The New YouTube Debate
Prince has been adament that no likeness of him appear anywhere at any time unless he is making a lot of money off it. So, what to do then when fans upload his performances on YouTube? To make things even more complicated, what to do when fans upload Prince performing songs written by someone else?
Prince has issued letters to YouTube demanding they remove any of his live performances from the site, but his cover of the Radiohead hit "Creep" from his Coachella performance isn't really his to remove. Or is it? Thom Yorke insists it should be up to him whether or not the video is available for public viewing since it is his song, but Prince feels he should be free to remove the video since it's his purple ass shaking on it.
This current controversy raises some interesting questions about who really owns what. Are users violating copyright when they upload video of them covering their favorite tunes? Are they violating copyright when they upload video of someone else covering a tune? This debate is an important one to be having since Youtube has slowly been turning more corporate, being owned by Google. They regularly give preferential treatment to powerhouse companies like GE, who owns everything from NBC to Universal Records, and numerous others. Currently topping the site for views is the Hulu channel, Hulu being a partnership between GE (NBC) and NewsCorp (FOX). They are closely followed by Sony, Universal, BMG and CBS for most viewed channels. There are more ads on the site than ever and through these corporate partnerships, they police YouTube, quickly taking down content which may or may not violate terms of service.
As the question of copyright becomes more prevalent and decisions are made over who has rights over what, there is only one inevitable next step- royalties. Soon labels will be suing users for royalty payment for showing off how well they play the guitar solo in their favorite track, or how well they are able to imitate their favorite singer. This is the future, my friends. Count on it.
Prince has issued letters to YouTube demanding they remove any of his live performances from the site, but his cover of the Radiohead hit "Creep" from his Coachella performance isn't really his to remove. Or is it? Thom Yorke insists it should be up to him whether or not the video is available for public viewing since it is his song, but Prince feels he should be free to remove the video since it's his purple ass shaking on it.
This current controversy raises some interesting questions about who really owns what. Are users violating copyright when they upload video of them covering their favorite tunes? Are they violating copyright when they upload video of someone else covering a tune? This debate is an important one to be having since Youtube has slowly been turning more corporate, being owned by Google. They regularly give preferential treatment to powerhouse companies like GE, who owns everything from NBC to Universal Records, and numerous others. Currently topping the site for views is the Hulu channel, Hulu being a partnership between GE (NBC) and NewsCorp (FOX). They are closely followed by Sony, Universal, BMG and CBS for most viewed channels. There are more ads on the site than ever and through these corporate partnerships, they police YouTube, quickly taking down content which may or may not violate terms of service.
As the question of copyright becomes more prevalent and decisions are made over who has rights over what, there is only one inevitable next step- royalties. Soon labels will be suing users for royalty payment for showing off how well they play the guitar solo in their favorite track, or how well they are able to imitate their favorite singer. This is the future, my friends. Count on it.
