Lo2 Legal and ethical

For my legal and ethical issue, I have to make sure that none of my images clips or videos are not copyrighted by a big company. This is because I'm not legally allowed to use copyrighted content and if I do so without permission from the owner they can teak legal action against me. So I was not allowed to upload music that used samples I had taken from YouTube or SoundCloud. However, all the beats that I created using free loops or that I built from scratch, can be used on the website. An ethical issue would be that I need to make sure that my site doesn't offend anyone especially people in my target demographic for website such as having content that could be viewed as racist or homophobic and the way to avoid this is by getting multiple people from different cultures and religions as ask them to use the website and let me know if there is anything that offends them. I can avoid this by not talking about my political views on the website and also not using any language in the text that could be considered offensive. 

I will be building a website that will be used to sell some of my beats and other jobs that I will be able to sell to music creators. The website will also be used to promote my brand and my other mixtapes and projects that I have created. However, with this, I will need to ensure that I follow legal and ethical laws that will allow my website to appeal to a large amount of people without offending people, or breaking any data protection, or accessibility laws. To do this I will need to build my website around these certain legal and ethical issues.

Copyright.

The main selling point of my website is that I am giving away and promoting my beats so that other music creators can use them to write and record lyrics. However, to ensure that I don't break any copyright laws, I can not use any beats or loops that include preexisting samples that are protected by copyright laws. To sell these beats I would need to buy the sample or ask for permission and that would be way to much effort just to get another three or four beats include within my website. Similarly, since the beats on my website are free for profit and use, I will need to include a statement for music creators that ensures to them that they can use my beats  I will also need to be careful with what songs I promote on the website as they may also have samples that would need permission before being promoted on websites other than SoundCloud. Furthermore, If I were to include hyperlinks for YouTubers accounts or videos, it would be best for me to ask for permission to use there likeness within my website, as including them In my website without permission would break copyright laws which means they could sue me and takedown my website. 

Data protection act.

I am determined to include a contact form within my website that users will be able to use in order to sent me emails asking for personalized beats or other endeavors such as mixing and mastering a track for them. This means that I will have to include a GDPR Compliance statement that states to the user that their data will never be sold or distributed without their consent, and that it will stay as anonymous unless they state any personal data within the email, such as their social media accounts or where they live. Also, I need to take extra precautions when handling data that users may not want to be spread online. I cannot store unwanted data without permission from the user otherwise I will be sued by them as I will not be following the data protection act. Also I will need to make sure that I do not have any potential data breeches with the email I will be using. This is because the emails users sent me could be leaked by other people which could potentially cause me to get sued by the artists. This problem has a lot in the music industry with artists like Playboicarti and JuiceWRLD having thousands of leaked songs illegally streamed online. So I need to make sure that my email account, and my website are protected from potential leakers so that nothing comes out. 

Accessibility.

Due to the introduction of the equality act law in 2010, I will be forced to make my website accessible to everyone, so people with disabilities or lower income will be able to use certain features on my website similarly to how people without these circumstances can. I f I do not do this it could damage my brand, and potentially damage future opportunities when shown to universities or future employers. To ensure that my website is accessible to certain users I must:

- Choose your typography correctly and use simple text that is easy for dyslexic users to read through.

- Include the correct ALT text for all images and logos used on the website so that blind users will be able to enjoy the experience just as-well and other users.Alt text should be provided for images, so that screen reader users can understand the message conveyed by the use of images on the page. This is especially important for informative images (such as infographics). When creating the alt text, the text should contain the message you wish to convey through that image, and if the image includes text, that text should also be included in the alt.

- Use colours and logos with care, as it could effect how users on the autistic spectrum access the website. Other groups of people with disabilities, particularly users with learning disabilities, benefit greatly from colour when used to distinguish and organize your content. Is there enough colour contrast between the website’s written information and its background? Is there enough volume contrast between your website’s spoken information and its background noises? Also, The most common form of color deficiency, red-green color deficiency, affects approximately 8% of the population. Using ONLY colors such as these (especially to indicate required fields in a form) will prevent these individuals from understanding your message. o satisfy both groups, use color, but also be sure to use other visual indicators, such as an asterisk or question mark. Be sure to also distinguish blocks of content from one another using visual separation (such as whitespace or borders).

- Keep all file sizes low so that we use as little memory as we possibly can within the website. This is so users that may be poor can access the website even with a limited amount of data that they are able to use. If I do not do this I will lose a large majority of potential users who are accessing my website via a phone on the go. I have chosen to make this a website instead of an app ass the majority off people wouldn't have enough storage or 4g data to use the app, a website is lots more accessible and easier too use. 

All of these decisions will allow my website to be accessible to a lot of different users so that my product reaches a larger target audience.

Identity theft.

The website I am creating will contain a lot of personal information about me, an I will be including links to my social media channels and the streaming services that my music is on. To ensure my personal info doesn't get used against me, I must make sure to only use my stage name, and limit the amount of information present on the social media channels. If I do not do this I could have money stolen from me, and my personal information could be leaked online. This also links to data protection, as I will have to do the same with data that other users send me. Especially if its music as that can be leaked very easily as I have already said. 

Cyber stalking.

Cyberstalking refers to the use of the internet and other technologies to harass or stalk another person online, and is potentially a crime. This links to the previous paragraph. Right now, since I am a small artist with limited followers and streamer, I don't have to really worry about this as the most 'Cyber stalking' I get is comments from some of my friends that poke fun of my music. This isn't really a big deal, as I know its just a fun joke. However, as I will link pretty much every single social media channel that I feature on, I need to be aware of people stalking my channels, making sure that I don't put any of my personal information on the apps. 

Offence.

to ensure that I do not offend some users visiting my site, I will need to make sure that any songs containing offensive language are censored or not featured on my website. Also, I must check to find out if the cover art that is preens ton the beats isn't offensive to any ethnic cultures as to not offend them. Plus, the video that I have embed on the 'become a producer' page is of me creating a Juice WRLD type beat. This video was filmed before his death, so I may need to go back through the video, looking for any comment or joke that could be taken the wrong way and offend some people in his fanbase.