I took a look at your video and while I’m not a lawyer my thinking is you are probably fine with this because the clips are quite brief and shown in the context of commentary, which is a key component of the fair use doctrine and defense.
Daisy Whitney via email
When I first started making my show I never really thought about the legal ramifications of incorporating other peoples videos into my work. Its been a while since I’ve put anything out, I’ve been busy with a new baby, new job, and new house, but now that things have started to settle I have been thinking of getting back in the game. My last series of shows I put out were all commissioned by MTV so I didn’t have to worry about using clips in my work, but now that I no longer work there I am a little worried about what I can get away with – especially since I’ve seen first hand how YouTube’s Content ID system works.
Reel SEO is one of my favorite blogs when it comes to all things video. The other day they had a post on fair use and what video producers need to know. As further reading they suggested to check out Daisy Whitney’s eBook “Keeping You and Your Content Out of Court.” I contacted Daisy and ordered her book and asked her to take a look at one of my shows. The quote above is from the email she sent me in reply.
While this is good news and everything looks cool, one of the things I learned from her eBook is that not everything is black and white, and just because you play by the rules in her book, doesn’t mean you are free and clear of the copyright police.
Hi Mark! I’m glad my ebook helped and you are correct — fair use can be very gray!