Recording a song from the radio is not fair use. In Sony v. Universal, the usage of the VCR was justified based on a very narrow, very uncommon use case: if th

Recording a song from the radio is not fair use. In Sony v. Universal, the usage of the VCR was justified based on a very narrow, very uncommon use case: if there were a TV show that aired exactly once, and for some reason you wanted to see it but couldn't, and it would never air again, you had the legal right to record one copy for later viewing. (I'm not sure if you had to destroy the copy after viewing it.) On that basis, and that basis alone, was the VCR ruled to have a legal use case. Otherwise it was pretty much a copyright violation device. Justice Blackmun, in his dissent, was clear that even making a single copy for personal use violates copyright law. Fair use covers making excerpts of a work, not copying a full work, for purposes of reporting, criticism, parody, and the like. If you record or download a full song or video without permission, YOU ARE INFRINGING ON COPYRIGHT.