NA&EU/JP Bards and non FF14 music.

[wereotter]

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.

The GMs, though, don't have to check if every song being played is owned by copyright. They stated in the ToS that you can ONLY play FFXIV music, so if you're playing a song that's not a track from this game, it doesn't matter if it's public domain or even your own creation. Under the strictest reading of the rules, it's not allowed.

That being said, though, I do think you're right in that stating that anything that's not a track from this game being banned is a way of deflecting responsibility for copyright infringement over to the person playing the song rather than themselves, and gives them standing to ban a person from the game for playing copywritten music if at some point a lawsuit over it comes up.

[Penthea]

The GMs, though, don't have to check if every song being played is owned by copyright. They stated in the ToS that you can ONLY play FFXIV music, so if you're playing a song that's not a track from this game, it doesn't matter if it's public domain or even your own creation. Under the strictest reading of the rules, it's not allowed.

It says you can't play third party music. This could mean that a player could play their own composition given they're not a third party. Assuming the performance of said composition does not breach a contract with a label, if the player has a contract with one.

That being said, though, I do think you're right in that stating that anything that's not a track from this game being banned is a way of deflecting responsibility for copyright infringement over to the person playing the song rather than themselves, and gives them standing to ban a person from the game for playing copywritten music if at some point a lawsuit over it comes up.

SE aren't stupid, they knew people would play music from tv shows, well known bands, other games, etc. Players already name their characters after copyrighted characters from other media. The ToS is there to protect SE, and that's exactly what the entry relating to performance does. It puts the responsibility on the player to not perform copyrighted music, not on SE.