My Video got yanked off YouTube!!

[menehunenyc]

AIIIIIIYYYYYAAAA!! My rendition of 'summertime' by Gershwin must have been so good, so close to the original (or perhaps way too bad) that Time Warner asked YouTube to pull my video!!! I will have to check if all the other vids were pulled too! watch out guys, better check your vids for copyright infringement, and if they were uploaded via the quickload, then you will want to back it up somehow on your hard drive. I wonder how many more of mine will be zapped. Im gonna send a counter letter and see what happens. Here is a copy of the letter YT sent me:


***************************
Dear Member:
This is to notify you that we have removed or disabled access to the following material as a result of a third-party notification by WARNER MUSIC GROUP claiming that this material is infringing:

Summertime - Gershwin: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IgmvctMx8fA

Please Note: Repeat incidents of copyright infringement will result in the deletion of your account and all videos uploaded to that account. In order to prevent this from happening, please delete any videos to which you do not own the rights, and refrain from uploading additional videos that infringe on the copyrights of others. For more information about YouTube's copyright policy, please read the Copyright Tips guide.

If you elect to send us a counter notice, please go to our Help Center to access the instructions.

Please note that under Section 512(f) of the Copyright Act, any person who knowingly materially misrepresents that material or activity was removed or disabled by mistake or misidentification may be subject to liability.

Sincerely,
YouTube, Inc.

*********************

 

[Waterguy]

They are certainly within thier rights but this sort of thing seems really silly to me. You are not taking any of thier sales away. You might even inspire someone to go buy a copy that they have got thier greedy little claws firmly sunk into.

Sorry to hear about it.

 

[SuperSecretJohn]

I'm sure the TW employee reporting it thinks it's ridiculous as well. He/she is getting paid maybe $17+/hr to watch YouTube videos and then file a copyright claim.

 

[MisoHappy]

This is retarded. It's just a cover! How is that infringement? There must be millions of magnificent cover videos of tons of songs, and they're still posted. How heartless. And it shouldn't have been taken off because of Time Warner's say so, either.

 

[NukeDOC]

hahaha what gets me is when a person has 200 subscribers gets a vid yanked. but when someone has 20000 subscribers, they can cover whatever the heck they want... it seems.

oh well. play on.

 

[generem]

He/she is getting paid maybe $17+/hr to watch YouTube videos and then file a copyright claim.

Dude... $17+/hr to watch Videos... How do I sign up:nana:


But in a serious note.. Its silly that they would pull a cover of a song. If you were trying to make money out of it, then I would understand..

 

[menehunenyc]

Dude... $17+/hr to watch Videos... How do I sign up:nana:


But in a serious note.. Its silly that they would pull a cover of a song. If you were trying to make money out of it, then I would understand..

That's what I'm trying to say!!! I mean yes, Its not MY song, they own the rights, but I just performed it for free, noboby is paying me to view the vid (but by all means if you want to I'll give you my Paypal link, just kidding). I'll let you all know what happens after I hear they received my counter-letter.

 

[HoldinCoffee]

DO NOT SEND THE COUNTER-NOTICE!!!!

Time Warner owns rights to the song and any reproduction of it is copyright infringement. The counter-notice is a legal document. Don't do it!

There is a list of artists, I think on the BMG label, that have granted advanced permission for their material to be on YOutTube, assuming they are given credit for their work.

_________________________________________________________________
"September 18, 2006 | Posted by: The YouTube Editors | Permalink

The Deal with Warner
No doubt you've read the news about the partnership we announced with Warner. This is great news for the YouTube community!

Up front, let me say that the details will be worked out with Warner, its recording artists and YouTube over the next few months. Our goal is to provide you with the most entertaining service and more creative options.

The cool thing is that Warner will be posting top music videos, interviews with your favorite artists and behind-the-scenes footage, and more. You'll be able to enjoy and share these videos without concern that they could be removed.

What's even better is that Warner is the first record label to embrace and support your creativity by authorizing use of their music content for free, in partnership with your favorite artists! This new architecture will be available by the end of the year. We will have more details to share then.

