[SOLVED] Copyrighted music on a private YouTube stream

Oct 6, 2020
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Case 1:

A group of people come to my home for a PowerPoint presentation on Cosmology. I play music in the background using a streaming service such as Tidal. I presume that there is no copyright violation in this case.

Case 2:

I use YouTube streaming to stream the same presentation to the same group of people. We are not in the same place due to the desire to keep Socially Distant. I stream the same music from Tidal and present the same PowerPoint charts. The Stream is not discoverable via search. The only parties on the stream are those sent the private link by YouTube. The stream is not available for download. Is this a copyright violation?

Michael
 
Solution
Legally you would have to read through the whole youtube agreement to see what's up but, as already said, nobody is really going to care but but the youtube bots are always on the look out and could stop your stream in the middle of your presentation.

You could look into private streaming, if you use VLC you can stream right to your targets and nobody could check that.
I'm sure there are lots of other options and searching google will yield them but this is the one I know of.
I’m no lawyer and just sharing what I have come across as it highlights how strange the law is. I expect only a lawyer who knows this area can really advise. I would imagine it can also depend on the county.

I can have my work colleagues over for a bbq and have the radio playing in the background, that’s ok. But if any work colleague wanted a radio on their desk at work regardless of if others can hear it the company is supposed to pay for a specific license.
 
Oct 6, 2020
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interesting...

I am not a lawyer but I have produced a low budget movie and therefore have a copyright on the film, its music and all of the creative elements therein. I wrote the work for hire agreements for each employee of the production. This has been an area of interest for me for many years. Decades ago I studied intellectual property rights at the American Film Institute.

I have no interest in monetization of my work on YouTube and my interest in limited to point to point connections that would make it unnecessary for me to travel. I do presentations for small collages, schools and friends across the country. It just did not occur to me that I could not connect to them electronically and use the same music that I use in person.

I have just begun to study YouTube so I assumed that I would find out how to do this legally. I requested a free 30 minute consultation from the LA County Bar and was granted a meeting. When the attorney learned that I had no actual case pending and only wanted information he failed to call back. I sent the details of my question via email so as to save his time. I assumed that my answer would take less than 5 minutes. I have found it remarkedly difficult to find information on this subject since most resources assume monetization and channel growth. I do not want recommendations, or likes or subscribers. I just want to share information about subjects that are interesting to me. I have been giving similar speeches for 30 years and have never asked a dime for my work.

There is no connection between my presentations and the music. I have done many with no music but I am trying to improve the quality of my presentations. My frustrations are compounded by the realities of the post media age. I pay for the subscription service Tidal. I no longer purchase CDs. After a few years I have noticed that some recordings of less popular artist from 40 years ago are not available on the service. Worse yet, some movie soundtracks that I enjoy were available when I signed up for the service have disappeared within the last two years. It appears that I have paid for a product that I liked and it can just go away without compensation.

Sorry for the rant but I really try to do things legally but it appears that the deck is stacked against me.
 
In your case, a small private, unarchived stream, I don't think anyone would care what you do. At worst, you get a copyright strike. But you're not going to get into legal boiling water unless you persist or do something that would actually incur a significant monetary loss to the copyright holder.
 
Legally you would have to read through the whole youtube agreement to see what's up but, as already said, nobody is really going to care but but the youtube bots are always on the look out and could stop your stream in the middle of your presentation.

You could look into private streaming, if you use VLC you can stream right to your targets and nobody could check that.
I'm sure there are lots of other options and searching google will yield them but this is the one I know of.
 
Solution
Oct 6, 2020
57
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I read the youtube terms of service agreement. I did not see anything that specifically addressed my questions.

It appears to me that VLC streams from an existing video file. I want to stream live to a conference room where my audience resides. Then I do Q&A until there are no remaining questions.