Question

I know sometimes people put music videos on YouTube, sometimes with the artists permission, sometimes without. Is it legal to download just the music off a YouTube video for personal use using software like TubeMaster++ or an online service like vixy?

Answer 1

Yes, it is illegal, in short. YouTube is a streaming service, and that does not extend to downloads such that the content is stored in a "physical form".

As a side point, many YouTube videos should not be hosted in the first place, due to copyright infringement, yet they end up being taken down only some time after appearing due to the sheer numbers of them. There's nothing wrong with viewing them while they're up there, however.

Answer 2

The way I understand is:

You need the permission of whoever was the original creator of the music.

For example, someone may give permission for their music to be included in someones video for the purpose of being played on Youtube, but not to be downloaded and played by others at their leisure.

I know for a fact that you cannot download anything that includes music from certain artists and play it in public without having a licence from the PRS (biggest scam ever) in the UK

At the end of the day, there are many different rules, the only way to find out is to ask the creator of the music.

Answer 3

Only if the creator/owner of the content in question authorized YouTube to distribute their creative work. If you are referring to most popular music, then the answer is no...in fact, if the recording studio knew that it was on the site, they might issue a take down notice for it. On the other hand, if someone created their own song, and posted on youtube themselves, then when they upload it, they give youtube the rights to distribute it, and your download is then totally legal.

Realistically, I don't think anyone has ever been sued/prosecuted for something that they downloaded from youtube.

Answer 4

this may depend on where you're living.

in many countries it is perfectly legal to record the signal of your sound card (analog) from youtube, internet radio streams, etc. for personal use, however, capturing a video and extracting the audio track will result in a digital copy and that's different affair altogether.