YOUTUBE faces EU music video rights hike

UPDATED UPDATE!!

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/whos-telling-the-truth-youtube-or-the-music-industry-756663/



Spoiler alert ... the tech giants won this battle:YouTube and Facebook escape billions in copyright payouts after EU vote

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2018/jul/05/youtube-could-escape-billions-in-copyright-payouts-after-eu-vote?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Copy_to_clipboard

'YouTube faces paying billions to music stars after copyright vote'

Great article + big news, as this impacts YouTube's distribution of music videos - it could lead to a mass deletion of music videos from the site, pending clear + specific agreements being signed with labels/rights holders.

NB: there is no change in law YET; this initial requires a further vote in the European Parliament in July before it takes on legal status, and it seems likely several states will object to it.

The quotes below contain some killer stats, the type I've often cited before:

• YouTube pays out about 67¢ per its 1.3bn music video-watching users ($856m/£650m annual)
• that's less than half the total royalties payout for 25 BILLION streams than is generated by just 4.1m vinyl record sales!!!
• Spotify pays out about $20 per user (272m users, annual total $5.6bn royalties)

For years the music industry has argued that YouTube exploits the lack of legal protection around music videos being viewed on its service to pay minimal amounts to artists and labels when they are viewed. The music industry has lobbied that this “value gap” between the true worth of the music videos and what YouTube decides to pay needs to be addressed with legislation.

On Wednesday, a crucial vote by the European parliament’s legal affairs committee went the way of the music industry with an agreement to adopt copyright laws that will force platforms such as YouTube to seek licences for music videos.

YouTube has an estimated 1.3 billion users who regularly watch music videos and it paid $856m (£650m) in royalties to music companies last year – an estimated 67 cents per user annually. In the UK, record labels and artists earn more than double the royalties from the sale of 4.1m vinyl records than they did from the 25bn music videos watched on YouTube last year.

By contrast, income from the 272 million music fans who paid for ad-supported services such as Spotify, generated $5.6bn in royalties, or about $20 per user annually.

...

COPYRIGHT FAIR USAGE Star Wars Silence Sued

https://www.wired.com/story/the-star-wars-video-that-baffled-youtubes-copyright-cops?mbid=social_fb

FAIR USAGE Google to fight takedowns as unfair cop

The fair usage copyright (legal) concept is an important one to be aware of - you may find yourself with a range of notices on your own channel, from notification that rights-holders can insert ads before your videos to removal of audio through to video deletion and even account deletion; you need to take care with how you handle copyright material.

Abuse of the system isn't just one way though, and Google (YouTube conglomerate parent) is starting to fight back against vexatious claims and profiteering by the record industry, film companies and other cynical profiteers...

See Google offers legal support to some YouTube users in copyright battles.

INDUSTRY WEB 2.0 Conglomerates sued over fees for 'broken' downloads

Great illustration over the downsides of web 2.0 and how the likes of John McMuria may be right in arguing that the brave digital new world is simply a slightly reconstituted lineup of giant conglomerates, not the newly democratic, level playing field technotopians see it as.

Universal is in the frame here, but their practices are fairly standard for the record industry.

Article link below the line.

Copyright holder - can't find who?

As you are tasked with evidencing contacting the rights holder and asking for permission for your non-commercial use of their track, you obviously need to know which company to contact. Looking at physical media (the CD) is an obvious starting point - you can generally find sleeves on a number of websites which specialise in just this. You can also try the band's official site, and look up Wikis etc.
If still struggling, yet another method can be your YouTube account ...
As I've previously blogged, you should look out for (hyperlinked) messages under your uploads, such as 'Video blocked in some countries'. Just click on these to then click 'acknowledge', keeping your account in good standing. You should find specific reference there of which company claims copyright of the recording, such as in this example from an upload of a student music video for a Storm Queen track:

Copyright and YouTube

See also http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2013/jan/04/record-labels-making-money-youtube; http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/youtube; http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2012/oct/10/music-streaming-songwriters-youtube-pandora; http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2012/aug/16/youtube-teens-first-choice-music; http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2012/dec/28/youtube-video-views-disappear-migrate.

Whereas your final AS coursework must feature zero copyright material, you're using a copyrighted track for your A2 coursework - have you remembered to evidence, as required by the exam board, an attempt to contact the rights holder (usually the record label) for permission to use the track for this work, making clear you're not seeking to profit from using their copyrighted material (and might even encourage some people to buy the track through your video!)?

Since YouTube introduced an automatic detection system (see the Wiki) and signed deals with most of the major TV, film and music companies (as you'll have seen from your Media work, these tend to be subsidiaries of massive horizontally and vertically integrated conglomerates such as News Corp and NBC-Universal), the issue of 'fair usage' of copyrighted materials has evolved a little.

Link at the end of the post: a very useful site for exploring the issue further

If any of your work contains any copyrighted material you might find its deleted by YouTube, or blocked in certain nations but not others (dependent on which countries its deals have been signed in). This will particularly the case where you've used lengthy clips from films. Where you've used a short clip, or any copyrighted music, you're more likely to find a notice on your channel uploads page telling you there is 'matched copyright material'.

My vodcasts used clips short enough to be considered 'fair usage'

Rather than delete or block the upload, the more common response is simply to assert that other copyright holders' material has been used, and force ads onto your upload, the revenues from which will be split between YouTube and the copyright holder.
I've tried to find a definitive acceptable length of film clips which won't generate a YouTube blocked upload, without success so far (if you find anything on this please pass it on). I'd suggest aiming for 30secs or less, using freeze frames with original audio removed for anything over this, but that's a guess. Check your uploads for anything being blocked. So far, we've not problems with any A2 music videos, just AS film vodcasts (and a compilation of scenes which used a Depeche Mode a couple of years ago), including one of mine (vodcast on scream queens + final girls, available to view on request) in which I simply used too much of Bride of Chucky.

FairUseTube.org provide a very considered analysis of the issues involved, YouTube's policies and also highlight some of the common abuses - where fraudulent companies simply claim you've used their copyright material when that's not the case. I think I may have found one such dubious claim on my channel, for past AS coursework where the soundtrack was composed in school using GarageBand! In such cases, the fraudulent company pockets the money from ads which YouTube force on to the upload.
See http://fairusetube.org/dvd-ripping-guide; http://fairusetube.org/youtube-copyfraud; http://fairusetube.org/guide-to-youtube-removals and other such links on the site.

YouTube itself offers a guide, including lengthy videos, though they shy away from being specific over such matters as how much of a single TV show, film or other text goes beyond the fair usage doctrine - see also the Wiki on Fair Usage.

The Uni of Houston's DigitalStoryTelling site also features a considered discussion of the issues and legal policies.