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Prictous

used a part of my doom level as an album cover

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2 minutes ago, stupid ass said:

yes

I was going to ask if you'd like to elaborate/provide some kind of insight, but judging by your post history, I'm guessing the answer to that is "no".

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43 minutes ago, TheMagicMushroomMan said:

Is it legal to take a 4:3 screenshot of DOOM assets and use it to sell an album? 

Doomwiki says that showing screenshots on its website is considered as fair use, but I don't know enough about copyright so I guess screenshots are considered fair use as long as it's your own map??

 

22 minutes ago, stupid ass said:

no

Okay

Edited by Hitboi

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19 minutes ago, Hitboi said:

Doomwiki says that showing screenshots on its website is considered as fair use, but I don't know enough about copyright so I guess screenshots are considered fair use as long as it's your own map??

I was more curious about the pistol sprite than anything lol. I'm just wondering about it since the songs being advertised cost money. In other words, is the album art considered a part of the "product"?

 

Note to OP - I'm not trying to rat you out or play moral police, I was just interested in how stuff like this works on a legal level. I personally have no problem with it, obviously.

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I suppose it would be ok if it was a picture of the layout or something (probably in wireframe mode though to be safe). Then again, I'm not too knowledgeable on copyright etc... 

Fair use doesn't necessarily mean that you can use it for commercial purposes though afaik. 

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1 hour ago, Hitboi said:

Doomwiki says that showing screenshots on its website is considered as fair use, but I don't know enough about copyright so I guess screenshots are considered fair use as long as it's your own map??

Fair use is a well-defined legal concept. But long story short, fair use is generally accepted if the inclusion of copyrighted content falls under one of three main criteria: educative purposes, illustrative purposes, and parody.

 

In this instance, the screenshots on the Doom Wiki are there for illustrative purpose, as they allow to show what the subject of the article looks like.

 

Remember how those shovelware boxes used "simulated screenshots" because they weren't confident that actual screenshots wouldn't get them sued?

3RUQAOr.png

An example of a faked screenshot.

 

For the case of the OP's album art, I'm not sure where to fit it. It seems to be using Doom's pistol sprite for its iconic value. The closest would be sampling? Except it's visual sampling, not musical sampling. There's certainly precedent for Doom's iconic sprites to be used for art projects, e.g.:

So yeah. I don't think the OP is in any risk of legal trouble over this as it would be exceedingly petty of id/ZeniMax/Microsoft/the Illuminati/our reptilian overlords to take offense and it'd be hard to justify that this threatens their copyright or trademarks, but of course, IANAL.

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Actually wish the cover was more of a Doom Builder viewport screenshot.

 

A FP screenshot like that, well, it looks a bit plain.

2 hours ago, TheMagicMushroomMan said:

I was going to ask if you'd like to elaborate/provide some kind of insight, but judging by your post history, I'm guessing the answer to that is "no".

You have to do something when you are 12.

 

2 hours ago, stupid ass said:

no

Look at that cleverness.

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40 minutes ago, Gez said:

For the case of the OP's album art, I'm not sure where to fit it. It seems to be using Doom's pistol sprite for its iconic value. The closest would be sampling? Except it's visual sampling, not musical sampling.

It looks like an unedited screenshot to me rather than being visually sampled, I find that a lot of people using filtering in modern source ports and you can see it on that pistol sprite, so I suspect that it's a normal screenshot.
 

29 minutes ago, Redneckerz said:

A FP screenshot like that, well, it looks a bit plain.

Agreed, and the pistol is out of place to be fitting with the songs' themes.

 

@stupid ass You said "no" and also have the Thy Flesh Consumed sky texture set as your avatar, how ironic. Maybe you should add punctuation into your posts, write longer posts (at least slightly longer) and grow up a little.

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27 minutes ago, stupid ass said:

thank you, i always knew i was a clever person

Very self-aware, aswell.

To test that out for yourself: Try reading the room.

 

9 minutes ago, Hitboi said:

Agreed, and the pistol is out of place to be fitting with the songs' themes.

@stupid ass

I would expect thay screenshot with a desolate sounding album.

 

But this is just a standard gameplay shot used as album art.

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16 minutes ago, Redneckerz said:

But this is just a standard gameplay shot used as album art.

