I'm no lawyer... Avid Artist Community Terms of Use

[dr_daw]

So after watching this vid, I thought I'd check the 'Avid Artist Community' and set up a profile. An hour later and I'm done, with a few hiccups.

That being said, I'm no lawyer, but reading the TOU I found this:

LICENSE TO POSTED CONTENT
By submitting the Posted Content for publication on the Site, you grant to AVID, and its subsidiaries, affiliates and cloud service providers, a perpetual, worldwide, royalty-free, irrevocable, sublicenceable, non-exclusive right to use, reproduce, display, modify, distribute, store and create derivative works based upon (in any format whatsoever) the Posted Content for any purpose.
You also hereby authorize any third party who lawfully accesses the Posted Content via the Site to access the Posted Content and make an electronic copy or print in hard copy the Posted Content, or portion thereof, solely for such third party's personal use and/or internal reference purposes within such third party's organization.
If your Posted Content includes links to internet sites ("Posted Links"), you are deemed, to the extent you are able, to grant to AVID a worldwide, royalty-free, sublicenceable, non-exclusive right to display Posted Links for so long as the Posted Content is available on the Site. AVID requires that Posted Links be restricted to home pages, and not "deep links," unless the Posted Link is to an internet site that you own, operate, or to which you are otherwise authorized to link. AVID reserves the right in its sole discretion to remove any Posted Links for any reason whatsoever.
Inclusion of any links (Posted Links or others) in Posted Content does not imply any endorsement by or responsibility of AVID with regard to the contents of sites related to User Links.

That seems a bit shady to me! I mean, I don't think that this agreement works out in my favour.

[Wall2Wall]

I know many are predetermined to think of Avid as the evil empire but Myspace, Soundcloud, Bandcamp, and similar services artists have been using for years, all have similar terms. Seems to be "legal 101" for that business.

[Marsdy]

Totally shady. It's why I never used Gobbler. I've already granted the above mentioned rights to my publisher. So..... I use Avid's cloud and breach the contact with my publisher....not an option, or don't use Avid's cloud. No brainier.

A whole bunch of functionality and infracstructure Avid has set up totally useless to anyone who has already assigned the rights to their IP elsewhere.

[Bob Olhsson]

Avid needs to hire a lawyer instead of just copying silly-con-man valley boilerplate.

Dropbox Pro's terms: https://www.dropbox.com/terms#business_agreement

Avid can forget about any professional, non-hobbyist use until they change this.

[dr_daw]

Originally Posted by Bob Olhsson

Avid needs to hire a lawyer instead of just copying silly-con-man valley boilerplate.



Dropbox Pro's terms: https://www.dropbox.com/terms#business_agreement



Avid can forget about any professional, non-hobbyist use until they change this.

+1 I'm certainly not willing to grant my licensing rights!!!

[blackmacdaddy]

Originally Posted by dr_daw

LICENSE TO POSTED CONTENT
By submitting the Posted Content for publication on the Site, you grant to AVID, and its subsidiaries, affiliates and cloud service providers, a perpetual, worldwide, ....

AVID's cloud service provider for Cloud Collaboration is Google, the second biggest company in the world.

No worries!

[mesaone]

I'm no lawyer either, but keep in mind there is a certain amount of use that you must grant Avid for them to legally store your work on the servers they use for marketplace and collaboration.

I would be surprised if this wasn't akin to how camera apps on your phone ask for social media and contact list access, simply because they couldn't build in "share over email" functionality without those permissions.

[dr_daw]

Originally Posted by blackmacdaddy

AVID's cloud service provider for Cloud Collaboration is Google, the second biggest company in the world.

No worries!

I'm less worried about the security of my music, or music of people I'm working with than I am about the rights associated with that music. Especially when technically in 'Collaboration' periods the music isn't 'technically' commercially ready.

For instance, if the band that I'm mixing right now and I had opted to use this service (if it was available) and the rough mixes were public access to reproduce. That would completely be unacceptable! Not only because I don't own the rights to that music, but I'm certain the artist doesn't want their rough mixes, unmastered available to used indefinitely by Avid and it's affiliates.

For my own music it's the same, when I'm in the writing process and collaborating with other artists and engineers, I want to be in control of WHO can listen to those tracks, let alone, cover those tracks before I get a chance to finish.

I'm not against this feature, I just feel that there needs to be some more realistic terminology in the ToU.

[Avid]

Thank you for your feedback on the Artist Community terms of use. The terms of use are intended to give Avid the ability to host and serve original content that you choose to make available to the public on your profile. Your content remains your own and it is up to you whether you want to make it available. Similar terms govern use of other areas of the Avid website, including these forums.

[dr_daw]

Originally Posted by Avid

Thank you for your feedback on the Artist Community terms of use. The terms of use are intended to give Avid the ability to host and serve original content that you choose to make available to the public on your profile. Your content remains your own and it is up to you whether you want to make it available. Similar terms govern use of other areas of the Avid website, including these forums.

Maybe things will be more clear with functionality when it becomes available. Myself and a mixing engineer I work with that lives on the other side of the country have been excited about this feature.

I'm just not currently comfortable with the ToU on the Artist Community to have my previous works that I own the rights to on there. I will keep my profile and am excited for the progress. Thank you for chiming in. It is appreciated.