If You Don’t Own It, Don’t Use It

There’s some confusion as to what you can use for your content when it comes to blogging, podcasting and making videos.

What you have to consider is not what you use but how you use it, and whether it’s permissible to use it or not.

Using music that’s not yours

If it is a music track that is currently for sale anywhere, it cannot be used as a background track, even if you’re not selling anything. Why? You didn’t acquire permission to do it.

If it is a clip of a music track used for a review of that track, that IS permissible.

If the web service you use (such as YouTube) says in the Terms of Service that you cannot use any music at all even if it’s for a review, you don’t do it, period.

If it is music provided freely for public domain use in software like GarageBand for the Mac, it’s permitted.

Using material from another blog

If you use a quote to supplement your own article and link back to the original post, this is fine because you are giving proper attribution.

If you copy an article outright in its entirety and give proper attribution, this is barely legal and highly unethical.

If you copy an article in its entirety and do not give attribution, that’s plagiarism.

Using video clips that are not yours

The general rule of thumb is to never use clips, still images or anything else from another video without express written consent in your videos. There are some that claim using material in this fashion is Fair Use, but the fact of the matter is that without permission there is the risk of having your videos pulled.

This is a hot-button issue where there is no right answer as to what is permissible and what isn’t. But if you simply do not use clips or stills from videos that aren’t yours, then you’ll never get into any trouble.

What can you use for background music that you don’t have to worry about?

This is the question people want to know the answer to more than any other.

If you want music that is public domain that’s easy to acquire, use classical music. It is widely available, completely free to download legally and completely permissible to use for your public audio podcasts and videos. Plus it adds a touch of class to your presentation, so it all works out.

Try Classic Cat to find some classical music tracks. There are tons to choose from.