Legality of Showing AMV Publicly

gregormcmac · Post by **gregormcmac** » Sat Dec 13, 2003 9:47 pm

Anyone know the ins and outs of what is required to show fan AMVs in a public setting, such as a convention or anime club? It was my understanding that for the music portion of the AMV, you would need an ASCAP and/or BMI license (which you might have from the venue your are in). As for the video portion, you would need the permission to show the video footage in a similar fashion as you would for any other anime. Anyone have the scoop on this? I was thinking of showing some at our next anime club meeting but didn't want to break any laws doing it.

Thanks,
John
I-Con Anime Club (Springfield, IL)

EarthCurrent · Post by **EarthCurrent** » Sat Dec 13, 2003 9:59 pm

Ohho...
This topic seems oddly familiar to the one that was floating around on the animeclubs mailing list.
I wonder why?

The whole copyright issue has been beaten to death many times on this forum in past threads. I'll let someone else with more energy go searching though the archives to locate older threads on the subject.

However, here are the general thoughts regarding showing AMVs and the copyright issues involved:
The editor of an AMV owns copyright to the editting of the AMV. That's it. That's all they own unless they made footage, or wrote/performed the music used.

Most editors don't care if a club shows their video. But, if the editor has provided an email in their user profile here at the org, and you are really concerned about it, then you can be courteous and contact them to at least tell them you are planning on showing their video. 99.9% of the time though, I don't think you need to worry about it.

However, still give Credit where credit is due. Tell the audience who created the video, what animes were used (to the best of your abilities), and who wrote and performed the music used. It is also helpful to direct them to the .org if that is where you got the copy you are showing.

gregormcmac · Post by **gregormcmac** » Sun Dec 14, 2003 9:29 am

Hmmm. I guess I hadn't really considered the aspect of the developer's permission, but that is certainly valid and should be requested.

However, that really doesn't address the issue of the public performance of said work *unless* you assume that the developer has already made the necessary legal arrangements with the owners of the anime and the music they are using. And we all know how often *that* happens.

-John

trigunvash · Post by **trigunvash** » Sun Dec 14, 2003 10:39 am

I highy doubt people (the industry) will put up a fuss, unless you start charging people money to see your AMV, or start profiting off of it (by selling? I guess).

Tsunami Jones · Post by **Tsunami Jones** » Sun Dec 14, 2003 12:04 pm

yes, as far as i know, it is legal until you start getting compensation for showing or selling the vid. At which point i believe you would have to start giving the owner of the music and the videos royalties.

koronoru · Post by **koronoru** » Sun Dec 14, 2003 2:23 pm

yoritomozen wrote:yes, as far as i know, it is legal until you start getting compensation for showing or selling the vid.

No.

To show something to the public legally, you need permission from all the copyright holders. In the case of an AMV, that would mean the copyright holder for the music (usually the "label" that published it), all the footage (which may be the Japanese studios that published it, or the North American distributors depending on the agreements between those two), and the editing (which would be the person we call the "creator"). Having permission from one or some of those parties doesn't excuse you from getting permission from the others - they all have to agree on it, and they can demand that you pay them in exchange, or just withhold permission at all, even if you aren't making a profit. There is an exception if you're doing an original performance of music that someone else wrote (a "cover"); in that case you don't need permission for the music but can just pay a flat licensing fee for it.

They could sue you for more damages if you were charging money, but it's still illegal to show AMVs without permission whether you charge for it or not.

trigunvash · Post by **trigunvash** » Sun Dec 14, 2003 5:12 pm

So what's an AMV creator to do? Go out seek permission, probably pay outrages amounts of money to use the material? Stop making AMV's all together, or everyone go out and make orignial music and original animation.

This entire area is iffy, just like fansubs.

Vesser · Post by **Vesser** » Sun Dec 14, 2003 5:16 pm

To the best of my knowledge, koronoru's above information is accurate. I try to cover my ass as best I can by putting credits in the amv stating the anime used, song and music artist used, and who created and OWNS these materials. Granted, the companies have the right to sue if you don't have permission from them. I did manage to get written permission from the Japanese band Adenosine Tri-Phosphate for use of their song in my newest amv, but that was a special case.

Has anyone gotten in legal trouble yet for making/downloading amvs? I figure the record companies in particular would get upset with us for freely distrubuting their music, even though we ARE promoting the music in a way.