Quick simple questions.

Hello everyone, I am new here and I am currently building up my very first course but I have some quick questions and I would really appreciate it if someone helped finding the answers.

Question 1 : is it ok if I used tons of pictures I freely downloaded exclusively from wallpaperscraft.com? I mean did anyone used pictures from that website before? Is it legal to do that?

Question 2 : At some point I found myself in need to use some background music, so is it also legal to use classical music from ancient composers such as Bethoveen ?

Question 3 : I am an angricultural engineer, I studied oriental percussion for 6 years, some side courses in psychology and I am fluent in 3 languages (Arabic, French and English), after your experiences in the market of Udemy which courses should I start with ? My heavy university courses, music courses, psychology courses or languages courses ?

Question 4 : I unemployed at the moment and I devoted my whole time to build up courses (up to 14-15 hours of work/day) is it really worth it or am I just wasting my time ?

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AlvaroChirou

Hi @Loukas389

1 - I suggest that if you're going to use images, make sure they're free to use.

2 - From student experiences, I recommend you not to use background music.

3 - Great question, here I suggest you analyze the market, and find out what you can teach in your courses that make you different from the courses that already exist in udemy. You can also use udemy's marketplace to find a suitable topic.

4 - In relation to whether it's worth it, I share with you the experience of an incredible platform instructor: https://community.udemy.com/t5/Stories-Inspiration/Community-Spotlight-Meet-Frank-Kane/td-p/30042

Loukas389

Dear @AlvaroChirou

Thank you very much for your help, it was pretty effective and motivating especially the experience of the instructor you’ve shared.

I am gonna do everything you have mentioned, plus I’m not very far from posting my first course, I am at the editing phase right now, so I think it’s gonna be posted within 2-3 weeks.

I have already made a testing video and it was well received and evaluated by a Udemy video expert.

Thanks again for your help and time.

Best regards.

Malek Mneimne.

Thor

@Loukas389

Question 1 :

I wouldn't for a few reasons.

Are they CC0? Even if they are, you may still get sued if they actually has a copyright attached to them and someone (not the owner) shared them as CC0. As the user, you are liable and responsible for that.
Do you have rights to use them for commercial use? Make sure you at least have a standard license.
I only use stockphoto sites where I pay for the photos and they have insurance in case of a dispute. Yes, it is more expensive up-front, but the $1-5 I pay per image is much more fun than getting sued for 1000s of dollars.

Question 2 :

Mostly same as above, technically music that old is in the public domain, but the recordings of it rarely is. If I did a Bethoveen recording and you used it, I could sue you. Just because the notes are public domain, doesn't mean the performance is.

Question 3 :
Ugh we would have no clue, go look at the insights tool, look at revenue, course numbers, how good the competition is and so on.

Question 4 :
It depends, is your content good, is there a need in the market, do you know how to promote yourself, and 50 other things?
I started as a side-gig, after 1 1/2 year I made the same as I did on my day-job, now 10 months later I make 2x that.

TameraDion

@Loukas389
,

I hate to give you bad news, but what @AlvaroChirou
said is completely incorrect and the advice he gave you is illegal in the United States (which is where the Udemy platform is based).

(1) You CANNOT use the images from https://wallpaperscraft.com without their written consent. Their website is copyrighted, and so are the graphics on it. If you want to use their intellectual property in your course (which is a for-profit venture), you need permission.

If you want some free images to use, please go to https://pixabay.com, where they give permission to freely use their images.

(2) As for music, I don't like to use music in my courses, but just like the images you asked about in (1) above, you CANNOT simply use someone else's recordings. While the classical music falls under fair use (you can record yourself playing it on your piano and use it in your course), you can't just take someone else's recording and use it. That breaks copyright, and again, this is cause for you to get sued or your course removed from Udemy.

(3) It sounds like you have a lot of knowledge to share, so I would spend some time investing the marketplace and determining what is the most valuable knowledge you have in order to sell it. For example, my husband/partner (@JasonDion
) has degrees in Human Resources, IT/Cybersecurity, and Counseling. All of our courses are on IT/Cybersecurity because we found that to be the most lucrative and profitable market for him to teach in. Do some research with the Insights tool and figure out where you may best fit in.

(4) Should you drop everything and go fulltime? Not likely. Most people take years to be able to earn enough consistently to replace their fulltime job. For example, it took us over 15 courses and more than a two years to reach a point where we would have been comfortable having Jason quit his job.

Creating courses isn't a "get rich quick" thing. If you are unemployed and need to feed yourself and your family, get a regular job right now and work the courses in your spare time. Anyone who tells you different is lying.

After all, even if you sold $1000 this month, you won't get that money for atleast another 60 days from Udemy. How will you eat during that time? This is why you need a real job in the meantime.

Instructors who simply "pump out courses" for the money rarely succeed and are often disappointed. It takes time to build up a following and find success. Plus, it takes weeks or months to build a course. Trust me, take it slow, find some small success, then build up to bigger successes!

Tamera Dion

AlvaroChirou

Thank you very much for the correction

Thor

Noooooo,
That is copyrighted content, so is the music, that is lawsuits looking to happen.

You can use some of it for educational content, but NOT for for-profit (which is what selling courses is).

TameraDion

No problem-just like you, we want to see other instructors follow their dreams and succeed, and one slip up can easily derail someone starting off. And it is not as big of a deal outside the US, but it is for those inside and using US based platforms like Udemy.

Loukas389

Dear @Thor

Thanks a lot for correcting what @AlvaroChirou
have said, you’re a life saver. I’m gonna drop the pictures and the music I’ve used and I’m gonna try finding something not copyrighted.

The course that I’m currently working on is “revealing someone’s personality based on handwriting”. Thus, I need to use some pictures and music just to break the monotony of the course, because after all, listing the psychological meaning(s) of every single shape a letter can take is like teaching pharmacy, there’s nothing to explain, this means that and this means that, so I have to break the monotony. And to do that, I don’t only need to use visual and sound effects, but I’m also gonna play some characters (imitating the stingy character, the cautious character, the optimistic character etc..).

But during my video making, I came up with an idea which is letting the student analyze his own handwriting by himself, and to do so, he has to write down few pages, and here comes my idea, I made 4 different “Dictation Videos” using general information about animals and food I took from some books just to help him fill up few pages, is this also considered as using copyrighted books?

Thanks again for your support.

Malek Mneimne.

Loukas389

Dear @TameraDion
,

Thanks a lot for your support, it really showed how experienced you are on Udemy and I needed that so much.

I will use Pixabay.com for the pictures, and yeah playing the background music on the piano is a genius idea!

Concerning the courses, I figured out that I will do a rotation system where I will be using Arabic language in the first course, English in the second, French in the third and so on, so based on that, each language will determine the content which I’ll be working on taking the insight tool into consiradtion for sure.

Finally, the reason why I’m fully focused on making courses is because as an agricultural engineer my work is seasonal, so I have to fill the gap during the winter season. I saved up money enough to cover my spendings for the upcoming 4 months, that’s why I seized the opportunity and dedicated my whole time for making courses.

I really cant thank you enough for your help and support.

Malek Mneimne.

HimanshuUpa530

No You can't use background music as this is not a music video.

Your video as well as auidio quality must be clear so thai is could undestood by the students.

TameraDion

Background music is allowed, but is not generally favored by students. The instructor just needs to ensure that they follow whatever copyright there is for the music they are using if they decide to use any. Some use music in an intro or outro, or in their preview video. I would certainly highly recommend it not be play in the entirety of the video.