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Can I fork this project, change the name, put it on Google Play and pretend it's mine?

Guillaume edited this page Jul 20, 2017 · 2 revisions

Unless you meet all the following criteria, the short answer is "No and I will get your fork taken down".

Seriously, I do it all the time, don't do it or I will get pissed.

What are the criteria?

GPLv3

First, a thing or two about Open Source and the GPL license.

Free Software does not mean "free as in beer". It does not mean you can just go on GitHub, find cool projects, take what you want, use it without permission and publish it under your own name.

It means "Free as in Speech", and QuickLyric is that: transparent to its users and welcoming contributions from fans all around the world. There are rules and you need to respect them.

You can read the license over here. Long story short, you need to:

  • Disclose the source (i.e. put it on GitHub)
  • State all the changes
  • Name the original (QuickLyric) explicitly
  • The source code must also be licensed under GPLv3
  • A copyright mention must be included
  • Build instructions must be included

Missing a single one of these is enough for me to get you taken down from Google Play. It happens often and doesn't last long.

The app is Free (as in speech), the lyrics are not free at all

A common misconception is to think that lyrics are a simple commodity that everyone can copy/paste as they see fit. People believe lyrics are free and that you can do whatever you want with them, that it's essentially free promotion for the artist.

It is not. Lyrics are copyrighted and thus subject to copyright law. In order to use them you must have the proper authorizations, meaning the proper licensing.

Just try it yourself: go to any popular lyrics website like AZLyrics and scroll to the bottom.
See the copyright info and the big provider logo? Each of these websites has put a lot of cash on the table to have that licensing. The same rules apply to you.

How do I get such licensing?

QuickLyric SPRL gets its licensing from LyricFind. Another option is MusixMatch or the majors (UMG, Warner Music, Sony, etc.).

Using some website's API like Genius or LyricWiki grants you access to some information about their website, it does not magically give you a license for free. The whole idea is that they want you to use this API to bring traffic to them.

Bottom line

Save yourself some time and contribute to QuickLyric instead of making us your enemy.