Quote:
Originally Posted by Spud In Disguise
However, I have always tried my hardest to keep to strictly legal downloads and pay for my music - unless the artist themselves have allowed the music to be downloaded.
|
That's legal. It doesn't matter what you pay, so long as you have permission. It's been that you have to buy that permission - it's coupled to your payment - but that isn't set in stone. Look at Radiohead.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Spud In Disguise
My question therefore is, can I link to any downloads on the site safe in the knowledge that it has been approved by the artists?
|
Under law, I think so. You aren't hosting the music ( if it's illegal) you're only pointing to something that's available online. That's how a lot of companies get out of lawsuits.
Further, download.com is assumably a reputable site. You said yourself you've uploaded things in the past and they run a tight ship. At some level, and I think making a hyperlink is below this level, you can defer to them. You don't have to investigate the history of every digital bit on the internet before typing <a href="download.com">click here</a>. If you were pointing people to a CD on a bit torrent it would be different, but you seem to believe in good faith that anything that makes it to the public side of download.com is legit. And I think that's a fair assumption to make.
If a person asked me where he could get $20 and I said there was a bank around the corner, if he robbed that bank it wouldn't be my fault. I thought he meant to withdraw it. If you recommend a song on download.com knowing they don't publish just anything, I think it's the same. |
