It's A Digital Media World: Legal Issues And Considerations In Creating And Distributing Digital Content

With the advancement of digital technology and ubiquity of digital media, just about anyone can produce and distribute content – and earn a profit doing so. From Netflix distributing original content via subscription service or VEVO streaming music videos through its digital music player to a teenager starting her own how-to channel on YouTube, the opportunities seem endless. However, these opportunities are not without pitfalls. This article provides an overview of some of the key legal issues to consider when producing digital content, including making the determination on ownership of the content, using someone's likeness and the use of music.

Do you own the copyright?

As counterintuitive as it may seem from your standpoint as producer of the content, copyright law dictates that creators or "authors" have exclusive rights to – in short, "own" – certain aspects of the content. In almost all cases (except for works created by employees within the scope of their