Meanwhile, we love hearing from you and want to know how we can continue to be the best way to share your talent with a growing audience.

Cheers,
Powers
The YouTube Team"
_________________________________________________________________

It seems that deal fell through, and I believe the intent of the agreement was centered around directly copying audio tracks. Anyhoot, check out this link from YT's blog in Dec 2008:

http://www.youtube.com/blog?entry=Gg-mX2mof8c

I think Don Henley said it best, "The whole idea of music being free is some kind of hippie notion left over from the 60's. My last album cost me over a million dollars out of my own pocket."

I always hated Don Henley.

 

[hoosierhiver]

I had a weird thing happen with my Youtube for about a week,EVERYTIME I'd watch a video,YT would have a big pop-up at the top and ask me my language preference.It happened again and again no matter what I did.Then one day it stopped.

 

[HoldinCoffee]

I had a weird thing happen with my Youtube for about a week,EVERYTIME I'd watch a video,YT would have a big pop-up at the top and ask me my language preference.It happened again and again no matter what I did.Then one day it stopped.

When Ken Middleton or someone across the pond posts a link it is a link to uk.youtube.com... so then you are signed into UK.youTube. If you close out your browser and log back in, you should be back to normal. I think it invloves cookies.

mmmmm, cookies!

 

[AcousticMonster]

Hey guys, LOL, I just seen this post. Wow, I thought YouTube just muted out the audio portion of the videos. Now they are pulling them.

I know people have told me on YouTube not to do Prince or VanMorrison songs, as they will be muted within a day. Luckily I haven't had any of my videos pulled yet.

I just don't get the whole mentality of YouTube, Artists, and the recording industry. Yeah it's copyright infringment, but it's not like people are making any money on doing a cover tune. I always thought that it would benefit the industry as it creates interest in songs people may not have heard before, or forgotten over time.

Oh well.

 

[menehunenyc]

DO NOT SEND THE COUNTER-NOTICE!!!!

Time Warner owns rights to the song and any reproduction of it is copyright infringement. The counter-notice is a legal document. Don't do it!

There is a list of artists, I think on the BMG label, that have granted advanced permission for their material to be on YOutTube, assuming they are given credit for their work.

I don't think Ira or George is around to give permission, haha lol. I always give credit to the artist who wrote the song, but not necessarily to the corporation that owns the copyright... thanks for the advice, you sound ernest enough that it scares me!!! Thanks yall for all your condolences and such. UU rocks, and today YT sucks!!

 

[menehunenyc]

Hey guys, LOL, I just seen this post. Wow, I thought YouTube just muted out the audio portion of the videos. Now they are pulling them.

I know people have told me on YouTube not to do Prince or VanMorrison songs, as they will be muted within a day. Luckily I haven't had any of my videos pulled yet.

I just don't get the whole mentality of YouTube, Artists, and the recording industry. Yeah it's copyright infringment, but it's not like people are making any money on doing a cover tune. I always thought that it would benefit the industry as it creates interest in songs people may not have heard before, or forgotten over time.

Oh well.

Well said my friend...exactly how I've been feeling. So how do we check up on copyrights? You do a search on Guitarchords and there is no listed of copyright ownership as such. Just post and pray?

 

[SuperSecretJohn]

I don't think Ira or George is around to give permission, haha lol. thanks for the advice, you sound ernest enough that it scares me!!! Thanks yall for all your condolences and such. UU rocks, and today YT sucks!!

Don't blame YouTube. Blame Time Warner. They're the copyright Nazis who feel like covers are a form of "lost revenue" and put it into exaggerated estimates. Boo to big corporations!

 

[russ_buss]

had this issue with a prince song and also YMCA. our UCB naked video originally used the YMCA track and it got yanked during early drafts of the video. i even tested a subsequent video with no mention of YMCA or the Village People in the title, description and tags. still got yanked.

so we had to end up recording our own uke version of the song. youtube copyright issues blow!

