COPYRIGHT LAW

Copyright law makes it technically illegal to reproduce almost any creative work (other than under fair use) without permission.

The information below is for reference and enlightenment only and is explained in the simplest ‘easy’ English way possible so that you can understand the basics of what it means without all the exact legal jargon.

“I want to make a mix tape for my self to listen to”

Fine when you buy a record it is generally accepted that the owner of the record can record it for their own personal use so long as it is not copied or distributed or sold to others. So making a mix tape for your self is classed as 'Fair use' but if you sell that mix or upload it onto the Internet for others to access/download you are infringing our copyrights and could be breaking the law.

“I Paid good money for my record why can’t I do what I what with it”

It is a general misunderstanding that people ( including DJs and Promoters) think, when they buy a record they can do what they want with it when in fact they have only paid for the materials of the record:-
(1) The cover,
(2) The plastic vinyl and
(3) the record label.
The ‘song’ that is on the vinyl record is not your property it is the record company’s.
If you bought a DVD video the ‘film’ on it is still the property of the film company so if you copy it without getting the owners permission you are crossing the line of ‘acceptable use’ and infringing someone’s copyrights.

“I play your music all the time and when I DJ what's wrong with that?”

Nothing is wrong with that...You can play our records when you like and when you DJ as long as your set is not being recorded for possible distribution or sale to the public.

“I sell mix tapes It doesn't hurt anybody -- in fact it's free advertising.”

This is the most irritating excuse of them all !
It's up to us to decide if we want the' free advertising' or not. If we want it, we will be sure to contact you. Don't rationalize whether it hurts us or not, ask us for permission first, even better tell your friend to come to our website so they can get our promotion directly! but don't sell our music and make these dumb excuses for selling it. You are just lining your own pocket and we see it as theft!

“I still Paid good money for my record so it’s mine to do with as I want”

Lets us first clear up a simple issue:-
1) The ‘Record’ is the actual vinyl/sleeve and label.
2) The ‘Song’ is the music on the ‘Record’.
OK …To make a ‘Song’ might only cost a record company a few pounds using a computer or thousands of pounds in expensive recording studios it really can vary by thousands of pounds,
You are not buying the ‘Song’ you are buying the actual ‘Record’ (bag, vinyl, label)
This is why most ‘Records’ cost about the same price because to manufacture a record i.e. vinyl label and bag, the cost is about the same for all record companies and that is why the price is the same and that is what you buy.
The ‘Song’ that is on the ‘Record’ is not bought by you it is just part of the product that makes you want to buy the ‘Record’ but you do not own the‘Song’ you own the 'record'.

This is why record company’s sometimes need to generate income from licensing their ‘Songs’ on other media like CD compilation albums as some songs cost thousands to make and the sales of just 12” records can not always be enough to get the money invested back.

So if you buy a compilation mix CD, the same applies...you own the CD but not the music on the CD.

If you copy our Song from a record or CD onto another format (your own mix CD) and sell it you have stolen our song and are now making money by reselling a product with our song on without paying us or getting permission. This is Illegal and we call it Stealing.

“I can’t see how copying your track can hurt you”?

Think about it! We are an underground and independent record label
we make music we love and go through the expensive and risky process of manufacturing it and promoting it so you eventually get to hear and hopefully buy it.
This is a big financial risk we take, in the hope to make money doing the thing we love most which is making underground music.
If we go through this process and risk our money and someone decides to copy it and distribute it for free or for a price without paying us to do so then we will be left with loads of bills for unsold records and no reason to go through the process again and will eventually have no more money to make our music!
piracy on the net will eventually get independent labels like us skint because no one actually buys our records and that means we will get bought lock stock and barrel by some big cheesy corporate record company and be forced to make music that they want.

“I Just bought a mix pack from an event I went to are they legal”

If they are in a 'multi pack of tapes' format or on a home made CD that is not manufactured and printed professionally or they do not have all the record detail info on them chances are that promoter is one of those low life gutter promoters who is just stealing as much as possible, all for themselves. Look at the CD or tape pack you have and then think why is that promoter recording all the DJs and selling the CD/tape pac do you think.....

Option 1. He is a greedy tosser who is only interested in how much money he can make and he doesn't really care about you or the record company he just want to get rich by being a toe rag.

Or maybe

Option 2. He love the scene and what's to help it grow for future generations.

If you picked option 2 ? then you might be right......but we doubt it!
If you picked option 1 ? then you are a wise person indeed!

