osu!team wrote:
To this end, we have decided that all members of any osu! team involved in the ranking process (e.g. Beatmap Nominators, Quality Assurance Team, etc) will be explicitly forbidden from undertaking or participating in paid modding, ranking OR beatmapping commissions while they retain their role on the team.
Is this confirmation that BN's/QAT's are part of the osu! team? Because for the longest time they have simply been seen as regular community members with some privileges.
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Anyways, an official stance is good. I'm not against it, but I do have some issues that hopefully we can resolve.
osu!team wrote:
So it comes down to this: we ask that all individuals who undertake commissioned work to do so tastefully, with utmost respect given to the license/rights-holders of any works involved in the creation of a beatmap - this includes obtaining proper licensing/clearance for all media/art/etc involved.
Are there any differences between this rule and regular map submission rules? Just asking because you guys are specifically talking about commissions now.
Community Rules wrote:
1. Make sure you have permission to use any content involved in your beatmap. This includes songs, videos, hit sounds, graphics, and any other content that isn't your own creation. If you are unsure of where to find content that is free to use, we have a growing library of tracks available at the Featured Artist listing, all 100% licensed for use in osu!.
Main reason I'm asking is because this rule basically says that as a rule we should have permission to use content involved.
So here's my question with all things considered. Will the osu!team be taking any measures to enforce this rule? That is to say, will you actively check to make sure that users submitting content are doing so with respect to proper licensing? Should we as mappers have to provide proof that we have the licenses to various songs we upload?
Because it's exceedingly obvious we don't. It's true, you can say "you didn't know any better" and DMCA does protect osu! from being responsible for its users uploading unlicensed content.
But some issues arise.
1. If music companies decide to pursue legal consequences for osu! distributing their music without consent, mappers seem to bear the consequences. That is to say, the osu!team will simply say "We assumed that the mapper had the rigts to upload the song. Since it's clear they don't, they should be the ones you guys should sue, not us."
2. Similarly, if music companies decide to pursue legal consequences for osu! distributing their music without consent, they could also argue that DMCA does not protect osu! from the spirit of the rule. This is the argument of negligence. It's exceedingly clear that 99% of osu content is not licensed. It is also exceedingly clear to my knowledge, that the osu! moderation team does not actively try to remove content that is unlicensed (aside from anime episodes, lol). So will the moderation team going forward, now moderate beatmap submission to ensure content is properly licensed material? Or dos the osu!team have an answer to this potential argument of negligence?
3. If music companies decide to pursue legal consequences for osu! distributing their music without consent, and offering express downloads for those willing to pay (supporter), would mappers be obligated to pay for damages? For example, the profit osu! makes from priority download is a deficit to music companies/producers/artists etc... who make money by getting people to pay for their songs. Also, uploading of unlicensed content on the part of the mapper also contributes to this issue. By allowing the mp3 to be downloaded free, this is another loss of income for artists who charge money for their songs to be downloaded.
Personally, I will cease all mapping commissions officially. But my concerns are now less about commissions and more about simply uploading maps in general. I'm not trying to shade the osu!team, I really think these are legitimate issues we need to consider now more than ever. I've even heard Larto quit osu because he feared legal ramifications due to mapping popular songs.