I know that most hosts are not allow warez, mp3 sites, but if I have legal copyrighted mp3 files, is it allowed?

They wouldnt have a problem if you can produce some proof that you own the copyright of the songs.

Also, you probably will want to find out how much they would charge for bandwidth since mp3's can be a big chunk over a months time.

If you've got lots of them, you might want to tell your host that their yours or they might think you are breaking others copyright. If you've only got a few, they won't be suspicious anyway.

As long as they know they're yours, I'm sure they'll be happy to host them.

-and there is always that, "No archive sites" clause you have to watch out for. This includes graphic arcives, zip, and possibly mp3. Generally you should be ok.

Originally posted by kunal
They wouldnt have a problem if you can produce some proof that you own the copyright of the songs.

Now tell me which host with a brain in his/her head would start spending hours trying to find out whether they own the copyright. Most smart hosts are goinng to avoid this like the plague its a no win situation.

I'm surprised someone hasn't set up there own server in a country where it would be difficult to sue. Then they could sell the space to all those out there looking to deal with MP3 files. I would guess that 95% of the content is used illegally.

Well, most hosts would check for the copyright. Because it is there A$$ on the line. If they get caught, they are ones that will have to shut the server down.

Some hosts, would not mind hosting them for you. Simply because it is legal.

Originally posted by kunal
Well, most hosts would check for the copyright. Because it is there A$$ on the line. If they get caught, they are ones that will have to shut the server down.

Some hosts, would not mind hosting them for you. Simply because it is legal.

How would they check for copyright. One of my son's buddies is in a small band and have made a couple of demo cd's and they probably would love the exposure. So if I or Nam was to put there music on our site for download how would the host find out whether "Wanita Park" (its Wanita Park boys 5 or something can't remember) is not copyrighted. Is there a central source where you enter a groups name and it tells you? If your right that a host can be sued or have their server shut down then if I was a host I would make sure my posted rules made it clear no MP3's allowed without a waiver form on file for each group and that is not practical.

Any hosts out there who would like to comment on what they would do.

There is a central database for everything, including signed bands. If a record company owns a song, then they will know about it. Because of how expensive it can be for a webhost that happens to host copyrighted material and gets 'caught' (so to speak) they take the brunt of it for not taking "proper actions"

So it is common practice to check un-known works with the proper offices. It may be $5 to submit, but it's a lot better than 1 million in punitive dammages.

What you will probably find to be the norm is hosts will simply turn away an mp3 site just to be safe. Most will not stake their companies rep on the line for one client. No offense, im sure you are sincere but most are not. It is always better safe than sorry.

I agree its always better to play safe then be sorry, but you could always scan that one account for the type of songs uploaded right? Or make another Terms Of Service, where it states that the host aint responsible and get the cleint to sign it and Fax it to you? Anyone who goes into so much trouble, has to be genuine right?

Originally posted by mysitehost
There is a central database for everything, including signed bands. If a record company owns a song, then they will know about it.

Hmm.. you know there's a ton of unsigned bands that still have copyright to their own songs as well. They won't be on a list anywhere.. I would love to see a URL I could type in that would show me the listing of every song in existance that is copyrighted though. :)

Greg Moore

Thats not how it works. Not some website thing.

You can actually prove in courts that you own a piece of work just as much as the other guy can unless it is officially registered in the copyright offices.

It's rough, but I have seen it happen.

Thanks all, I still have question. What is it really called a "proof"? paperworks with authorization signature? emails? Could you be more specific? And, how do they know it's legal or not if mp3 files are in other language than English?

Btw, will the hosts know if I rename .mp3 extension to whatever else, like .jpg?

It is very hard to be 100% sure that the MP3's are in fact legal. If you listen to it, and it's Metallica, well then it's obvious, but in another language? Boy.

Hosts won't know you renamed the file per se, though it will get hit heavy and show up in the logs as a 4 MB jpg, which is a bit extreme. I suppose there are ways of finding this out though, eh?

I'm only guessing that since people are able to hack into government websites, there must be people smart enough to know when a jpg is really an MP3. I'll just say that I am unable to hack into the FBI's site.

I think they'd find out eventually if you renamed the file, and when they did, you'd be looking very suspicious :)

First of all, yes some hosts like Worldzone log uploads, read image headers, and they/we know if something is in the proper extension. Our free hosting even has a system to lock you out of your account if you upload a jpg thats not actually a jpg. (We had probs with people changing bitmap extensions to jpg, so had to stop that), but we still log all file uploads, and can even catch illegal files as they are being uploaded...

