Freesound Forums

I recently made a 60:00 minute thunderstorm track and would like to upload it to the website. i am not sure if that would be breaking the law though.

i got the sounds from a game i own but have altered there pitch, length and volume. they are in know way like the original sound files anymore.

i have put a lot of effort into making it and would hate to not be able to let others enjoy it.

is this allowed?

if not i will not upload it.

im unclear too, cuz i dont know if i can you sounds from this website then make a song, do i have to give the people credit?? is it ileagel to make a song with sounds from here then sell that song??

Legion, I think the license of the sounds you took it from would ultimately determine this. Its probably very unlikely that you could legally do this. The game that used those sounds likely had a license to follow itself.

The most conservative answer would be no, unless the game gives you a license to use the sounds and share you own creations. This article may help you understand:

http://www.joegratz.net/archives/2004/09/08/6th-cir-theres-no-such-thing-as-ide-minimisi-sampling/

This goes by an American court ruling. I doubt it has changed much since 5 years ago. I can't speak for everywhere else.

Generally sound samples sold, usually have a provision against people giving away the samples or building alternate sounds from them and giving those away.(otherwise how do they make money) They usually do allow you to use or modify them in a project of yours with the purchase of a license. I'm being a bit lazy here, hope this helps though.

SammySoSo
im unclear too, cuz i dont know if i can you sounds from this website then make a song, do i have to give the people credit?? is it ileagel to make a song with sounds from here then sell that song??

The current license was meant exactly for people to create music from. You do have to give people credit. You can sell the song.

There's one restriction though: "You may not use this work to advertise for or promote anything but the work you create from it." So I don't think you would be able to sell your song in an ad, unless it promotes the work you made. This area's a bit confusing to me.

So the law about giving credit to authors and the one about being able to use sounds as long as ive transformed them doesnt apply?

i live in Australia by the way, so our laws may be different from America's

SammySoSo
im unclear too, cuz i dont know if i can you sounds from this website then make a song,
There's one restriction though: "You may not use this work to advertise for or promote anything but the work you create from it." So I don't think you would be able to sell your song in an ad, unless it promotes the work you made. This area's a bit confusing to me.

I think what's meant is this:
You can use the samples to use in a song, put the song on a cd (with attribution in the booklet) and make money from that. To sell your cd, you can advertise it on radio and tv, using those samples.
However, you can't use the song for a dogfood advertisement, for example.

So commercial use is allowed (meaning you can make money of it), but you cannot use it in advertisements (for dogfood or cars or anything), except ads for the song itself (advertising your cd is allowed).

LEGION92
So the law about giving credit to authors and the one about being able to use sounds as long as ive transformed them doesnt apply?

i live in Australia by the way, so our laws may be different from America's

I don't quite understand what you've written here. If you're talking about the Freesound license, you DO have to give credit unless the author lets you not. If you don't give the credit you effectively violated their copyright. What would happen legally I do not know. I tend to assume that countries with general respect for copyright would also find you in violation.

I do not know if there is a law in Australia that lets you transform other people's samples tom something unrecognizable and freely use as long as you give credit. (I am not talking about the Freesound license) I tend to doubt it, but I don't really know how much wiggle room you might be able to get. The Freesound license basically gives you freedom to use sounds here as long as you credit and follow other requirements in the legal code.

I am aware that many groups sample stuff without permission or even credit. By doing so, they may put themselves at risk of being sued if the sample they took is from someone who is annoyed enough to sue the creator.

By putting transformed sounds up from a game without knowing the use their license allows, I would say you have the potential of putting others at risk of being sued if they use your sounds. That's just my opinion. A moderator would probably be able to answer your question better.

LEGION92
i got the sounds from a game i own but have altered there pitch, length and volume. they are in know way like the original sound files anymore.

Usually games have EULAs/Software User Agreements/Licenses attached in printed or digital text form, there you will most likely read that re-using any part of the game is prohibited, so try to find and read it.

If you can't find something like this, you would have to ask the makers of the game if they can give you permission to re-use their sounds.