Information about Youtube and WMG and what's going on.

[katsuya_kaiba_chan]

I guess this is where to stick this. This is a information post for all of you, so you can be informed about the mess going on.

As somebody who has had fallen prey to the 'Copyright by WMG', I went searching and found out it's not just us AMV authors that are getting targeted. People that play songs on their instruments, people who's brothers were playing a CD while they were doing a Vlog, as well as other really far fetched reasons why their videos were pulled. Some that make you go "Are they serious?"

Come to find out that WMG (Warner Music Group) was negotiating a contract with Youtube to let Youtube video creators to use their music with them getting a cut off of the ad revenue. AT the last minute, after the contract was put together, WMG tried to slip something in asking for more money. Youtube declined. WMG has been asking for more money than the other labels as of late from many audio media areas. They demanded more money from Rock Band and Guitar Hero to have their songs as downloadable content and the is currently a standoff going on where that is concerned. There is two versions of what is going on here but both seem possible.

One is that WMG said "Take our stuff down now! All of it!" and that's what Youtube is doing. Another is that Youtube is doing this without any push on WMG's part but letting WMG hold the blame, therefore sticking it to their users while pointing the finger and WMG.

Alot of users are getting angry since the crack down and the horror stories have begun and the question of 'Fair Use' is coming into play often. Mix videos where somebody shows off their mixing skill on a turn table have had their video removed, a girl singing 'Winter Wonderland' had her video removed, AMV authors as you well know have also gotten hit. This goes beyond us and alot of people are being affected.

For further information, refer to these videos. They are excellently done and informative. Be aware that they do have cursing as people are understandably upset.

Vlogger's let themselves be heard:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LBfTuIC3QUc

TygerWDR's excellent series of videos on what is going on:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uCRqhIxMgSU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hla7KMY8OFA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HdFe4JNsuIo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fVSmRQLtqTM

Thank you for your time.

[katsuya_kaiba_chan]

Annnddd my links are shot LOL. Sorry, haven't been on this forum for too long. Just replace booshack with you-know-what tube and they'll work. Sorry, the videos aren't hosted anywhere else other than 'The Battle Field'

[AaronAMV]

http://tinyurl.com/

[trythil]

Alot of users are getting angry since the crack down

Good. More people need to learn about how copyright law can negatively affect them. Too bad it had to be the not-quite-hard way.

I'd have liked to see more cooling-down-and-reading-up occur, instead of half-cocked rants. Namely, that the real way to solve this isn't to beg the entrenched for changes, but rather to entirely support authors that subscribe to a different ideology. But, hey, that's the internet.

[trythil]

Also, one of the comments in the vlogger video, as a call for some sense in takedown procedures:

This is a new millennium! The law has changed!

Yeah, it's changed. That change is precisely what got that vlogger into this mess in the first place.

[Corran]

There is two versions of what is going on here but both seem possible.

WMG is the one taking the videos down. For quite some time they had a profit sharing agreement with youtube and instead of taking down videos they just marked them as containing their content. Youtube's audio fingerprinting technology made tagging content much easier.

The rate that videos are being taken down seems to indicate that it isn't as easy for WMG to just flip a switch for all of their content, but I imagine it might be the case when it comes down to a song per song basis. It is my guess that WGM just needs to prove a specific song is theirs and all videos previously tagged or fingerprinted will come down at the same time regardless of how the content was used.

In otherwords, "oh well". (For something a little more descriptive, see Trythil's posts above.)

[hasteroth]

This is an example of a company abusing there rights to make money.

[PaperIsland]

Another is that boochsack is doing this without any push on WMG's part but letting WMG hold the blame, therefore sticking it to their users while pointing the finger and WMG.

This doesn't seem very plausible. The tube makes money by having videos with hits. They have no incentive to take videos down unless pushed to do so.

[dragontamer5788]

This is an example of a company abusing there rights to make money.

Actually, its more of an example where companies threw tons of money into lobbyists to convince Senators that the state of copyright laws was too restrictive. And now we're in a mess with copyright laws lasting 80 years after the author's death instead of ~20 years like when it first started. (Imagine how nice it would be today, to be able to use songs from 1989 without any copyright restrictions). Disney however wants to keep Steamboat Willy copyrighted however... and now RAII and MPAA want stricter copyright laws.

Nothing wrong with that. I firmly believe it is right for companies to fight for what is good for them. Now is the time however for us consumers and "remix artists" to start fighting for what is good for us. Copyright law needs to change for the betterment of us now.

[hasteroth]

This is an example of a company abusing there rights to make money.

Actually, its more of an example where companies threw tons of money into lobbyists to convince Senators that the state of copyright laws was too restrictive. And now we're in a mess with copyright laws lasting 80 years after the author's death instead of ~20 years like when it first started. (Imagine how nice it would be today, to be able to use songs from 1989 without any copyright restrictions). Disney however wants to keep Steamboat Willy copyrighted however... and now RAII and MPAA want stricter copyright laws.

Nothing wrong with that. I firmly believe it is right for companies to fight for what is good for them. Now is the time however for us consumers and "remix artists" to start fighting for what is good for us. Copyright law needs to change for the betterment of us now.

Yes, us. Define us.