Music for web portfolio... credit?Copyright?

c.louis

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I'm thinking of making/designing a web portfolio site. I'm always thinking about adding bakcground music to it. I had ask my teacher who is a photographer and she answered it is okay to add commercial music as long as you give them credit. Commercial as Lady GaGa, LinkinPark... But does the law really meant this way? Could I get lawsuit for putting commercial music to the website as bkgrnd music.

Or I must find for royalty free musics?
 

DLM

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Please. No. Music.

I know I'm not alone in thinking that one of the most annoying things that can happen when I go to a site is that some music I probably don't like comes on. First, I have to figure out where it's coming from (remember, many of us have multiple tabs open at once), then I have to fish around the page to find the button to turn it off. By that time, you've already both bored and annoyed me.

If your content is strong, then that will speak multitudes over some trendy song playing. I would think it would do more harm having the music there, because many, like me, just close the tab if it starts playing music.

A clean, straightforward design with good content will do you fine. No frilly stuff needed.
 

Ian Grant

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back in the early 90's when the web was new and first sites were appearing Music was all the rage, but these days it's gimmicky. It only works in a few instances, often when the music's been written to compliment the images, which is quite rare.

Ian
 

Lars Jansen

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Here as well: Please no music. It is extremely annoying. I have my own background music thank you very much.

Concerning the rights, of course you need to pay for the use unless it's royalty free or you have a specific agreement with the copyright owner. I do not know where your teacher gets the idea that when it's commercial giving credit is enough. It's COMMERCIAL, which means they want to make money of it.
 

DLM

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Yep. That's like saying I can use one of your images on my site to advertise my product as long as I credit you. You probably wouldn't appreciate it, and neither would the copyright holder of that music. I'm not going to go into how I feel about the music industry, and my lack of sympathy for the rich record execs who are the ones who really make the money from that song, but the law is the law.
 

MikeSeb

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IN THE NAME OF G*D PLEASE, I BEG YOU, NO MUSIC!

For all the reasons others have stated.

Your teacher is an ignorant fool.
 

removed account4

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music on a website can sometimes be nice
and sometimes be no so nice.

ask someone who has music
on his/her website .. to learn if
any fees are involved.

most of the time my volume is off / mute
so i usually miss out, unless i am listening to something
specific to go along with images, like john callow's brother patrick ( auger shell ).
he makes some beautiful sounds that work great with images.

good luck!

john
 
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markbarendt

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You have two legal choices as I understand it;

Get (buy) royalty free music.

Pay the royalties.

As far as adding music to the site, I agree with all the nay sayers above, just say no.
 

tlitody

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fact is that your taste in music will be very different to most other peoples taste so unless it's fundamental to what you are trying to get over in your site, then be very careful about using music.

All music has copyright. So unless it expressly says royalty free, then you have to pay. Many take the risk of getting caught.
I'd say your teacher is cluelesss because the most active companies checking for copyright infringement are those who look after recent releases such as lady gaga.
 

degruyl

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Both myspace and geocities are very... played out. Please avoid music. And, since apparently this needs to be said: also avoid blink tags and other flashing lights. And neon backgrounds. It is very annoying.

As others have noted, you need to obtain a license for use of any copyrighted material that you use. For some material (which has been released into public domain) this means that you already have a license. For others, and this is almost the entirety of the music corpus published in the last 50 years, you need to pay a royalty. The same exact issues arise as music sharing software, and you are actually facing a fairly substantial lawsuit the way the music industry is treating this.

There is such a thing as "fair use", but background music is clearly not a fair use.
 

WetMogwai

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Adding music is a great way to make sure people don't see your images. Unless I'm there for the music, I'm more likely to close a page that has music than mute the speakers. Nothing is more annoying than having a web page start playing music.
 

SuzanneR

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You absolutely need to pay for music on a website. You are promoting your copyrighted work, believe me... other copyright owners will want to get paid. There are sites you can get music for not much money... Music Bakery, I think, But the Lady Gaga's of the world will be expensive, and if they catch it, you'll get one of those nasty lawyer letters from the music company. As for music on the site, I don't have it on mine for many of the reasons stated above, but I have seen it used to good effect from time to time.
 

jp498

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Don't do it. It's the plague of myspace.

First, it's probably not legal.

Second, many people like those here and myself would rather not have music start up, and x'ing out of a webpage is far easier than finding the volume control. I am often find time for surfing when I'm at work or when my baby/daughter/wife is sleeping. Peaceful is important.
 

Q.G.

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Has the message come across already that adding music is good for driving people mad (and away)?
If not: adding music is perfect for annoying people to bits and make them curse you and your web gallery.
So perhaps better not?
 

tkamiya

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If you read the license agreement for any music you buy, you'll see for what type of usage your payment will allow you. Most I've seen basically says for personal entertainment use only. You could argue, your website is for your personal enjoyment. However, keep in mind, the music industry is hyper sensitive for misuse right now. Putting licensed music on a website can invite unwanted attention, and possibly result in lawsuit. Even if you eventually prevail, it will require you to defend yourself. That would be both both expensive and stressful.

Personally, I wouldn't risk it.
 

removed account4

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if you really like the music and too broke
to pay for it, you might consider swapping
some of your artwork for the use of
some of the music ... if they like your photography
it might be a win-win situation ...
 

MattKing

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I agree with all the above. You need to buy the right to use most music, and you don't want the music to play automatically.

If you still want to have background music available as a choice then you could include a button that allows people to turn it on, but almost no one will.

Even if the website is music oriented, it should not come on automatically.
 
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