As for MP3, it hasnt been proven in court as to whether sharing them is illegal or not. So for now, the law remains silent on the issue (same as saying they are legal, for now)

As for it being the hosts A$$ on the line, Kunal, that is 100% wrong. According to the Digital Millineum Copyright Act of 1998, the host is only liable if it KNOWS about the illegal content, and proving the host knew about it is a hard thing to do. If you email a host reporting copyright infringement or illegal content, and they dont reply, it's darn near impossible to prove they knew about it. If a host follows the DMCA to the letter, it is immune to copyright suits. That doesnt protect you however, if they choose to counter sue.

On another note for the other hosts...especially those who have autoresponders on their abuse emails. I do not have an autoresponder on my emails as that is proof we receieved the report, and if I or someone just missed the report for whatever reason, that simple autoresponder could get us neckdeep into legal issues. You might want to reconsider your Abuse email autoresponders since it can prove you knew about it even though truthfully, you may not have (-:

Hmm.. Thanx for correcting me WebDude. Welcome to the board :) Remember me from over at freewebspace.net? :)

Originally posted by kunal
Remember me from over at freewebspace.net? :)
Yes, thats why I named you....since you read my posts over there and I have discussed copyright issues and the hosts liability in it, you should have known better (-:

......and this is great, now that I am into PAY hosting, I can come over here and raise some HeLLoL...hehe

Lol.. I guess me has become old.. started loosing my memory :) When did you become a paid host? I thought world zone was a free zone?

Originally posted by kunal
Lol.. I guess me has become old.. started loosing my memory :) When did you become a paid host? I thought world zone was a free zone?

WorldzonePro.net becomes a pay host on Jan 1. Till then it is still the $25 one time fee. It will be $36/year. It was too popular and I get hundreds of signups each week, so figured we better goto a yearly fee before we got too buried.

Ah. Oh ok..

Back to the subject though...

If most hosts have sites running less than 500 MB a month, then one hits an mp3 site with 3 or 4 gigs,, it tends to set off the host to look into why that site is doing so well.
I like to see sites doing well, but when I find that an image is huge, and has a ton of hits... Yes... I look to see what it is. You can click the link of most stats programs and view it in your browser. Well, if it is not a jpg, the host will know right then. Your Busted. We tell up front that MP3's are not allowed, and would close the offending site right then, and I am sure the other hosts I know would do the same.

With it still up in the air, I wouldn't want to be the host that got beat in court, so I just don't take the chance. It is not worth the risk.

Tim L.

I have some experience in music copyrights (offline) and while in each country there is a facility for songwriters (music and words)and performers to register their copyrights eg APRA, ASCAP, BEMA etc etc , there is NO guarantee that a copyrighted recording OR written piece of music is recorded on their database or is otherwise publicly available.

You can tape yourself singing in the bathroom and after doing a couple of basic things to record the event or 'copyright' the performance....you own it legally (subject to dispute of course) and it's unlikely that you will register it with an agency, but it's still protected.

You can't know 100% until someone says, "hey, that's mine"

Most every country has an agency covering authors and performances, which are two different kinds of copyright.

There is a wealth of info re Web sites and copyright, as everyone here knows, on the web....just search.

Here's a quick one that might start you off.

http://www.reach.net/~scherer/p/copyrit1.htm

Now, subject to your local jurisdiction, and taking into account some of the good and correct advice that has been proferred by others in this thread, if you want to distribute some mp3's via the web please email me some more details (not appropriate for this forum without breaking the rules!) and we can talk about it.


Cheers.....

Seeing superiorhost and others, I change my question a bit.

What if I store mp3 files in other hosts and make a link to them from my site, which is hosted by you?

P.S Btw, Chicken, I would have changed to .bmp to make more sense than .jpg :)

IMHO that's splitting hairs. If the files are illegal then whether you have them on your server or point to them on another seperate server it's the same.

Originally posted by Jaiem
IMHO that's splitting hairs. If the files are illegal then whether you have them on your server or point to them on another seperate server it's the same.



Exactly, the whole reason for this discusion was that, no host will host mp3z. Simple. So the question about splitting the site with 2 hosts wouldnt matter? :) Anwyas, linking to mp3z is fine, I think. You should read the TOS of the host for this. Some say it is fine, some say a big NO NO for it.

<<Admin edit : the post was too borderline.>>

Actually I know of quite a few hosts which does MP3 hosting, but they generally do verify if the MP3s are legal or not. Usually some form of paperwork is involved to ensure both the host and the client don't run into trouble.