Does Seth Rudetsky have to pay royalties...?

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 5/17/10 at 12:49pm

For the songs he uses in his "deconstructions"?

And will he ever learn what "deconstruction" actually means?



Updated On: 5/17/10 at 12:49 PM

[twinbelters]

Posted: 5/17/10 at 1:00pm

Seems like he is well within fair use, especially since he never plays a song straight through and is not profiting from the use of previously published and copyrighted material.

[jrb_actor]

Posted: 5/17/10 at 1:04pm

If he plays more than 3 seconds of the song, the copyright holder could file a DMCA complaint against him. But, given who he is in the theatre community, that's not likely to happen. Anytime you cover a song or play a song or lip sync a song, you are taking your chances.

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 5/17/10 at 1:07pm

And by default, then couldn't BWW be held liable? That's what they used to say when you even uttered the b-leg word? Now they link to bootleg videos and the like. So odd.

Posted: 5/17/10 at 1:10pm

I think in general, there is just less attention paid to things like copyrights and royalties these days. It's like the whole idea of artistic ownership has been deconstructed.

[jrb_actor]

Posted: 5/17/10 at 1:16pm

I'm not sure if web sites are liable for linking to bootleg/copyright-infringed material. That's a good question as it happens all over the internet.

And, joe is right--it's become a circus that artists and companies are going to have to evolve with unless law and order can somehow be enforced online. Artists like Lady Gaga and Madonna seem to have embraced it, knowing it's all just free promotion. That doesn't mean that their record companies are as cool with it.

It's a big, murky ocean.

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 5/17/10 at 1:22pm

The liability question was always murky to me, but back in the days that YouTube was verboten on here Rob and Craig would say that linking could the site in trouble.

[jrb_actor]

Posted: 5/17/10 at 1:33pm

They may have discovered that there's no need to be concerned.

Frankly, I'm apt think it should not be a blog/web site's responsibility. It should be the responsibility of the uploader to know if they hold all rights/fair use. If you are upset that someone is using your song in a video and everyone is embedding or linking to it, stop the video--all those links and embeds go dead.