Tuesday 20 March 2012

How you can tell if a song/video/blog post is okay for you to use or not?

So how you can tell if a song/video/blog post is okay for you to use or not?.


If  you use samples of music by other authors in your work, ensure that you get permission to use the work before you attempt to publish or sell your work. Similarly, if you use loops or samples available via sample collections etc. ensure that these are licensed as free to use, or obtain permission first.


If you need to get permission to use a piece of music, normally the best place to start is with the last know publisher for the work. They will certainly know how to get permission to use the work.


 Where music is written as a group effort, we recommend that you draw up an agreement to clarify issues, such as which rights belong to which member, and how royalties would be distributed in the event that members of your group leave.

For successful commercial bands, incorporation is also an option. As with a normal incorporated company, the band members would own shares in the band/company. In this situation, a band member would typically sell his shares to the other members if he decided to leave.

Copyright does not apply to names, neither will it apply to single phrases or slogans. Names may however be regionally protected as a trademark which may be carried out via national patent and trademark offices. To qualify the name should be distinctive, not deceptive or contrary to law or morality, and not similar to previously registered band names. 

Sunday 18 March 2012

Lower League Football

Match day in the lower Leagues piece
I love football but I think there’s a problem and that is kids these days are choosing their football club from the premier league. Little Jimmy supports Manchester United and his favourite player is Rooney. Tom supports Chelsea and his favourite player is Torres. Well I’m Olly and I support Yeovil Town and my favourite player is Luke Ayling.
Lower League football provides some of the best atmospheres you can get. Never mind Manchester City and Manchester United or Chelsea and Arsenal. Every game in League 1 is special.
My experience of these games provide me with some of the reasons why it is worth supporting or at least following a league side. Yeovil Town the club I proudly support stand mid-table in League 1. At Christmas you may be horrified to hear they were 24th, the magic of league 1 (and a manager who knows what he is doing).
When you go to these matches especially Yeovil one thing will immediately strike you and that is most of the teams down in League 1 and League 2 struggle to get that many people going to the games. It averages around 10,000 with teams like Sheffield Wednesday and Charlton boosting these averages.
At Yeovil there are certain game time traditions. Of course the fans giving the other fans a round of a applause for coming down to support their team. Apart from Bristol Rovers... The usual matchday programme with the hopeful manager program notes and also the ‘olays’ for the players when the names are called. Then the game is kicked off and inevitably after a few minutes some Somerset farmer will start complaining about something whether it be the goal we just let in or a failed skill. Then usually the witty chants start coming out from the 3,000 Yeovil fans ‘You only sing when you’re winning’, and usually when we are losing something a bit ruder. But then a refereeing decision leads to a cry of ‘c’mon’ ref and should have gone to specsavers. All quite funny to hear when said in a deep somerset accent. In fact one of the phrases that people struggle to understand in ‘c’mon yeo’ although it sounds more like ‘cmo yuh’. At half times there is a rush to the cafe, people getting the traditional beefy drink bovril. The meaty drink giving relief to your frozen tongue. One of the best parts of league 1 football are the men who try and get you to buy raffle tickets nothing can beat the echoing boom of ‘anyone for a golden gaaaamble’. Then when the gamble is made and the person who has won has collected their £50. The game then starts again and we may score (cue chelsea dagger). Then other songs ‘Shall we sing a song for you’ being my favourite. If we do score again then you are in for a nervy last bit. For some reason lower league teams have a tendency to deliberately try and let in a goal. But this just adds to the excitement. If your team wins it means a lot.

So give lower league football a chance, really it’s quite good.

Monday 12 March 2012

Public Domain

Sounds boring
Looks Boring
Its the kind of phrase that doesn't interest many people.

PUBLIC DOMAIN:

defined as ...

... the status of a published work or invention upon which the copyright or patent has expired 

or 

which has not been...

 patented or subject to copyright. It may thus be freely used by the public.
by Dictionary.com

but I am interested in what it says in plain english
 the first bit is easy.

It basically means

property rights that are held by the public at large

or

Publically owned rights 

Still think its boring...

...Oh
it's not that boring