Kionon wrote:No, they really are.
Strong legal arguments can be made that AMVs fit the four balance test, and are fundamentally transformative, as opposed to just derivative. Editing imports a significant amount of new value into the work, the nature of the work does not preclude criticism or commentary, and there is no use of the transformative for profit.
For my long rant on why AMV's would probably not be considered Fair Use, please see http://www.animemusicvideos.org/forum/v ... 2&start=30, because I'm not typing it up again.
Basically, even though you could possibly make an argument for the video being Fair Use, the same can not be said for the musical element. It doesn't matter if AMV's aren't intended to be a replacement for buying music - unless you are using your own music or have the author's explicit permission to use it, you are still violating the original author's exclusive right to sell, distribute, copy, transfer, reproduce, etc. An AMV creator may not end up meeting the requirements to be criminally liable, but that won't stop the IP holders from suing the pants off of you if they feel like it, so please stop promoting the myth that AMV's are established as Fair Use, or that their creation is a clear cut example of such.