YouTube Copyright Question RE: Music

[ScouseMouse]

Hey folks,

I run a gaming channel and I was considering doing a few videos of Guitar Hero, but I don't want to get in trouble with Youtube.

I've seen a bunch of people do Guitar Hero videos so I assume it's fine for them to contain 'proper' songs but is that due to the fact they are always cover versions and so aren't the official song?

My worry is that I've got the Metallica version of Guitar Hero where 80% of the songs are by Metallica and they're the proper official songs, so I dunno if they're subject to copyright?

Would I be able to do them with no issues?

 

[zeke morgan]

It could depend on how your going to use the content, as technically if you don't have the permissions for the music displayed then you could be subject to copyright claims (and be unable to monetise the content) or at work a claim or a take down notice. You should never assume that because someone else has videos on it that it is ok for you to do it.

Whether you can use video game content for monetisation depends on the commercial use rights granted to you by the licence from the applicable video game publisher. Some video game publishers may allow you to use all video game content for commercial use and confirm such permission in their licensing agreements.

In other licensing agreements, publishers may not grant commercial rights for videos that simply show game play for extended periods of time. For these licensing terms, the use of video games must be minimal unless the associated step-by-step commentary provides instructional and/or educational value and is strictly tied to the live action being shown. You may find the following article helpful