In the early days of this, there really weren't a lot of laws to govern it. Originally, American's weren't really buying much Anime, so there wasn't much effort to controlling the copyrights. Most weren't even internationally recognized anyway at the time. I had even met some publishers that ENCOURAGED it.
But, times have changed. Anime, while not as big in the US as it is in Japan, is still pretty huge now. Some companies care, others don't. Mostly, I kinda feel that if you aren't in any way profiting from it, and are just sharing with your friends, it's not a huge problem. You could always make sure you fade out or cut the song early (like they do on the radio) if you think it's a problem.
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