Music-Path.org was created to increase awareness of the American musical heritage, particularly music coming from what’s known as the Americana Music Triangle and the Tennessee Music Pathway. It’s a series of interviews about our music’s history and the stories behind the songs and the people and places that inspired them.
Music Path interviews and collects stories about songs and creations, generally originated by the person telling us the story, but sometimes their finished work is recorded by others or distributed and owned by others. These creations are often protected by copyright but can be used, in limited ways, for limited purposes. The way we use a work is to play a very short clip, not the entire piece, and we play it to support an educational purpose and provide commentary about the work. It’s our intent for this to fall within the “Fair Use” provisions of the Copyright Act of 1976.
Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, “the fair use of a copyrighted work, including such use by reproduction in copies or phono records or by any other means specified by that section, for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching (including multiple copies for classroom use), scholarship, or research, is not an infringement of copyright.”
Music Path never uses a song or other protected media in its entirety, we use as little as possible to support the commentary we’ve created. Any such media is edited into our episode narrative, which makes this use transformative in nature. In every case we are attempting to support the value of the protected work and to bring renewed interest to it.
If you have questions or concerns relating to the fair use of a work you own, please contact us at the contact tab provided in the menu bar.