[advocacy] Ogg for commercial purpose ?

[gtgbr at gmx.net]

> Amit Shukla wrote:
>
> I heard a long time back that if you find a MP3 song somewhere on the
> net and download it, then you can listen it for personal use but
> cannot use it for commercial use. For example, a store can't play MP3
> songs in the store. Is that true with the new OGG format too ? What
> does it mean when they say that its free ?

Ogg Vorbis is free, that is, you neither have to pay royalties for using
the *format* nor are you restricted in modifying, redistributing or
selling software based on the Xiph.org libraries. The *content*, e.g.
music, is never, ever, free. Unless the author explicity grants you the
right to use his work, you may not use it. The authors of Ogg Vorbis
already granted you all possible rights, but the music part is another
story.

A store that wants to play MP3s for its customers might have to pay
Thomson/Fraunhofer (i'm not sure about that, and if not, it could change
every time) in order to be allowed to use the MP3 format. The store will
certainly have to pay for the music itself. In Germany, you'd pay the
GEMA, in America you'd pay the RIAA, etc.

There are licenses, similar to those of Free Software, that allow any
use of the music, which has been licensed that way, under no or only
little restrictions. The shop could play such music. This store would
also get around paying, by playing only music that the shopkeeper made
by himself.

Music has nothing to do with the format it is stored in. Never make any
assumptions that you have the right to use anything. The BSD-style
license of the Ogg and Vorbis libraries and the GPL of the vorbis tools,
like oggenc, explicitly grant you these rights. You have to ask the
respective authors of the music (or their representatives) under what
conditions you may use his or her music.

99.9% allow you to listen to the music, the remaining few allow you
more. E.g. derivative works, or even redistribution. Make sure that
someone actively gave you rights. This mostly involves spending money.

<p>Moritz

P.S.: Please don't post HTML mails, they are hard to read by most people
and impossible to read by those who use text-mode mail clients.
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