I often encourage you to use multimedia in your blog posts. Instead of just plain text, blog readers are far more drawn to online videos and beautiful photos. And music!
Adding and linking to music in your posts can make your whole blog come alive.
The good news is that there are ways to add music to your blog posts and still stay within the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (or, DMCA) This is what Wikipedia describes as an act that “…criminalizes production and dissemination of technology, devices, or services intended to circumvent measures… that control access to copyrighted works.”
Long story short – break that legal act and you could be showered with ‘cease and desists’. Or worse, your blog could be shut down completely! But it’s not hard to comply.
Here are some things to consider when working with music in your blog:
- Know What You’re Doing: If you post and properly credit your music links in the first place, you could be safe. Just think ahead. I personally love the EFF’s Legal Guide to Bloggers, which lists frequently asked copyright questions about and the DMCA process, and a host of other blogging issues.
- Get clear on your hosting service’s DMCA policies: Does your hosting service accept DMCA counter-notices? They should! Call your hosting provider and ask what their policy is on how many chances they give you before they cancel your account. If your hosting provider doesn’t know what you’re talking about – you might want to find a new hosting provider.
- Be available. If a DMCA takedown notice comes looking for you and your blog, they’ll backtrack it with a reverse DNS look-up to figure out who is hosting your blog. So make sure your hosting service always knows how to reach you. Check that your email and contract information is up to date. It’s the best way to nip things in the bud before it gets bad.
- Just In Case: Get ready to get moving. You may have to reinvent yourself and migrate your blog readers to a completely new site. Do you know how to do that? Hopefully, you’ll never suffer the effects of a DMCA crackdown but if you do – you want to know that you can rebuild quickly and easily elsewhere.
Do you use music on your blog? If so, how? Also – what precautions do you take to make sure your usage is completely legal? Let me know with a comment below. And don’t forget to Like, Tweet, Pin and Google+ this post.