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United States Copyright Office. Copyright Law of the United States and Related Laws Contained in Title 17 of the United States Code
This section of the United States Code prohibits the "unauthorized Fixation and trafficking in sound recording and music videos...without the consent of the performer or performers involved." In other words, it makes it clear that it is illegal to distribute music or music videos, online for example, without consent. According to the language used, it sounds like music videos are defined as recordings of live performances, rather than more abstract videos edited to reflect the content of the music. Elsewhere in the Copyright Code, phonorecords are defined as being separate from audiovisual works. But when music videos are available online, they become one more way for internet "pirates" to obtain a digital "phonorecord" without paying or receiving permission from the artist or copyright holder.

This is the only area where noticeable steps have been taken to stop the distribution of anime music videos. That is, stepping in on behalf of the interests of the musicians to control the distribution of their songs. Record companies are not beholden to the niche audience of anime fans, so are willing to act on the law when an infringement is brought to their attention. For the record company an entire creative work is being reproduced and transmitted in a music video; whereas for the copyright holders of a given anime, only relatively small portions of (if even the "heart" of) their works are reproduced. As they have done in various areas of internet music trafficking, music companies have the (moral or ethical) right perform the same way a domestic anime copyright holder would when faced with illegal distribution of an entire film or series. When a music video is downloaded, it is possible to detach the audio from the video and acquire the song on its own, or even just enjoy it in full as it plays over the video. Therefore using a song in a music video is closer to a clear-cut act of piracy than editing the video.

tagged copyright music_video music law by amcarl ...on 28-NOV-06