What constitutes "Fair Use" in posting videos?

"It's a Small World After All"

Great. Now that "song" is stuck in my head. Thanks, Mollydad.

With friends like these, who needs hallucinations...

In my country, copyright laws only restrict public distribution of the works. This means that if you post videos publicly to Youtube you have to be careful, but if you post "private" or "unlinked" videos and share them with your friends (and your friends only) on the likes of Facebook, that's fine.

However, I'm not sure if this holds in other countries, like the US. Maybe not. In Spain (and other countries like France, I think) we actually pay a tax in exchange for the right to distribute works privately.

Here in the U.S., one has to buy a mechanical liscense to perform or broadcast a work, but you still have to get permission. There are several agencies that handle licensures for performances, and broadcasts like Harry Fox, ASCAP, ect. However, youtube does not support mechanical licenses. Restaurants, bars, pubs, ect have to have an ASCAP license in order to play background music, or allow live entertainment to perform current works. Not all comply, and that puts performers at risk of liability, so they have to verify the venue actually can produce their license prior to engaging a major gig.