need advice regarding legal issues with copyrighted songs

[fubarius]

yes... not exactly dead on for web design, but my problem is related to it and i've gone to a lot of other places for help already.

i plan on starting a site to promote the amateur videos i've been making with friends. i've been making videos for about ten years now and take it pretty seriously. i don't have "the" best sound equipment, but i do have a lot of experience in the fields of writing, directing, editing, and film study.

anyways... the problem is i've been getting more and more traffic with my videos lately and i've realized eventually i'm not going to be able to use copyrighted songs (yes i know i really can't ever, but how was i supposed to know that when i was ten years old ), though i've gotten used to it.

writing and recording my own songs is one option, and using stock music is another. but say i have a certain song for a certain movie that is copyrighted and imperative for the sake of the plot and theme of the movie?

i need your advice regarding when you think using a copyrighted song becomes a serious risk... maybe even numbers regarding the number of hits/downloads a movie generates a week/month.

a movie with 1000 views on youtube can use any song it wants and not have a care in the world, but where is that final line drawn? it has to be before you're making your own movies for actual profit... it has to be somewhere between hosting movies on youtube and on your own personal site that generates decent traffic.

so my question is: where is that line? what is decent traffic that designates copyright infringement by use of a copyrighted song a serious worry for the maker of the movie? how badly do you think the punishment would be? fine? jail?

any and all advice--even your 2 cents and nothing more--regarding this somewhat broad issue would be appreciated. thanks.

[fubarius]

by the way, the song is "god of wine" by third eye blind

[3ncryptabl3_lick]

Basically, if you're not making a buck, nobody cares. It's fair use.

On the other hand. If say your product becomes so popular than you become a point of interest in a community that could lead to some form of financial gain then the property owner of the copyrighted material that you've used could force you to cease and desist or remove that copyrighted material from your product.

[fubarius]

yeah... it's not for profit, it's for making a name for myself to maybe get some attention but more importantly for a college portfolio. i was more afraid that they would actually somehow sue me. if they just make me take it down--which is what i expected--im not as worried.