrighted music, made copies of the said music, and distributed the said music to others without the consent of the musicians.
According to RIAA, “If you make unauthorized copies of copyrighted music recordings, you’re stealing. You’re breaking the law and you could be held legally liable for thousands of dollars in damages.” Even if you copy them from a CD that you bought legally, it is still considered unauthorized. RIAA stands for Recording Industry Association of America. Please feel free to visit their website in here.
What if a band or a record company makes MP3 files available for download ? Is it okay to download them ? Or they just want to set you up so they can sue you later ? That’s the questions that somehow we always asked ourselves.
Apparently there’s no strict YES or NO answer for those questions. All depends on circumstances. If you download the music and then sell it or make copies of it then it’s illegal and they have all the rights to sue you. Try to ask the record company or the band specifically if you any intention in selling their music in your website because they might offer you a license to be their partner.
But what about MP3 ringtones ? Are they legal ? Are they illegal ?
Some mobile operator website provides mobile ringtones of famous songs and artists and you can download it for a fee. That way you don’t have a headache thinking of what’s legal and what’s not.
In Indonesia, the fees to download the mobile ringtones are vary from Rp. 3,000 – Rp. 8,000 and you can even pick your choices based on the genre, the singers, the top downloads and many more but you have to keep it in mind not all of the mobile handset are supported and you need GPRS connection to download the ringtones.
Here’s a tip for you, If you record your own voice while you’re singing and convert them into MP3 format and use it as ringtone then it’s definitely NOT illegal. Because the converted audio is definitely not copyrighted music recordings and it’s AUTHORIZED by you but most importantly it’s FREE !
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