NA&EU/JP Bards and non FF14 music.

[Raltar]

I would imagine that a performance in game using the in game bard instruments would be fine because you aren't playing an exact copy of the music. It would be more like a tribute band or a cover.

[Fawkes]

I think their official stance is that it's against the rules, but it's just that it's unlikely you'd get in trouble for it. People use the same excuse for things like parsers, and think it's fine as long as you don't say you're doing it in game. GMs mostly seem to use chat logs to take action, so unless they were there live for the performance or there was a video it might be hard for them to confirm something actionable happened.

Also, GMs don't know every song or how close it has to sound to be illegal, so unless a copyright holder took legal action against SE to stop their songs from being played in the game they probably wouldn't have a good idea of what they need to be looking for. Like, I could probably play a little bit of "Axel F" but it's not going to be a perfect rendition and definitely not the whole song, so how many notes would I have to play for it to be something they needed to ban me for? It's not really worth the GMs time to try and figure that out unless SE is being sued.

[Themarvin]

Just keep in mind, that it is certainly not the players that make the rules.. though it is not exactly a grey area, they should do something about the botting bands for an instance.

[Penthea]

The rule about copyrighted music is just SE covering their behind so that if a music label complains SE can say "well we're not permitting it" to avoid a messy legal situation.

Sure you could get reported for playing copyrighted music but I doubt most players would even think of reporting it given it doesn't actually cause them any problems. You can turn performance audio off if you don't like it. I am also inclined it might be difficult for GMs to see if the music is copyrighted unless they see it live and recognise or are told what the song is. Unless their logs can easily play back music that has already been played, it might be too much work for them to investigate.

[Merrnryn]

I think it has to do with different country's laws pertaining to copyrighted music.

From what little I know, Japan has rather strict laws regarding it. I cannot say for the EU, but in NA, it is a common practice, with 'cover bands' and the like. As long as the artist is credited if you are making a profit off of it and pay the artist or composer a royalty, it is fine. If there is no profit made US law states: Music compositions do not require permission in order to use them.

However, if you decide to use somebody else’s work for commercial purposes, you must credit them and pay them for it. To pay to use somebody’s composition requires a mechanical license, which requires that you pay 9.1 cents per copy sold, paid to the owner of the copyright to the composition. (monetization on youtube. etc. counts for this.)

I would just be aware of the composer of each song you play and be ready to credit them as it being their work.

As no bard is getting paid IRL money to play (if they are I am not aware of it, they would then owe such to the composer as stated above.

Japanese law states: The author or composer of a work in question is provided
with the exclusive right (referred to as a “performance right”)
to perform or release the work in question to the public.

The concept of “fair use” of art is rather limited in Japan, where copyright is viewed as a rule and not a standard in which some wiggle room exists for society or the courts to interpret whether
such a performance of a musical piece constitutes a public performance requiring payment of royalties to the author or composer of the work in question.

That was all I could find in a timely fashion on the subject regarding Japanese Copyright laws for music. I have been in a cover band before and in the US at least things are pretty lax unless you really screw up somewhere.

[ManaEterna]

Just keep in mind, that it is certainly not the players that make the rules.. though it is not exactly a grey area, they should do something about the botting bands for an instance.

It is my understanding that the Japanese ToS is written in a way that using third party software for the purpose of playing music is a little less explicitly prohibited as opposed to the English one.
Though I have no checked both ToS to verify this information. The Japanese ToS seems to mention specifically tools used to break the game's balance (implying gil farmers, and spammers, and dps parsers and such) whereas the English ToS basically just says "third party software is not permitted"
Maybe I should take a look more specifically.

[Puremallace]

Edit: Guy below me explained the policy. It is stupid.

[Sove92]

ALSO if it was against the terms of service they would literally tell you in game when you unlock it to legally protect themselves.

But they do tell you.


Here's what the Material Usage License tells you

In relation to any functions within the game which allow you to perform virtual musical instruments (“performance actions”), you are strictly prohibited from performing the music of any third parties. You hereby warrant that your performance using the performance actions will not infringe the rights of any third parties and you shall indemnify us in respect of any breach of such warranty. You may record and share your performance of the FINAL FANTASY XIV original score excluding the songs entitled “Answers”, “Dragonsong” and “Revolutions” or original songs and/or melodies using the performance actions in accordance with this Agreement. Furthermore, by using the performance actions, you acknowledge and consent to any third party recording and sharing of your performance online. You also hereby agree that we may block or otherwise restrict your access to FFXIV if you do not comply with the terms of the licence contained herein.

Now, SE can choose to not really enforce it at this time, but they could choose to do so at any time.

[Puremallace]

But they do tell you.

That is incredibly silly because why not just put some generic music templates in the game and limit what you are allowed to do. This seriously seems like an ACT policy where literally almost everyone breaks it but if you get caught by someone who cares then they can claim legal immunity.

After seeing this it just killed any urge I had to ever try bard and now I understand why it is such a under played class in FF14 with such silly restrictions.

[Alien_Gamer]

Most countries that have laws about copyright infringement also tend to put heavy penalties on the infringing parties. Because the game operates in many countries with many different laws SE just makes a blanket prohibition on anything not owned by them to cover themselves in case someone brings a lawsuit. If you were to play some popular song and post it on youtube then you are creating a creative link between the original work and SE which can be used to give SE legal liability in a lawsuit. Works that you own you aren't going to sue over and SE isn't going to sue themselves over their own work and work that is in the public domain doesn't belong to anyone to bring a suit; all other works are considered third party (not owned by you or SE), and thus are considered a legal risk.

While SE is going to try and cover all their legal liability they don't have an interest in punishing their customers and as long as they don't get sued, they won't care. SE also won't post any official response or clarify this in any meaningful way because to do so only weakens their legal defense. But the reality is, few people would care if you did post a performance on youtube and those who did would ask youtube to take it down and the repercussions stop with you and youtube.

At the end of the day, play what you want. If SE doesn't like it you'll get a GM warning and you know to stop; until then, rock on.