At what point are you legally obligated to pay royalties

[elSicomoro]

Originally Posted by lumberjim

subtle

But it could actually make the song better.

[slang]

Just to clarify here, the advertisment would be on the net only. The original idea was to have the clip available from the gunshop's website. Just to add a "wow that's cool" kinda appeal for the visitors.

So, now I'm working on a new delivery concept that might not have a tag team of lawyers at our doorstep. It's going to kill the original appeal but given the realities of producing this type of thing, it seems like the best option.

What if I could program the download format to launch ITunes and set up the sale of the song I set the animation to? Complex? Absolutely. A hassle for new users or people that dont pay for *any god damn thing* on the net, unfortunately, yes.

Think about this. I have an animation that is an advertisement for the shop available for download on our site. I give a couple of screenshots as the promo.......for the promo. It costs $.99 to watch with music but is free without it. I could explain the legality of the situation and that the $.99 isn't going to me but is actually selling them the song that the animation is set to, so that the original artist is getting a piece of the pie and the RIAA isn't loading up legal ammo to shut the site down.


So, you could download the animation from our site without the music...big yawn....or buy the song that goes with it through ITunes and have *their copy* of the song play. That way there really isnt any protected code embedded into the clip, it just queus up the song to play with the clip. The user gets the copy of the song as a benefit of viewing the clip and if they happen to already have that tune, the program plays finds it on their machine and plays it to the animation with their copy of the music, free.

From either option, we arent liable for any infringement because we dont provide the music. We, in fact become a sales agent for the song and contribute to it's revenue. If the viewer doesn't have the song, they have the option to buy it.....and that enhances the experience of the gunshop's animated adverisement.....and if they already have it, they don't have to mess around. This, in an extrememly small way, might encourage people to use the ITunes system. They get to keep the music, worry free after viewing the clip and get familiar with the system.

I know there are a large number of people that think that everything on the net should be free and they never buy a god damned thing. That's fine. From my experience though, "non payers...not under any circumstance god damnit" types have the potential to see the benefits. A friend of mine was like this a year ago, and thought I was the dumbest mother fucker on the planet for paying for anything on the net. He doesn't have a probelm with the payment protocol and security issues, just that you shouldn't have to pay for anything on the net. Now a year later, after hooking him up with a few subscriptions, is handing me cash money to renew them as he sees their value.

It seems to me there is the same potential for our advertisements, although it looks very complicated at this time.