I have noticed some twine games will link to background music on YouTube.
If I wrote an inform game where one found a record player that when switched on says “Music plays” with a short URL to the official YouTube page of the song (and doesn’t specify the music nor comment on it) would this be an acceptible use? The player would need to manually browse to the link outside the game.
Does this seem kosher or not? It seems similar to providing a link on facebook which is legal…so long as my game is not making money in any way…
You’re not really using them if they’re not directly included in the work. You’re making a reference to it. The player may or may not actually follow your suggestion (in fact, you should really assume that they won’t). If you were using Vorple, say, and embedded a music video inside your game window, that might be a problem - but if you just tell the player how they can listen to it if they want to, there’s a pretty clear distinction. YouTube’s providing the music, so YouTube’s the party that has to deal with it, not IFComp.
Then there’s the issue that Youtube links are not guaranteed to be there in the future. Or it could be blocked in certain regions. (Yes, I’ve seen that sort of thing with music videos on official channels too. I don’t know why.) Or someone could be playing the game offline. There are many ways you could end up with a dead link in your game, and then “http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1eO5U_uN7DQ” means nothing to the player.
