How does Bethesda have the rights to use old music in their game?

[󠀡󠀡 ⁧⁧Darius]

How does Bethesda have the rights to use old music in their game?

I mean, most of the singers of Fallout 3 or New Vegas radio songs are dead by now. How does Bethesda use those songs?

Surely you can't just add any song in your game without permission from someone, can you?

[Chompman]

They pay for the rights to use the music in their game if it's owned by someone / corporation just like any other game does.

Just because the original singer may be dead does not mean the record company / family is also all gone and they would be the ones that get paid usually.

[󠀡󠀡 ⁧⁧Darius]

Originally posted by Chompman:

They pay for the rights to use the music in their game if it's owned by someone / corporation just like any other game does.

Just because the original singer may be dead does not mean the record company / family is also all gone and they would be the ones that get paid usually.

I've heard someone say that music past a certain age is public access.
You know anything about it?

[Chompman]

Originally posted by Darius:

Originally posted by Chompman:

They pay for the rights to use the music in their game if it's owned by someone / corporation just like any other game does.

Just because the original singer may be dead does not mean the record company / family is also all gone and they would be the ones that get paid usually.

I've heard someone say that music past a certain age is public access.
You know anything about it?

It does happen but you are looking at something like 50-70 years from when the author died or 95 years after publication date.

Unless it was done before 1972 and in that case they are protected until 2067 it seems.

[Ilja]

Originally posted by Chompman:

It does happen but you are looking at something like 50-70 years from when the author died or 95 years after pluralization date.

EU and Canada have quite flat 70 years protection.

[Brandybuck]

How does Bethesda have the rights to use old music in their game? They bought the rights to use them!

[AC Denton]

Copyright expires 70 years after the death of the author (computer-created works is 50). Then they enter the public domain, it's why there's many Mahjong or Chess games, they're old and anyone can use them.
Copyright ownership can be bought, sold and inheirited.
To get a liscence to use their music, Bethesda may contact the producer of the track or a decendant of the original author, dependant on who owns the copyright.

[Vic Evicerator]

And in many cases of modern(ish) music, licensing conglomerates like ASCAP or BMI make this easy - it's not like they have to track down the rights holder for every single song. Song owners (at least in the US) register their songs with organizations like ASCAP who handle all the minutiae of securing royalty payments for live performances, broadcasts, or (as would likely be the case here) compilations. Bethesda likely just worked it out about the same as someone looking to release a compilation album or something like that.

[Hobo Misanthropus]

How does COD afford to license all the real-world guns????

[ZaggRukk]

Originally posted by Hobo Misanthropus:

How does COD afford to license all the real-world guns????

How does Forza afford to license all of the car manufacturers? And why does only one game get to use Porche, while the rest have to settle for RUS?

On a side note, bethesda just lost the rights to some of the music for NV or FO3 ( I don't remember which) and had to remove a bunch of them. Same thing with GTA. . .

[JobeGardener]

While those ICBMs keep us free!!

[Solomon Hawk]

Damn it. I thought Beth might use someone like Mamma Murphy to hold a seance with a crystal ball and all that to contact the dead.

[Von Faustien]

Originally posted by Ilja:

Originally posted by Chompman:

It does happen but you are looking at something like 50-70 years from when the author died or 95 years after pluralization date.

EU and Canada have quite flat 70 years protection.

the usa's public domain is all ♥♥♥♥♥♥ up because every time mickey mouse is about to go public domain the sick there ravonus hoards of flesh eating lawyers onto washinton to sacrifice the souls of those who were taken by the disney parks for an extension on copyright laws... ok so maybe its money they bribe with but the souls of lost children who never left the disney parks sounds better.

[Shadow Self]

Originally posted by Von Faustien:

Originally posted by Ilja:

EU and Canada have quite flat 70 years protection.

the usa's public domain is all ♥♥♥♥♥♥ up because every time mickey mouse is about to go public domain the sick there ravonus hoards of flesh eating lawyers onto washinton to sacrifice the souls of those who were taken by the disney parks for an extension on copyright laws... ok so maybe its money they bribe with but the souls of lost children who never left the disney parks sounds better.

LOL... this comment did not age well.

[Chaosium]

There should be laws against necromancy of old topics

[Dezktop]

Originally posted by Chaosium:

There should be laws against necromancy of old topics

there sorta is someone well be by soon enough ha