What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Oregon
Many musicians (particularly in computer-oriented music, such as the industrial genre) seem to be using a mass number of audio clips from copyrighted material (copyrighted movies in particular). What exactly decides whether this usage is copyright infringement; what decides that this usage is legal (and commercially distributable as the musician's now-copyrighted work) vs illegal use? What set of rules/self-checks could such a musician use to keep from being sued?
Many musicians (particularly in computer-oriented music, such as the industrial genre) seem to be using a mass number of audio clips from copyrighted material (copyrighted movies in particular). What exactly decides whether this usage is copyright infringement; what decides that this usage is legal (and commercially distributable as the musician's now-copyrighted work) vs illegal use? What set of rules/self-checks could such a musician use to keep from being sued?