The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #145640 Message #3372775
Posted By: Artful Codger
06-Jul-12 - 08:03 AM
Thread Name: Copyright bewilderment - 'Those Brown Eyes'
Subject: RE: Copyright bewilderment - 'Those Brown Eyes'
Such agencies don't do due diligence: they don't determine if someone spuriously claimed a copyright (as, for instance, with the bulk of the Carter Family songs). So they'll soak you for old songs that are in fact in the public domain as long as they have someone registered as copyrighting them. I'd be surprised if they even look any further than the titles--which could apply to entirely different songs. And if a song is copyrighted under a different name, or not copyrighted through a big agency, they'll give you a "false negative", still leaving you open to infringing copyright. Their business is to do the least work for the most money, and while their searches MAY help, you need to recognize the limitations of their services--and their eagerness to take your money, whether they're entitled or not.
The situation is not unlike YouTube's flagging/ad system.