Well, I guess the video I posted on Youtube playing an instrumental of Desperado is deemed copyright infringing and I have received a warning. So I must take it down (or maybe it has been deleted already). Apparently Cass County Music is cracking down on covers of their music. I have no idea how many of the covers I've posted are copyright infringing, and to be honest I don't really give a crap. So if one day all of my uploaded videos are gone it's probably because Youtube shut me down for more copyright infringement. Since pretty much everything I've posted are covers, the possibility of that happening is actually kind of high. I've always found this type of crackdowns puzzling because in my opinion these types of covers do more to help the stupid record companies than hurt them. I mean, there are music that I only went out to buy after seeing them covered on Youtube and/or other places online. But I guess there are stupid people running record companies out there so what can I do?
Anyway, hopefully my Youtube account doesn't get shut down in the future, but if it does, you know what happened.
Hey George, this seems to be happening to a lot of people. Seeso and Deach as well as musicteacher2009 now musicteacher2010 had theirs threatened or shut down. I hope it doesn't happen to me. So far I have always put as much credit up to artists/writers as I can. My next video I actually contacted the artist through her website and have gotten permission from them to cover and put up on my website.
ReplyDeleteGood Luck--- Ukester Brown
Hey UB,
ReplyDeleteYeah, I guess some people are cracking down on it. I guess I understand that covers indeed infringe on the copyright of their owners but I still think in real world terms, things like this help the original artists rather than hurt them. It's not like I'm making any money off covers and I'm certainly not causing them to lose money. I guess we'll see what happens. Good luck to you with your videos too.
I agree with you about helping the original artist. It is not like we are performing it for money... however some people on YouTube are making money by taking advertisements or sponsorships. I think as long as you are a totally free site no one should get harassed. UB again
ReplyDeleteThis happened to my uke jam group too. We post videos filmed at the jam on Youtube but received a draconian copyright infringement notice for one of the clips, so had to take it down. It was such a charmingly shambolic and obviously amateur clip of a group of people just having fun making music and was posted for the amusement of the group and to encourage people to join us. I'm very sad to hear that this is a general trend.
ReplyDeleteI understand that in these days of people buying less music (as they can see it on the internet for 'free'), record labels will take the stance that unauthorised covers infringe on the copyright of the songwriters (and record company profits), but where will it all end? Will we have to pay royalty fees to sing and play a favourite tune with a bunch of friends? What are the consequences for open-air ukulele jams?! Will it become a subversive act to play a cover-version in a public place?
Daniela
Wukulele (Worthing Uke Jam)
West Sussex, UK
Have you ever thought of asking permission before you post a video that has someone else's song in it? You might be surprised that a lot of songwriters are happy to let you; they just want to be asked. How would you feel if someone just "borrowed" your instrument?
ReplyDeleteBy someone "borrowing my instrument", do you mean someone just taking my ukulele and start playing? Of course I'd have a problem with that.
ReplyDeleteBut if I was a performing artist looking to get exposure, I'd sure as hell hope as many people cover my songs on Youtube as possible. I personally haven't even heard "Desperado" until I saw a ukulele cover of it on Youtube. After that, I purchased the song from iTunes. Had there not been any covers of "Desperado", you can be sure I would have never bought the song or made a cover of it.
Yes, I understand what you're saying about asking for permission to cover a song. But it should be clear to anyone who has something even approaching a brain that I do not benefit whatsoever from making any of the cover videos and I do state clearly who and what I'm covering. These videos are made just for fun, which is pretty much the reason 99% of the Youtube covers are made.
Anyway, I understand everything about copyright and stuff like that, but in a lot of these cases, it's really not to the artist's advantage to get rid of Youtube covers. I would be willing to bet that the advantages of Youtube exposure far outweighs the negatives for most artists, including the likes of the Eagles, who are not really a current band and many young people probably have never heard of them.
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