“I Just bought a mix CD from a well known DJ are they legal”

The same as above applies :)
But this time it is the DJ that is option 1
It is not difficult to tell a real release from something that has been done on a home computer with a colour printer.

“You can’t fool me your making tons of dosh! Look at how much records cost!”

Wrong again……. The amount you pay for our records in shops is NOT the amount Strictly underground gets paid.
The record shop and distributor put their extra bit on then the VAT is added and suddenly the price just go’s silly.
We don’t like the end price anymore than you and have complained about the markup some record shops put on our records.
Check out our shop online for a much fairer price for our music Direct.

“If I copy records and give copies to my friends and don’t charge for it,
Is it OK”?

No! There is an accepted exception for personal copying of music (own use) although courts have made it clear that doesn't include wide scale anonymous personal copying like ‘Napster’ or sharing ‘copy’s’ of copyrighted material with others which are all illegal.
It is important to remember that when it comes to the law, computers never make copies, only human beings make copies. Computers are given commands, not permission. Only people can be given permission. If you make copies or down load them onto your computer or upload them onto the Internet, it is you that is responsible for the possible prosecution not the Internet or your computer.

“If it's on other web sites is it's in the public domain.”

NO. no material is in the public domain unless the owner explicitly puts it in the public domain(*). Strictly underground's has no material in the public domain even this web site is protected by copyright!.

“I want to use the name strictly underground can I”?

The name ‘Strictly Underground’ is a registered Trade Mark covering many different products and services including Records, clothing and merchandise. Our logo is also a registered trade mark so it can only appear on ‘our’ official merchandise and products. The words ‘strictly underground’ can however be used in ‘fair use’ cases like if you want to form a link to our web site or in descriptions directly connected to us like in magazine articles, reviews or comments about us there are other “fair use” ways as well that do not relate to us at all.
For example:- You can't use our trademark (logo or name) in any way that would steal the value of the mark, or in a way that might make people confuse you or what you are doing with the real owner of the mark, or which might allow you to profit from the trademark's good name.
If you use our name you should ask yourself why do you need to use it, If by using our name we are adding something to your product then you should get permission from us first.
I.e. : if you was holding a rave event, you would be ill advised to use the words “Strictly underground" as the title or sub title of the event or the music description with the exception of ‘fair use’.
Your use should not be able to be confused with us, remember, you aren't the holder of the trade mark. We believe that this use would be difficult if you used the two words together in this way.
The same would apply to any merchandise like T-shirts record bags stickers etc we would not accept any copyright infringements and would enforce our rights through the courts.

“You can't sue me, I am not a company, individuals in court have powerful rights”!

Copyright law is mostly civil law. If you violate copyright you would usually get sued. "Innocent until proven guilty" is a principle of criminal law, as is "proof beyond a reasonable doubt." Sorry, but in copyright suits, these don't apply the same way or at all. It's mostly which side and set of evidence the judge or jury accepts or believes more, though the rules vary based on the type of infringement. In civil cases you can even be made to testify against your own interests.

“How comes other people make their music free to download”?

They either have loads of money and can afford to do it for free or they make shit music that isn’t worth paying for.

"So I can't ever reproduce anything?"

Personal use is generally accepted, but you should find out first if it is ok to copy something beyond this. If you intend to sell something which has our name or music on then you are breaking the law and we could sue you!
Copyright has two main purposes, namely the protection of the author's right to obtain commercial benefit from valuable work, and the protection of the author's general right to control how a work is used.

“Well if that’s the case then you are all a bunch of wankers”?

No we aren’t……….we love the music we make and so do all our loyal supporters and the only way we can keep doing this is if we get paid, so if you think that because we want to protect our work we are wankers than you have either not read this article or you don’t give a shit about the music we make and love so if we sue you it will serve you right for being an arrogant thieving tosser!.

“You won’t sue me you won’t even sue the big boys”?

Between 1997 and 2000 we sued and or instructed legal proceedings againsts lots of people including the MCPS, and Virgin/EMI music we did not lose any of our cases and won total damages/settlements well over £30,000 on each case!.
We are very serious about our music and are not afraid to go to court and many people bigger than us have realised this to their cost!
Being independent and underground does not make us any less determined!
We hope you have read this and understand that we love what we do and will do what it takes to protect it for the future!
We don’t want you to stop playing our music or telling people about us just stop copying our records for others or profit!