 

[menehunenyc]

Don't blame YouTube. Blame Time Warner.Boo to big corporations!

Yeah, them too. BOOOOO!!!

 

[Spuash]

so i think im going to try and do a cover of my own song and file a claim with youtube to make me take it down lol

 

[AcousticMonster]

Well said my friend...exactly how I've been feeling. So how do we check up on copyrights? You do a search on Guitarchords and there is no listed of copyright ownership as such. Just post and pray?

Yeah, pretty much. I look at this way...I'm doing them a service promoting their work, and hopefully in turn someone buys their album. They should look at it as free advertising. Again, it's not like we are making money off YouTube videos, or anything. If they are so uptight about my videos, then f@#k-um. Let them take it off.

had this issue with a prince song and also YMCA. our UCB naked video originally used the YMCA track and it got yanked during early drafts of the video. i even tested a subsequent video with no mention of YMCA or the Village People in the title, description and tags. still got yanked.

so we had to end up recording our own uke version of the song. youtube copyright issues blow!

Russ...I thought the whole Prince thing was funny. Prince is such an idiot in my opinion. People, fans I should say, help promote his music and he's more interested running around saying "Mine! Mine! Mine!", than promoting his work to younger audiences. 30 somethings like me, who where his fans and made him his core money, wont be around forever.

Have you ever seen An Evening With Kevin Smith? Prince is pretty much insane in the membrane according to Kevin. LOL

 

[HoldinCoffee]

Yeah, them too. BOOOOO!!!

BOOO!!!!

I don't think Ira or George is around to give permission, haha lol. I always give credit to the artist who wrote the song, but not necessarily to the corporation that owns the copyright... thanks for the advice, you sound ernest enough that it scares me!!! Thanks yall for all your condolences and such. UU rocks, and today YT sucks!!

Sorry I don't mean to scare you, I just wanted to make sure you got the message. Copyrights are time sensitive, so one would think that Gershwin's copyright claims are null. And often times with music of that genre and older, there is no copyright holder and the copyright becomes public domain. But on very popular tunes, someone has obtained the copyright. I don't know how to buy copyrights, but it might be a lucrative hobby. Did you know that "Happy Birthday" is copyrighted? Yep. If you sing it in a video and post it on YouTube, someone can DMCA you.

Yeah, pretty much. I look at this way...I'm doing them a service promoting their work, and hopefully in turn someone buys their album. They should look at it as free advertising. Again, it's not like we are making money off YouTube videos, or anything. If they are so uptight about my videos, then f@#k-um. Let them take it off.

In my view record companies trying to squeeze mad cash out of Google. They had this big deal in the works and the record companies wanted more cash than Google had intended or was able to give them. The record companies said MORE, Google said, AIN'T GOT MORE, record companies said PULL THE SONGS. We're waiting Google's response.

Google spent a heap of cash on the YT acquisition and hasn't seen a payout. Now with these lawsuits, Google seems to be less concerned with making a profit as minimizing legal fees.


But this all goes back to the idea of ORIGINAL MUSIC (see: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ubM00J4_624 ) If we support the original artists of original music, then Viacom and Warner and Google have no say in what you do. Also, why not launch Seeso or AdelleTheGreat into the music hall of fame instead of jumping on Columbia's Flavor of Month bandwagon?

If you're a musician and love it, or if you love music, please consider Creative Commons:

http://creativecommons.org/

and the Internet Archives:

http://www.archive.org/index.php

Nobody should OWN music. That's stupid.

Anyone interested in the Digital Mellenium Copyright Act, just google it and pick your trusted source. Or go to National Public Radio's site and search for copyright in media instructional courses. They can point you to a class that is offered nationally for the layperson to understand the ins and outs of copyright law. If you still have questions after all that, consider enrolling in lawshcool.

 

[HaileISela]

What about Vimeo.com do they have the same issues with copyrights? If not, UU should consider to abandon YT and go to vimeo... it's nicer anyway! (well, apart of the less popularity compared to YT)