What gameplay? It's just an empty flat area fading away into the darkness. There's the water flat that's used as a sky. The grass texture on the floor doesn't look like an id asset. And there's Doomguy's hand holding the pistol in the center. There's no real geometry, there's no other objects in view, no enemy or decoration or whatever. A wireframe or editor shot would be pretty boring. I'd say the weapon sprite is pretty much the only point of interest in the image.

 

I don't know why the OP chose that for album art, but that picture basically represents "playing Doom in gloomy darkness" in an instantly-recognizable way.

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54 minutes ago, Gez said:

What gameplay? It's just an empty flat area fading away into the darkness. There's the water flat that's used as a sky. The grass texture on the floor doesn't look like an id asset. And there's Doomguy's hand holding the pistol in the center. There's no real geometry, there's no other objects in view, no enemy or decoration or whatever. A wireframe or editor shot would be pretty boring. I'd say the weapon sprite is pretty much the only point of interest in the image.

Gameplay shot, as in, a first person shot showcasing the weapon. Not a gameplay shot showcasing enemies/map.

 

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Loving the tracks. The image does not seem to directly link to the music overall, but the OP may associate Doom with that particular style of music and is wanting to convey that. Or indeed, just throwing a random Doom image without any context, allowing the listener to creat their own concept around it.

 

As far as the legal use, it is in the similar vein of vaporwave, where music and imagery are constantly recycled, and re-contextualised to create something new/different.

 

A lot of that is up for free on band camp, however, some artists do charge. Aside from some of the more well known releases, there has been no real legal issues, either with the music, or images used.

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I'll be honest, the music is, quite staggering. Lot of high notes, lot of tempo, and is more geared towards intense chases and races. It does not feel like doom music. 

 

As for the discussion above, my OPINION is as follows.

 

 

#NotLegalAdvice. THIS IS NOT LEGAL ADVICE.

Spoiler

 

The Album Art would not fit under the fair use category in any recognisable terms. However, a good lawyer, at that low album price, may argue that the art is more illustrative of the association to the music, and not as a standalone marketing piece. As such, it would also fall under the copyright laws fair use clause.

However, the complaint would outline both the texture and the sprites as copyrighted materials, and would win the case by association with an entity, in this case, ID Software.

 

For ID Software to actually file a copyright claim, they would have to see that the album is popular outside of it's intended use circle. At which point, you would most likely have to pay royalty fees for the usage of the assets. The game play of an individual can not be copyrighted and producing content by playing the game and showing progression, falls under fair use, since it falls under educative and illustrative purpose, provided there is enough commentary on the gameplay (Closest example I can give is youtube: This is why youtubers talk and analyse so much when playing games, and why they play the games without music or substitute music, or why they don't monetise the videos and instead ask for donations. You can not monetise gameplay assets, unless the video itself is illustrative, educational or parody and even then there are a bunch of regulations of do's and don'ts. Most of the youtubers producing gameplay videos fall under one of the three categories or have their monetisation turned off).  None of that is present on a screen shot used as an album cover.

 

If the music is made for playing with doom, then in that case, it can be argued it is for illustrative purpose. However, that argument would fall thin in court. Since the album cover is used most of the times as marketing purpose, it would fall under the marketing part of copyright law. Marketing also has fair use part, but there is a reason, why album covers usually have stock images and bands own name and/or faces on it, or are completely new designs SOLD/ Licenced for the band/artist. Nowadays, many artists do their album/channel covers themselves, most of the time without borrowing any assets at all, to avoid copyright issues).

 

So overall, even with arguments from both sides, the court would most likely rule in favour of the copyright holder, based on following:

  • Sprite is the centrepiece of an album art
  • All assets used are doom assets made by doom development team
  • Album art is normally used as a marketing tool, even on the digital album.
  • Album is not a free release for community consumption, and requires payment for full album. (Despite the tracks themselves being free to listen.)
  • It is popular inside and/or outside the community of doom games and brings in enough to support the composer/producer of the music tracks.

Thus royalty fees would apply.

 

 

Long story short: If ID Software files a claim, the screenshot most likely would be covered by copyright law only because the product is being sold. If the product was not sold, it would fall in the grey area of copyright law, but ID Software would still have a valid claim. 

 

At this point in time, it would cost them more to file a claim, than they would realistically get out of it, and it has an intended audience. So you should be able to use it, but should not consider it as a safe usage. It, in theory, should not fall under fair use. 

#NotLegalAdvice. Please consult an attorney specialising in copyright law. 


