if i buy copied audio cd's and sell them on for a small profit, am i breaking the law and are the people who buy them of me breaking the law?

Yes[:o)]

(in reply to funbobby)

I don't know of ANY country where that would be considered legal. And both you AND the people buying the CDs would be breaking the law.

(in reply to funbobby)

That depends.

The Legal versions.
1st

Some bands/artists are not against bootlegging/copying and spreading of out of print material as long as you don't make any real profits. So if you copied a cd of them and sold this one to some friends for the price of the cd-r and the artwork and a very small compensation for additional costs. Then this won't be a problem. Now don't think the only small unknown bands support this.
There are some big named bands/artists and even some new artists which are at the moment breaking trough who think that this is a good way to get the material to the people who wanted it and even prefer this then the other options:

A the orriginal recording is sold for an insane ammount of money. ($300 for a demo cd which the band orriginally sold for $10)
B There is a real profesional bootleg recording made and the people who made it earn a lot of money with it.

But allways check first what the policy of the artist/bands is.
Sometimes this is stated but sometimes you need to ask them.

2nd
You al have the orriginals but need back-ups for your car players or something like that. Well in this case you and your people are still not breaking the laws but you have to have the orriginals.


The Illegal versions.
1st
If this is about the regular released audio cd's you could find in a normal music store and you don't own the orriginals then the answer is that you and the people who buy are breaking the law.
2nd
Or if this is about material you are not allowed to copy according to the artist/band then you and the people who buy are also breaking the law

(in reply to funbobby)

This is an easy one, if there is a copyright mark on the original it is not legal to distribute at all.....

(in reply to funbobby)

Nope that's not true.I have seen the following. Some disc's are out of print and are no longer made. So there is a copyright sign on it and one time they could even be bought at a normal music store. Now the specific artist allready tried to get it rereleased even with a different companny.

Now if I contaced the artist and I actually got permission to copy it or even to download it then there still is no legal problem.

If you want to copy something legally then allways get permision for it !

(in reply to funbobby)

As far as this forum is concerned (because we can not check the validity of a copywrite) any CD or DVD that is purchased can be backed up by the owner for use as a backup to protect the original. We consider any other copying illegal and can not offer any help on copying that CD or DVD. There are all sorts of little loopholes, but 99.999 % of CDs or DVDs are not legal to copy and sell or give away for that matter.

(in reply to funbobby)

I hate to join in on this but. You said if it was "out of print" and the artist gave you permission to copy it" that would be legal!

NO it would not be legal. The reason of course is obvious, there are issues of royalties, not just for the artist, for the band, for the manager, for the RECORD company, etc. so forth and so on. I'll give you a prime example, even though an artist may die, his family, for generations possibly, are entitled to the rights of the music. It is basically a legal nightmare. Thank you LAWYERS.

As a musician myself, singer/songwriter. I was going to release a personal CD, until after ALL THE RED tape, the LARGEST fee was going to be my LAWYER fee to protect the CD (apprx 50,000.00 US).

Basically, in a nut shell, if a band releases an MP3 on a website, you can reproduce it for "your own use"

(in reply to funbobby)

Just contacted some persons today and the answer seems way more complicated as expected. If you get permision from the artist it can be legal or still illegal depending on the country where you live
in and/or the country were the composer lives. Here In Holland the composer does have the rights allways.
However in America it is way more complicated and it depends mostly on the contract which was signed for the recording.

By the way MP3MOGUL here in Holland there are also very cheap way of protecting legally your music . The marked envelope trick. Counts here as proof. This way you won't have to get a Lawyer befor someone has actually broken your rights and you even don't have to contact BUMA STEMRA the Dutch version of the RIAA.

(in reply to funbobby)

Eventually the copyright on music does expire too. In some countries I believe it has a lifespan of as little as 50 years!

(in reply to funbobby)

RJW, thanks, maybe I should move to Holland

(in reply to funbobby)