copyright
Can I play audio clips in my business?
<p>Could I play copyrighted audio clips (audio books, lectures) in my business where others can hear it if I am not selling it?  How about creating derivative works (using those clips in custom-made audio) if I am not selling them?</p>

<p>According to <a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/17/106" rel="nofollow noreferrer">17 U.S. Code § 106(2)</a>, the copyright owner has the exclusive right to prepare derivative works.  </p>

<p>There is also a rather odd provision in 106(6) that they have the exclusive right "in the case of sound recordings, to perform the copyrighted work publicly by means of a digital audio transmission".  This would seem to indicate that it would be OK to perform it as long as it your audio transmission wasn't digital.  However, if you have an audio book or lecture, the underlying book or lecture that is being read from may also be copyrighted.  <em>That</em> copyright is of a literary work, so 106(4) applies, which grants the exclusive right to perform a literary work publicly.  </p>
