Question: I can post my own songs, sell them, post my own embedded videos I took?

[tjmtruth]

Hi, need some help with this question. Under the terms and conditions it says something about they don't allow "any" mp3's, etc. I write my own music. Are they saying I can't post my own music? What about videos that I took that are posted on youtube? Can't I embed them or provide a link to youtube???? Please help. What about mp3's I purchased???? This is a bit confusing to me. I am new to the site and to website hosting services in general. Will a pay hosting site be better for me????? Thanks for your help.

Tom

 

[carl6969]

First of all, thank you for reading the TOS and asking questions about items in the TOS that are not clear to you.
"Illegal Material: This includes copyrighted works, commercial audio, video, or music files, and any material in violation of any Federal, State, or Local regulation. You may not store copyrighted Mp3s or videos on your webspace in any way shape or form."
If you are the author, legal owner, and copyright holder of music then you have the right to redistribute it as you wish. To avoid any possible problems with that, you will want to be prepared to prove you are the legal owner of the music should the question come up.
You can put links to YouTube so long as those links do not violate other parts of the TOS such as illegal or adult material.
MP3's you purchases: You are not the legal owner or copyright holder of MP3's you purchase therefore it is illegal to redistribute those MP3's, (such as posting them on a website).
A paid hosting plan would not make any difference regarding the questions you are asking because the legal issues would not change. However, making files available for download on a free server might cause problems your allocated system resources, possibly leading to suspension, so you may want to consider that before proceeding.

 

[tjmtruth]

Dear Carl,

Thanks for your reply, however, I am still a bit concerned. I write music and so do several friends of mine. We are all the copyright owners of our own material, of course. What we do is share wav files of audio tracks we are working on. All I want to be able to do is use ftp (which is available on your site and I have already configured it) to share these files back and forth. This is allowed is it not? Also, sometimes we need to compare our audio quality with commercial products so that our music is of stellar quality. That is our goal. In order to do that, sometimes we need to share a few mp3's of particular songs with certain audio mix characteristics and quality, which we are trying to emulate in our music (i.e., emulate the quality of the "mix" not the content of the song). I only want to be able to do that privately through ftp. Is all this permissible?

I love this hosting site! It's features, bells and whistles, etc., blow my mind. I would hate to have to try to set my own in-home hosting server, but it may be my only option if you will not allow the things I described above. I intend no illegal public posting of any copyrighted material. I only want to privately share, on occassion, mp3's for mix quality comparisons with one or two other song writers. Again, is that permissible?

Thanks for your reply....

Tom

 

[carl6969]

Once again, thank you very much for studying the TOS and asking questions about parts of the TOS which you are not clear on. So many people here get suspended because they do not do this simple thing.

Hosting and / or redistribution of copyrighted material of any kind is illegal which is why that particular rule is included in the TOS. As stated in the TOS, this type of material cannot be stored on your webspace. As stated earlier, if you are the legal owner and copyright holder of music and / or videos and can prove that if asked to do so, then you are doing nothing illegal by storing these files and there should be no problems.

However, just to make absolutely sure, I am going to verify this. I will post back with what I learn shortly.

 

[carl6969]

I have now discussed this with an Account Manager who pointed out another relevant portion of the TOS.
"File Storage: Accounts are not to be used for file storage, your account will be permenantly suspended if found to be breaking this rule. Downloads are only allowed on your x10Hosting account if they have to do directly with your website. e.g. you developed custom software and are selling it or giving it away. Accounts may not be used for mirrors, game file hosting, or any other type of file hosting not specified here."
So, it appears that you are not allowed to use your account for the purpose you are describing.