Forum:MegaProject: Arise - Project: Music: Difference between revisions

Forum:MegaProject: Arise - Project: Music (edit)

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KeybladeSpyMaster

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 Just providing an update. So far, we have completed ''Kingdom Hearts Final Mix'', ''Kingdom Hearts Re:Chain of Memories'', ''Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix'', ''Kingdom Hearts Re:coded'', ''Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance'', and the ''Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days'' cinematics from ''Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 ReMIX''. We've also got most of ''Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep'' completed. So that leaves ''Kingdom Hearts Chain of Memories'', ''Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days'', the rest of Ventus and Aqua's stories in ''Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep'', and the ''Kingdom Hearts Re:coded'' cinematics from ''Kingdom Hearts HD 2.5 ReMIX''. Since we're mostly done, I think we're okay to continue to Tasks 4 and 5. What do you guys think? (By the way, as of right now, I've gotten 1,528 entries of music in my Excel document, and that's without the songs from ''Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 ReMIX'') {{KeybladeSpyMaster/Sig}} 22:42, 14 October 2014 (UTC)
+===Full Tracks===
+{{KeybladeSpyMaster|time=03:24, 4 April 2015 (UTC)|default2=We've discussed the potential of having full tracks uploaded to the wiki, and whether that breaks any copyright laws. So, I've tried to understand Fair Use doctrine in the United States, which is what all the content on the ''Kingdom Hearts'' Wiki is licensed under, to see how far we could use that regarding the music. There are some things I know all of us don't want the wiki to become, and one of those is a file hosting site for others to download the OST easily. However, with the decision to make the tracks into full articles instead of a list, the 30-sec. soundbyte isn't sufficient to illustrate the subject anymore, especially for tracks like "{{wl|Hikari -KINGDOM Orchestra Instrumental Version-}}" and "{{wl|Darkness of the Unknown}}", which are notably longer and face significant changes in melody and composition that can't be illustrated in 30 seconds (and in some cases, even in one minute). So, here's what I've gathered.
+According to the [[wikipedia:United States Copyright Act of 1976|United States Copyright Act of 1976]], there are four factors that should be considered by courts in determining whether the use of copyrighted work counts as Fair Use. The four are
+#the purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of a commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes;
+#the nature of the copyrighted work;
+#the amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole; and
+#the effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work.
+[[wikipedia:Fair Use|Wikipedia]] lists multiple instances/examples of each of these in action. [https://longzijun.wordpress.com/2012/01/18/music-public-domain-and-copyright/#fair-use-criteria This post] explains the entire thing very simply. Based on the two sources, there are a couple things to be said about whether we have the right to upload full tracks to the wiki. I'm going to make the argument for why uploading the full tracks would be okay under each point of Fair Use.
+#'''The Purpose and Character of the Use:''' According to Wikipedia, "The first factor is regarding whether the use in question helps fulfill the intention of copyright law to stimulate creativity for the enrichment of the general public, or whether it aims to only "supersede the objects" of the original for reasons of personal profit. To justify the use as fair, one must demonstrate how it either advances knowledge or the progress of the arts through the addition of something new." Longzijun (the blog I linked) notes that one has a higher likelihood of successfully claiming copyright if "...the purpose is for non-commercial use, especially for education, criticism and commentary, or for strictly personal use..." Originally, all musical tracks are of a commercial nature. They're made for the game and into soundtrack albums as part of marketing the series. To upload them here would convert them into an educational nature, as the purpose of the articles on here is to educate the reader about the series. In addition, the specific music articles are especially educational as they delve into the musical composition aspect of each track with the "Composition" section.
+#'''The Nature of the Copyrighted work:''' Not much can be said about this one. It focuses on the nature of the work. If it's factually-based, then it'd be fair use to use it. However, music isn't factually-based, it's creative, so no use of the music could be considered fair use under this point.
+#'''The Amount of the Portion Used:''' According to Longzijun, generally speaking, we should use no more than 10% of the work in question to qualify under fair use. However, this changes depending on the way it's being used, and what portion is used. He notes how using the 10 minutes of the incinerator scene from ''Toy Story 3'' would not fall under Fair Use because that's the climax. Wikipedia lists some court cases in which using even the whole work has been deemed Fair Use, as well as one (''Bridgeport Music, Inc. v. Dimension Films'') in which sampling didn't fall under Fair Use. I think for the same reason as Point 1, we can use the entirety of the track and it'd be Fair Use. Longzijun notes that it'd still be fair use for you to make a video on how to play a song because it'd be instructional and educational, and since it's to learn how to play the song, the entirety of the song would have to be used.
+#'''Effect Upon Original Work's Value:''' Basically, the effect on Square Enix to make money off of the music. Longzijun writes, "This criterion is related to the potential of your use of the work to affect the market value, and potential future market value, for the work. Of course, the smaller the actual and potential audience, the better your chance of your use of the work being considered fair use." According to Wikipedia, "...courts often consider two kinds of harm to the potential market of the original work: First, courts consider whether the use in question acts as a direct market substitute for the original work." In other words, we use the music with our name on it and effectively pretend it is ours. This works easily for us; we don't have the biggest audience in the world, so the use of the tracks on the site doesn't truly affect Square Enix's ability to make money off them. In addition, since we upload them all in .ogg (and I recommend we continue to do so), and we do not provide a means to download all the tracks at once, we further limit anyone's ability to simply download all the tracks; thus, we do not replace Square Enix as the source for getting the tracks (I mean, I wouldn't want to take the time to download all 400+ tracks individually, and that's not counting tracks made for each individual game).
+There is one final point that doesn't have anything to do with the courts, but more with the likelihood of Square Enix coming after us for uploading the full tracks to the wiki. I read an article on MSN earlier this week, which was originally on [http://www.wired.com/2015/03/nintendo-youtube-creators/ Wired], which went into the world of copyright claims in the world of Let's Plays. It explores Nintendo's reaction and approach to their content on YouTube (and much anywhere else). There is something I learned from there to note in our discussion here, and I've come to the conclusion that Square Enix would NOT go after us for uploading the tracks to the wiki. They currently do not do so on any YouTube videos, and there are tons of videos on YouTube with full tracks (and extended tracks).
+Therefore, it is my opinion that we can safely and fairly upload the entirety of music tracks from the series onto the wiki for the purpose of these music articles. There is no reason to believe Square Enix would mind, and there is a logical argument for our use of them to fall under Fair Use. I only advise caution with two tracks, those being "{{wl|Simple and Clean}}" and "{{wl|Sanctuary}}". On YouTube, those are the only tracks that are ever taken down in connection to the ''Kingdom Hearts'' series, and the openings and credits are always muted voluntarily or by force (in which case, the whole video ends up muted). The reason is that unlike "{{wl|Dearly Beloved}}" and "{{wl|Daydream Upon Neverland}}", Square Enix doesn't hold the rights to "Simple and Clean" and "Sanctuary", [[wikipedia:EMI Music Japan|EMI Music Japan Inc.]] does. It's noted in the game credits and such, and when the videos are taken down, EMI Music Japan is noted to have made the claim, not Square Enix. But other than those two tracks, I personally believe that we are in the clear when it comes to uploading the tracks to the wiki. And the way the wiki's set up, we don't make it easy for people to download the entirety of any album from the wiki, as the files are in .ogg (a generally unsupported format when it comes to personal music playback) and each file is on its own separate page, making downloading files a tedious and time-costly time. Thus, I believe that we would not be violating copyright laws by uploading the full tracks to the wiki.}}