Supplied music in the MEP free extras.

CubeAce wrote on 2/28/2019, 8:47 AM

Any idea about whether they are royalty free or not? Are they usable for YouTube for instance? I'm referring to the tracks that come with the free versions of the Photo slide image maker that can be accessed within MEP? There are a lot of usable tracks, especially if edited, mixed and matched to timeline requirements. They wouldn't be for prsonal profit but more informational in nature. I must admit that using material that isn't my own is worrying and seems a minefield of potential litigation. Particularly as they were meant for the slideshow program and not necessarily MEP and the fact I'd be editing them to the equivalent of a new mix.

If not usable, what are the restrictions (if any) from the shop bought tracks available through MEP?

Does anyone have experience with this?

Comments

johnebaker wrote on 2/28/2019, 9:06 AM

@CubeAce

The specifics are in the EULA for MEP - section 5.2:

@Contents a) In principle, the Contents - with the exception of Live Sets - may only be used for non-commercial purposes. This also applies to music, video or photo data as well as the corresponding templates acquired through or by means of MAGIX Products'

HTH

John EB

browj2 wrote on 2/28/2019, 10:20 AM

@CubeAce

Hi Ray,

Further to what John EB said, you can purchase Pro licenses on Producer Planet for Soundpool Loops and other stuff, but I suspect that not everything is available for the Pro license.

Have you used the Soundtrack Maker in MEP? You can see the ogg loops under:

C:\ProgramData\MAGIX\Movie Edit Pro Premium\2019\Soundtrack Maker Styles

or thereabouts.

MEP/VPX uses the loops to create songs the length that you want (or close to it). However, you can create your own using MusicMaker and these same loops. Often when adding in music, you may just want a drum beat with a bass line, or a drum roll and cymbal crash or something. Finding these is much easier with MMM. You can score your video using MMM. See my tutorial on this.

Of course, if your video is for commercial purposes, you will want to obtain the Pro license for whatever Soundpool you are using. I have several that came with a Pro license, so I use those for any videos that would be monetized.

John CB

CubeAce wrote on 2/28/2019, 10:49 AM

@johnebaker

Thank you for the link, John.

It's funny, I could make sense of the other conditions except for this one which seems to be the one I'm interested in. The 'exception' lies in which direction, and what do they term 'live sets'? as music, video, and photo data seem to be listed separately. It seems the music is free from copyright if not for commercial use if I'm reading it correctly although I'm not up on legalese.

There are other problems. Would editing MEP transitions or additional shop bought content come under misuse or perhaps have different terms and conditions? For instance, shortening an intro template to fit a timeline; or would it be considered fair use?

I don't want to publicly post videos just to get takedown requests later through some unforeseen infringement of copyright.

I first thought that using some music already supplied by Magix would cut down on possible infringements but now I'm not so sure. All video footage and stills are mine. I have permission to use the material I shot in the locations and times I shot them, as this project was shot on private property and refers to activity on the property.

I just wanted a music background to edit to for transitions. I could add commentary to it if needed and additional informational written dialogue to make the music more of partial use of material (Background) rather than a mainstay of the piece. Apart from using MEP to produce the final video, and so far the backing music track, I have used all my own material and have no intention of making any gain financially from publicly publishing any videos I upload onto the net.

Maybe the best thing to do would be to look for another music track with a commons license to it, or heaven forbid, make my own backing music track. I could even do an accreditation saying which software and music tracks were used although there is no mention of the artists involved, assuming there were artists involved and not a collection of samples strung together.

johnebaker wrote on 2/28/2019, 11:16 AM

@CubeAce

. . . . It seems the music is free from copyright . . . .

I think you are confusing Copyright with the 'right to use' ie: Licensing.

All the Soundpools, audio images and video clips used in templates etc are copyright Magix. You can never own copyright of the items or claim copyright of them in your videos.

However with respect to licensing, they are free for personal use where there is no monetary gain by you - see this article for Soundpools etc used in Music Maker.

As I interpret it. the statement in section 5.2 of the EULA, is a short form of the terms and conditions of use in the article linked to above.

HTH

John EB

CubeAce wrote on 2/28/2019, 11:46 AM

@johnebaker

You're right of course, I did say my legalese was not my strong point 😀. I wouldn't even try to claim copyright of material I didn't produce. If the video did make money, would giving the proceeds to charity nullify the commercial clause I wonder? Not that I would expect that many hits, or I could find a site that didn't give a monetary reward for the number of views.

@browj2

I think if I were to make my own music track I would use Cubase as I have in the past. All my source material there is without such problems as I have my own soundbites, samples, and loops, and the instruments don't have such limitations on their use. It's just the additional time to actually lay down, and compose an original track seems prohibitive in as much as I'm not that quick at producing results although I can put a tune together. I prefer to use music to set moods and give transitions flow and pace.

browj2 wrote on 2/28/2019, 11:55 AM

Hi Ray,

For non-commercial purposes, I wouldn't worry about anything so long as what you are using is part of something else that is your creation. Publishing (to the public) just a Magix song by itself would not be part of original content, as someone could copy and use it, although as part of a video, it would be considered ok for non-commercial use.