Edit: Required edit: corrected a statement.

Edited by IcarusOfDaggers

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I hope to see you grow as an artist, layering with proper fades and mixing would help but this is a comment that is far off topic and more towards your music; your other two albums remind me of the Noise I've listened to the past and heightened my faded nostalgia for the genre. The song Beginning on the strange character named album reminds me of the PSA advertisement I made the music for years ago, but that is further off-topic so I'll bring my response back in line with topic title.

 

As for the album art, I'd say slapping your artist name on the cover somewhere and add a light mist touch up over the 'fog' area. Using a direct screenshot of the game would be fine without any creative touch-ups, but I am very wary since it is Bethesda that owns id software and therefore Doom now.

 

At minimum as long as you add your artist name to the screenshot and alter it in small details to showcase what type of music the album is and it's track content and it should be fine and well within creative manipulation if you're concerned about legal means. Transform the screenshot so it looks unique and different. I can run this through editing if you'd like a visual suggestion or two.

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3 hours ago, Naarok0fkor said:

The  cover is a little bland...You should get help from us at Deviantart...

thats the point, the ep i posted are demos from an ambient album im making, which is supposed to have an eerie sound to it, i have made other covers for my other aliases using blender and stuff

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5 hours ago, IcarusOfDaggers said:

I'll be honest, the music is, quite staggering. Lot of high notes, lot of tempo, and is more geared towards intense chases and races. It does not feel like doom music. 

 

As for the discussion above, my OPINION is as follows.

 

 

#NotLegalAdvice. THIS IS NOT LEGAL ADVICE.

  Reveal hidden contents

 

The Album Art would not fit under the fair use category in any recognisable terms. However, a good lawyer, at that low album price, may argue that the art is more illustrative of the association to the music, and not as a standalone marketing piece. As such, it would also fall under the copyright laws fair use clause.

However, the complaint would outline both the texture and the sprites as copyrighted materials, and would win the case by association with an entity, in this case, ID Software.

 

For ID Software to actually file a copyright claim, they would have to see that the album is popular outside of it's intended use circle. At which point, you would most likely have to pay royalty fees for the usage of the assets. The game play of an individual can not be copyrighted and producing content by playing the game and showing progression, falls under fair use, since it falls under educative and illustrative purpose, provided there is enough commentary on the gameplay (Closest example I can give is youtube: This is why youtubers talk and analyse so much when playing games, and why they play the games without music or substitute music, or why they don't monetise the videos and instead ask for donations. You can not monetise gameplay assets, unless the video itself is illustrative, educational or parody and even then there are a bunch of regulations of do's and don'ts. Most of the youtubers producing gameplay videos fall under one of the three categories or have their monetisation turned off).  None of that is present on a screen shot used as an album cover.

 

If the music is made for playing with doom, then in that case, it can be argued it is for illustrative purpose. However, that argument would fall thin in court. Since the album cover is used most of the times as marketing purpose, it would fall under the marketing part of copyright law. Marketing also has fair use part, but there is a reason, why album covers usually have stock images and bands own name and/or faces on it, or are completely new designs SOLD/ Licenced for the band/artist. Nowadays, many artists do their album/channel covers themselves, most of the time without borrowing any assets at all, to avoid copyright issues).

 

So overall, even with arguments from both sides, the court would most likely rule in favour of the copyright holder, based on following:

  • Sprite is the centrepiece of an album art
  • All assets used are doom assets made by doom development team
  • Album art is normally used as a marketing tool, even on the digital album.
  • Album is not a free release for community consumption, and requires payment for full album. (Despite the tracks themselves being free to listen.)
  • It is popular inside and/or outside the community of doom games and brings in enough to support the composer/producer of the music tracks.

Thus royalty fees would apply.

 

 

Long story short: If ID Software files a claim, the screenshot most likely would be covered by copyright law only because the product is being sold. If the product was not sold, it would fall in the grey area of copyright law, but ID Software would still have a valid claim. 

 

At this point in time, it would cost them more to file a claim, than they would realistically get out of it, and it has an intended audience. So you should be able to use it, but should not consider it as a safe usage. It, in theory, should not fall under fair use. 

#NotLegalAdvice. Please consult an attorney specialising in copyright law. 


Edit: Required edit: corrected a statement.

true, changed it to a 3d render i made

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Just load your level into FreeDoom and recreate it.

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