If I buy a game, do I own the soundtrack with it?

[Bimmel]

Just looked trough some official releases of game soundtracks and thought: "You gotta be shittin me!"

Why? 'cause it's so expensive! Most games today have sound players where you can listen to the whole music of the game. So technically I own the soundtrack with the game, didnt I?

Conclusion: I just bought a game, played it, liked it, loved the music - and now I should pay again if I want to listen to it on my PC? Then what the heck did I just own? A plastic case and a DVD?

There must be I gigantic flaw in my logic - contradict me.

 

[Originality]

I'm sure it's an issue with licensing. Too big a topic to type up on my phone during my lunch break...

 

[ferret7463]

if you ask most companies, you "own" nothing, you just merely "rent" it from them. They have succeeded in convincing most of the population to believe that garbage.

 

[WiiCube_2013]

if you ask most companies, you "own" nothing, you just merely "rent" it from them. They have succeeded in convincing most of the population to believe that garbage.

This is what I read a couple of years ago on the Official UK PlayStation 3 forum believe to have as customers.

They believed to not own the system nor the games but solely have it as rentals regardless they already paid for it.

Fuck that, I paid for it so they're mine and I decide what I want to do with it.

 

[Guild McCommunist]

This is what I read a couple of years ago on the Official UK PlayStation 3 forum believe to have as customers.

They believed to not own the system nor the games but solely have it as rentals regardless they already paid for it.

Fuck that, I paid for it so they're mine and I decide what I want to do with it.

It's the same way we "own" movies. You own the right to watch it whenever we want, but we don't own the rights of the movie. We can't distribute it, often times it's illegal to take a clip from it and upload it to Youtube.

Video games have been the same way but video gamers are a huge bunch of whiny ass bitches. Digital distribution makes this a bit more apparent but all the same.

 

[FAST6191]

They could probably pass it off as different quality works, much like blue ray and DVD/different cuts or tape and CD.

To that end theoretically you can happily listen the music in the game and equally could probably format transfer (should that be allowed where you are -- though it was unenforced for years (probably decades) it was only fairly recently that the UK got actual options to format shift, http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/mar/31/uk-copyright-tweak-legally-rip-cds-ipod ). On the other hand the game music tends to be nicely compressed with some game specific and lossy codec (though not always) and the game CD is not that (CDs not having compression beyond the mixing sense of the word) then it might not count.

 

[Sakitoshi]

I remember putting the Mortal Kombat 4 PC CD on a CD player for reasons that I don't remember and the game music started to play.
anyway, you can always rip the music from the game with specific programs or record it from the in-game music player(if any), in the worst case you'll need to record directly from the gameplay muting the sound effects using the game options or in the worse case scenario with sound effects(like Pokemon games that don't include music player or separate volume control). is a backup so should be no problem legally talking, unless you distribute it.

lately some games with good music had come with the soundtrack CD in the first print edition. of what I have bought are Ragnarok Odyssey ACE, The Witch and the Hundred Knight, Conception II and the upcoming Persona Q.

 

[Clydefrosch]

you do not own the software, nor the soundtrack. you only buy a license to use the software on certified hardware.
games that played sound in a cd player were old school games that saved the music conveniently, but today, that shouldn't really happen anymore.

irregardless, no one can truly stop you from ripping the sound if its ripable.

 

[FAST6191]

you do not own the software, nor the soundtrack. you only buy a license to use the software on certified hardware.

I agree I have a license to use the software, however I am not sure I am forced to use it on certified hardware, especially not if I am using the actual disc/cart to do it.

 

[Taleweaver]

What Clydefrosch says, really. You basically buy the right to use the game as intended. There are some games where the soundtrack is included (either because the CD/DVD has an audio-layer or because it is advertised as being available - such as with most humble bundles), but it's not a standard.

I disagree with the comparison of distribution, however. While that is illegal AS WELL, it's not the same case (assuming you're not distributing the music or using it as a public DJ). I'm not a lawyer, but I think this would more reminiscent to you not legally able to make a screenshot or rip the art of the game and print that on a T-shirt. It probably has some fancy name ('derivative work' or something), but it comes down to not using the game as intended.

 

[Clydefrosch]

I agree I have a license to use the software, however I am not sure I am forced to use it on certified hardware, especially not if I am using the actual disc/cart to do it.

no, I'm sure the hardware part is also clearly part of agbs. at least all modern game consoles have that stuff written down in random places. either with firmware upgrades, or when you go online, it might also be in the fineprint of game packaging or manuals of either the software or the hardware (you know, in those huge booklets you never ever read)

 

[FAST6191]

[debate over only playing on real consoles]no, I'm sure the hardware part is also clearly part of agbs. at least all modern game consoles have that stuff written down in random places. either with firmware upgrades, or when you go online, it might also be in the fineprint of game packaging or manuals of either the software or the hardware (you know, in those huge booklets you never ever read)

Heh, grabbed a couple of PS3 discs and they have that on as the first thing. 360 ones and dreamcast ones do not, though they may be trying for a "but you had to bypass the DRM to do it" thing.

PS2 does not but it does have a nice bit saying extraction and "access or use or this product or any trademark or copyright work that forms part of this product [is prohibited]", however it does also try to prevent resale. Perhaps unrelated it also wants to prevent public broadcast so the anti let's play stuff would seem to be older than I might have imagined (I thought it was not codified and left unsaid).

If I am bored later I will grab the box of PS1, GC and Xbox games.

I am drawn to wonder how enforceable this really is then.