The whole idea is to use your material supplemented by Magix material if you want, to make original content. Magix gives you the tools to modify, distort, lengthen and shorten their material, as well as your own.

Transitions, for the most part, would be hard to say that you couldn't use them in a commercial context, since the backing images are yours.

That said, you still may get a copyright hit on YouTube for using Soundpool Loops, but not from Magix. These are invalid and easy to defend. There was a case of someone simply stringing together Magix Soundpool loops, publishing them, and then making copyright hits to collect revenue. This disappeared after complaints. I have one copyright hit from someone who is selling a song obviously made with Magix Soundpool loops. I will probably contest this. He probably doesn't even have a commercial license for these.

On my wish list for Magix is the addition of a plugin for SmartSound SonicFire. I have the albums that came with it plus a few more songs that were on sale for 10% of the normal price and some that came with Pinnacle Studio. These are royalty free. The interface allows you to set the length that you need and you can add in and change emotions. See the site. I have been tempted to purchase a pack of 5 albums when they go on sale, with the selection of each album to be made over 1 year. I wouldn't purchase at full price unless desperate.

Here is a site with a lot of royalty free music done by the guy who runs the site. If you use any of his music, you have to accredit him and it would be polite to make a donation.

John CB

browj2 wrote on 2/28/2019, 12:08 PM

@browj2

I think if I were to make my own music track I would use Cubase as I have in the past. All my source material there is without such problems as I have my own soundbites, samples, and loops, and the instruments don't have such limitations on their use. It's just the additional time to actually lay down, and compose an original track seems prohibitive in as much as I'm not that quick at producing results although I can put a tune together. I prefer to use music to set moods and give transitions flow and pace.

See my last post that I did while you were posting.

The Magix instruments do not have any restrictions on them. The only restriction would be using the demo song that comes with the instrument.

I have been struggling for the past week scoring an 8mm film of a 1971 camping trip with a few friends. Well, grain and dust removal and colour correcting were the first problems. I have used Magix songs, a snippet of a commercial song with drums, piano and vocal overlay by me, sound effects, my piano playing, music created using MusicMaker Soundpool loops, an old Coca-Cola commercial, and I'm still not finished. I have been blocked mentally, desperately searching for an idea for the Intro. Today has got to be the day!

Then I'll have to score the intro most likely using the Soundpool loops.

It seems that I have several projects where I have been blocked by my inability to score them, but I persist.

BTW, MusicMaker is free, unless you want or need more than the basic stuff.

Back to work.

John CB

johnebaker wrote on 2/28/2019, 3:16 PM

@CubeAce

Hi Ray

In reference to John's comment

. . . . you still may get a copyright hit on YouTube . . . . These are invalid and easy to defend. There was a case of someone simply stringing together Magix Soundpool loops, publishing them, and then making copyright hits to collect revenue. . . .

See this recent article

Free music is also available from the Youtube Audio Library and the FreeMusicArchive

HTH

John EB

CubeAce wrote on 2/28/2019, 5:03 PM

@browj2 @johnebaker

Thank you both for your continued information and support.

John CB.

I've been using Cubase since it's early days and I'm more comfortable working with it than the MEP mixer. It will handle MEP video exports and allow me to sync and export audio onto a track within MEP. I'm more comfortable with it's mixer and effects which are more comprehensive than MEPs, plus it allows me to edit sound between frames if need be. Plus I have all my own made samples and loops and a lot more instrument choices. My main concern would be the time it takes me to complete an audio music track may take me longer than it takes me to edit and tweak my video. I would prefer to use outside sourced music which is probably better than my own efforts anyway. I was a recording engineer, not a musician. I can get by with the aid of multitracking and the aid of automated drop in and drop out points (easy to do in Cubase) but I could never complete a competent live performance. It does sound like I could use the tracks I have used though. Definitely non-commercial use as I don't film for money or sell any related product or services from them. Video and photography are not my day job.

As for uploading to the net, I think I'll stick to Flickr for the time being. At least I won't make a profit on any material there and as a platform has limited viewing compared to other sites.

Flickr will be allowing up to ten minute video clips soon and I don't like to go beyond ten minutes anyway.

I hope you manage to complete your videos soon. It sounds like it was a marathon task.

I worked for a London Studio in the 70s that mainly supported commercial radio and I have a large private collection of radio station ident jingles as well as a lot of commercial backing tracks for various companies and shows including Coka-Cola from an array of countries. Nearly all of the Coke adds end with 'It's the real thing' 😉. Most of the various takes were never used but are interesting alternative arrangements of those actually used. It's amazing how many hours go into composing, arranging and recording a short jingle. Did you know Cadbury spent one and a quarter million pounds in the 70s just filming skies for their first Cadburys Flake advert? Anyhow, I digress.

John EB.

I have been looking for such libraries so thank you very much for those links. I will look into them for future use.

Yes, I was aware of the BBC article and some of the problems with using YouTube. Having been in the industry I have no desire to go against infringing anyone elses rights and all too willing to accredit or make a donation for fare use, hence the post of my concern about the MEP content.