YouTube Mutes Copyrighted Music, Angers Users
By Jennifer LeClaire. January 15, 2009 1:35PM
YouTube, trying to balance the rights of music copyright holders and users who upload videos, has muted sound on some disputed videos after a complaint by Warner Music Group. It offers uploaders a choice of substituting approved music. Some users are angry about the policy change and have called for a boycott of the music industry.
In a move to balance the needs of music copyright holders and its content-generating users, YouTube on Wednesday said it’s offering more options to users who violate copyrights. The result is hundreds of videos without sound.
The move seems to be in response to a Warner Music Group demand in December that YouTube cut off access to videos that contain Warner music. The demand came after negotiations on licensing agreements stalled.
At that time, YouTube warned users that they “may notice videos that contain music owned by Warner Music Group being blocked from the site.” YouTube is no longer threatening. It has moved to block the music content while trying to appease users. Many users, however, are up in arms about the change.
YouTube’s Compromise
Previously, when a music label or other rights owner issued a copyright claim to block audio, YouTube automatically took the video down. Uploaders had two choices: dispute the claim — in the case of fair use, for example — or use YouTube’s AudioSwap tool to replace the track with one from a library of approved music.
“Music licensing can get very complicated, but we try to make your experience as simple as possible,” YouTube’s blog said. “We want you to have options when uploading videos with music in them. And if your video is subject to a copyright claim, you should have some choices, too.”
YouTube has been fingerprinting audio tracks and informing users when they infringe on copyrights. The copyright owner got the option of having the video removed or letting it stay up along with revenue-generating ads.
Now instead of a video being removed, users have an option to modify the video by removing the disputed music and posting a new version. YouTube reports that many of its users are taking that option.
“Our content-management tools have revolutionized the ways in which users and content owners are distributing, marketing and making money from video online,” YouTube said. “As we continue to build out this system, we are working to find the right balance between encouraging creativity and free expression and respecting the rights of copyright holders and the law.”
YouTube Users Angry
But some YouTube members aren’t thrilled with the option. A user named KariWolf wrote on YouTube’s blog, “Okay, so YouTube is going to suck more now. First they put ads on a bunch of good music videos … They already were horrible at deleting the right videos, deleting videos that did nothing wrong. And while all that goes on, they leave videos that should be deleted, alive. Now this …”
Other YouTube members are calling for a boycott of the music industry. “We can’t stand by silently while the music industry continues its decades-long effort to lock up our culture!” a user named HispanicImpression wrote on the blog. “Only buy audio CDs secondhand from now on … Don’t download from online music stores anymore. Support self-marketing bands. Spread this message here on every muted video you encounter.”
But according to Phil Leigh, a senior analyst at Inside Digital Media, YouTube’s move was inevitable. “The copyright has to be respected. The people that have been putting stuff up on YouTube and not respecting copyrights don’t have much of a basis for complaints. Sites like YouTube will continue to take steps to honor copyrights in every way they can.”
Downloaders may be guilty as hell but A&R people are often worse than demons. For far too long artists have been ripping off material from small-time wannabes.
What about a bit more self-policing instead? Too many musicians are encouraged or pressured to steal ideas from others; what is the industry doing about that, huh?
What I am about to tell you sounds whacko however the truth sometimes just sounds that incredible. Between 1983 and 1986, I lived on 256 Vanderbilt Ave (#4L), Brooklyn, NY. I’d just graduated from Pratt Institute with a Master’s in Communications Design. Experimental music demos I made while I lived on Vanderbilt were copied by unidentified persons. Somehow, these persons contacted Sony Music and other big labels and they got hold of my material.
I later heard, after my return in 1986 to Ghana, in hit songs from the U.S., lots of melodies I’d written–note-for-note. Guilty the most was LaFace Records and quite a few artists with Sony Music (Babyface, Boyz II Men – “End of the Road”, TLC – “Waterfalls”, Mariah Carey – “One Sweet Day”, Tony Rich, etc). I’d sung most of my material in nonsense lyrics and ad-lib; I was experimenting and didn’t worry to much about lyrical content. I even experimented with criss-cross drumbeat rhythms (from the Frafra and Dagare tribes), which found its way into and became mainstream R&B rhythmic material, courtesy of LaFace Records/Sony Music and others. There were silly, “radio drama” intros to songs that I concocted that Tony Rich used extensively as did several other guys. By sheer volume, I don’t think it is pure coincidence.
A Ghanaian (now a U.S. citizen), currently working at Brandywine Assets Management (NJ) may know how my demos got to Sony Music. It is rumoured he worked there briefly. He was at Pratt Institute with me and often remarked that my songs had the potential to be blockbuster hits. I’ve been unable to contact him for an explanation. He wouldn’t reply my e-mail.
Much later I heard other bits of my work, also note-for-note, in songs by Michael Jackson, Celine Dion, R. Kelly and Kirk Franklin’s work (”You’re Not Alone”; the van Passels lied; “My Heart Will Go On”; “I Believe I Can Fly”;”Lean On Me”, etc). I really don’t know how all those guys got hold of my stuff?
Nobody believes me when I tell them this story. It’s simply unbelievable. But I have proof. I have over 40 hours of music I composed on old TDK and Sony cassettes. Technically, the magnetic tape recordings can easily be assessed as having been made in the mid-’80s. Further, any musicologist can listen to the tracks and tell from my musical signature (a kind of compositional fingerprinting) that their compositions even with the re-arrangements are a direct rip off. (My ideas may seem eclectic but that’s where my ideas were pushing me at the time).
I’ve tried for over 15 years to get just anybody to listen to this fantastic story. I’ve hesitated pushing it too far because this all sounds a bit too kooky I guess. I’d always wanted a good investigative journalist and some brilliant lawyers to uncover the truth but couldn’t get anyone interested…and I don’t have the money either. Whatever it is, I don’t think all those ideas of mine being duplicated elsewhere is pure coincidence.
Disregard the fact that I’m an African. I grew up listening to the best music of the ’60s and ’70s. I played in several bands as keyboard player and later as a bass player/ guitarist. And though self-taught I know I was pretty creative and original.
Is anyone listening? The music industry should also focus on how to maintain the creative integrity of artists. That’s going to be difficult but it must be encouraged. Sure there’s tons of pressure and contracts and deals and all that and artists have to come up with something fantastic every now and then. But ripping off other people’s material is low, cheap, wrong and downright evil. Money drives the whole thing as I can see and that’s all right. But there’s the need for some fundamental change to how we get that money. Values may not mean much to business people but to me as an artist, hey, it’s important!
When your creative juices stop flowing, what is fair is shifting gear, moving on to new partnerships or abandoning ship. Plagiarising other people’s material cannot credibly sustain any ‘talented’ artists’ career.
The music industry giants should watch how sincere the artists they’ve signed up are and what their A&R guys are doing with all the solicited and unsolicited material. ‘And,’ as Shakespeare said, ‘there’s the rub,’
penez dibahas juga di dalam 2009/01/19 pada 06:55