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7.2 Legal Requirements: Copyrights, Trademarks & Rights Societies
iStock makes every effort to conform to international copyright legislation and other applicable law, with our principal jurisdiction in Canada.
http://laws.justice.gc.ca/en/C-42/index.html
Uploading someone else's sound is strictly prohibited and a violation of the iStock Membership Agreement, the Sound Artist Supply Agreement and applicable law. You must be the copyright holder (original artist) of either the lyrics, the musical composition, the performance or the sound recording, to be eligible to upload the work. If you didn't write it, perform it or originally record it, you cannot submit it. If you wrote the lyrics and the music but did not perform it or record it, you must have a signed talent release for you, the performers and the maker of the sound recording.
Even though you wrote it, performed it and/or recorded it, if you or any of the talent involved have previously given rights in the work to a performing rights or mechanical rights society such as SOCAN, ASCAP, BMI, SESAC, GEMA, PRS, etc… or a recording studio or record label, you cannot upload it. No one likes to read legal agreements but dig them out and have a look. If you have given up only some but not all rights in your work, you cannot upload it. For example, if you are a member of ASCAP you may well be entitled to directly license your work but you are not permitted to upload it to iStock.
Uploading any of the following is strictly prohibited and may result in legal action and termination of your membership agreement, depending on the severity of the offence:
- A sound recording of a sound recording. If you find an old LP in your parents' basement, or anywhere else for that matter, you cannot digitally record it and upload the work.
- A sound recording made by you at a concert or festival.
- A sound recording that you found or downloaded from the internet.
Stolen lyrics and musical compositions - Hear a tune on the radio, TV or your buddy's CD that you like? Leave it alone and create your own original material. iStock will not accept material that is or sounds too much like someone else's. This means that you cannot take a whole or a part of someone else's work even if it is common practice in that genre of music. For example, hip hop and rap styles sometimes use "samples" of other’s works to create "new" songs; this is not acceptable content to upload to iStock and will be rejected. You cannot "cover" a popular song and call it your own. You can, however, perform and record public domain sheet music such as Bach or Mozart. You cannot take previously recorded public domain sheet music or a classical song you heard on the radio, or elsewhere, performed by another artist and use it in your audio files for iStock.
Trademarks or slogans - Tracks that have slogans or trademarks contained within them are not acceptable. For example, if you want to submit a song about "trucks" or "cars" use the generic term rather than trademarked brands like F-150®, Volvo®, etc…
Prepackaged loops and songs - There are many commercially available loops and songs available and the associated license agreements may permit you to incorporate them into new musical works for sale. iStock is committed to licensing only original material so these prepackaged sounds cannot be uploaded by you either individually or as part of a new musical work.
We are glad that you have decided to join the iStock audio community and we look forward to adding your content to our collection. If you have any questions or concerns please be sure to contact the iStock audio department at onedeafear@istockphoto.com
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