Can I Post an MP3?

June 13, 2006 12:16 AM

I have an mp3 I'd like identified. I could crop it down to a few relevant seconds and post it to askme for help. How much, if any, of an ill-gotten mp3 can I host and post before the RIAA puts a hit out on me? The end goal truly is to purchase the music, I just need to know who made it. Also, if this is a just a really bad idea in general, feel free to let me know.
posted by FortyT-wo to Etiquette/Policy at 12:16 AM (23 comments total)

IANAL, but fair use standards are notoriously vague. Googling indicates that some organizations that think about this stuff held a conference to hash out some commonly agreed on fair use standards a few years ago, and wrote in their final report that "up to 10%, but in no event more than 30 seconds, of the music and lyrics from an individual musical work" should be able to be reproduced. That's just some crap report out of some crap conference though. I wouldn't worry about getting hounded by the RIAA as long as its a fragment of one song, but its not my ass over the griddle.
posted by gsteff at 12:27 AM on June 13, 2006

Oops, link here.
posted by gsteff at 12:28 AM on June 13, 2006

Bridgeport Music, Inc. v. Dimension Films might be a more relevent source of standards... it held that 2 seconds of copying could violate copyright, but the reasoning was specific to commercial uses. However, IANAL, and as such, should never have substantively responded to begin with.
posted by gsteff at 12:42 AM on June 13, 2006

It's a bit late, perhaps, but there are many places where you could anonymously upload the whole thing (or a part) and then just point to it, feigning innocence ('I found this at random...'), if you wanted, and to hell with the RIAA.

I don't think it's a bad idea at all.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 12:51 AM on June 13, 2006

I'm curious and I want to hear the MP3 now.

I would, however - for the record - never recommend a site like, say, yousendit.com for a place to place it for public viewing, nor would I ever suggest that you view my user profile, glean the email available address there and directly mail it to me. I wouldn't ever think of such a thing.
posted by loquacious at 1:06 AM on June 13, 2006

It's not that new Paris Hilton song is it? Because if it is, I call for immediate bannination.
posted by Effigy2000 at 2:01 AM on June 13, 2006

Have you tried MusicBrainz?
posted by Orange Goblin at 2:23 AM on June 13, 2006

I think Orange Goblin is talking about using the Audio Fingerprint of your file to find the information you're looking for.
posted by gsb at 3:31 AM on June 13, 2006

I there a service like Shazzam in the US? (You just play your mystery song, dial 2850 on your mobile phone, hold your phone up to the speaker for 15 seconds, then it texts you the artist and title information. God alone knows how it works, but it has done the couple of times I've used it.)
posted by jack_mo at 3:46 AM on June 13, 2006

If iTunes and Napster are allowed to give away 30-second samples, I don't see why you shouldn't. (Not that I know that's a legitimate defense -- just sayin'.)
posted by danb at 4:23 AM on June 13, 2006

Your honestly fine putting the whole damn track online. The worst you will get is a cease and desist. And then you'll know for sure what the track title is. If you're worried, post a minute or so. I'd be more worried about the bandwidth bill than anything else.

A friend of mine got pinged by the RIAA for hosting a mix CD with about 12 tracks on it and they just sent him a nastygram.
posted by empath at 5:58 AM on June 13, 2006

Empath's right. Further, this'd be a fair use, wouldn't it?
posted by klangklangston at 6:13 AM on June 13, 2006

It's fine, just post it.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 6:22 AM on June 13, 2006

klangklangston : "Further, this'd be a fair use, wouldn't it?"

Not if used in its entirety.

The big issue, of course, is which question is really being asked. Is it:

1. "What is legal"?
2. "What could I actually win in court"?
3. "What would keep the RIAA from even taking me to court in the first place"?
4. "What would keep the RIAA from even threatening to take me to court in the first place"?
5. "What would keep the RIAA from even contacting me at all"?
6. "What would keep the RIAA from even noticing me"?

Each one of those has a slightly different answer.

My guess is that FortyT-wo is thinking around level 6. The strict definition of fair use only really comes into play around level 1 or 2.

My personal recommendation would be: use a short sample, which will probably result in 6, and at worst, maybe 5. Or, if the piece doesn't work well with short samples, maybe a longer sample with "This is a test" or something spliced in every few seconds, which would also be a 6 or 5. If you're willing to go to 4, knowing that once you get your answer you can just delete the piece and thereby have the threat revoked, I'd go with empath's suggestion. Any suggestions that are 3 or above are probably not what FortyT-wo is looking for.
posted by Bugbread at 6:33 AM on June 13, 2006

The worst you will get is a cease and desist.

Well, your host could cancel your account for hosting copyrighted materials. That would suck.
posted by smackfu at 7:17 AM on June 13, 2006

If all you intend to do with the URL for your eventually-hosted mp3 is link to it from an AskMe question, you have nothing^* to worry about. Don't fret.

^*Okay, it's possible that the RIAA could notice and cause you trouble. It's also possible an engine could fall off a passing jetliner and kill you in your sleep. And then there's cancer. And so on. Just host it, post your AskMe, and take it down after you have or haven't gotten an answer.
posted by cortex at 8:01 AM on June 13, 2006

Thanks, guys, for the answers. The good thing is that it's one of those droning ambient/trance type songs, so anything more than something like 15 seconds would be completely unneccessary.
posted by FortyT-wo at 8:59 AM on June 13, 2006

Okay, it's possible that the RIAA could notice and cause you trouble. It's also possible an engine could fall off a passing jetliner and kill you in your sleep. And then there's cancer. And so on. Just host it, post your AskMe, and take it down after you have or haven't gotten an answer.

And then there's the fucking sun, man. That shit could blow up at any time. Or flesheating zombie hordes, or the chickenfucker's flu! It could even be giant, hyperintelligent, mercilessly carnivorous talking ants. And people wonder why I haven't slept in 16 fucking years!! FOOLS!

Thanks, guys, for the answers. The good thing is that it's one of those droning

Vait, vat did you say!? Gimme ze file and notink getz urt.

Shh. Don't be rude. But I VANT ze file. I must have it. You probably already have it. But how am I to know? Ve must glompf our ears upon it! Yeah, you "glompf'ed" your ears on that puppy in the last town, y'know. Right in front of that poor little girl. You want to get us run out again? We've only been here a week. Silence! I vill not sit hear and argue vith you! You vant I should glompf ze Diamandas Galas at eleven!? oh, christ, not again. Zat is vat I thought, you ninny.

If ze file is unavailable, please describe it in ze simple or compound sequence of ze digits of pi in the standard formal notation.
posted by loquacious at 1:37 PM on June 13, 2006

or the chickenfucker's flu

This is why I insist my partners get tested first. Clean chickens only. Sorry, Stav.
posted by cortex at 3:46 PM on June 13, 2006

*cries, again*
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 4:46 PM on June 13, 2006

I don't see what the problem is...

Post it where you KNOW it'll get seen... Then, the RIAA will let you know the artist and CD it's from in their cease 'n decist letter...

Problem solved!!!
posted by hatsix at 5:57 PM on June 13, 2006

t's one of those droning ambient/trance type songs, so anything more than something like 15 seconds would be completely unnecessary.
If its one of those, the 15 seconds is also completely unnecessary ;-)
posted by dg at 8:00 PM on June 13, 2006

Shush, you.
posted by loquacious at 8:31 PM on June 13, 2006