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YouTube Says Content Owners Made $1B Last Year -- So Music Labels Should Stop Complaining (recode.net)

Peter Kafka, reporting for Recode: Here's the latest salvo in the back and forth between YouTube and the music industry: A report from Google that says its video site's copyright software has allowed content owners to generate $1 billion in the last year or so. Or, in other words: Hey, music guys! Stop moaning about money -- we're making plenty of it for you. Google's formal message comes via "How Google Fights Piracy," a 62-page mega-pamphlet it is releasing today. Google adds that its Content ID tool, which lets copyright owners "claim" their videos that users upload to YouTube so that ad money can be made off it, has garnered $2 billion since 2007. This is Google's response to a growing concern from the music industry that YouTube doesn't pay well, its Content ID isn't a solution, and that the video platform is built on stolen material.

153 comments

  1. Tone deaf defense by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    That figure just highlights how much Google is raking in off the backs of the entire music industry. Wanna hear some recorded music? Dial it up on Youtube and see/hear it for free, courtesy of Google's advertisers.

    Hey, they provide the servers and CDN, so they should make most of the money!

    1. Re:Tone deaf defense by KingBozo · · Score: 1

      Hey wanna hear some recorded music? Just turn on the radio and see/hear it for free, courtesy of the Radio Station's Advertisers.

      Hey, they provide the signal, DJ, and paid to license the airwaves, so they should make most of the money?

  2. Re:Google needs to be responsible by hcs_$reboot · · Score: 1

    Google just trained 2 millions Indians.

    --
    Slashdot, fix the reply notifications... You won't get away with it...
  3. Re:Google needs to be responsible by phishybongwaters · · Score: 5, Informative

    ACtually, no, that's not how copyright works at all. The copyright OWNER is responsible for finding and reporting infringement, the service provider needs to provide some means for the content owner to report and request a take down. Youtube automatically scans content, flags are copyrighted, then layers ads on it sending the revenue to the content owner, or outright removes the video Every single asshat "musician" complaining about youtube is doing so because they are attempting to launch their own service and it sucks.

  4. It isn't "stolen"! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Copyright infringement isn't theft.

    1. Re:It isn't "stolen"! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Sure it is. IP is a major component in many products. If you were to pay for the food raw materials in a restaurant dish, you would only pay 10% of the list price. If you were to pay for the metals, plastics, tires and electronics in a car it would be near 20% the retail price of the car. There's a lot of IP involved in transforming simple materials into complex, useful products. And manufacturers of physical goods are charging you a lot for IP, so why shouldn't creators of pure IP products, like software, music, movies, etc. charge you the same premium?

      If you disagree with the pricing, don't buy. But don't steal it and say, "copying IP is not stealing."

    2. Re:It isn't "stolen"! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Assemblies are a new tangible. No one's arguing they're identical to the original tangible.

      They're also deprived if used by someone.

    3. Re:It isn't "stolen"! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      How can you "steal" something if you making a copy of it deprives no one of the original?

    4. Re:It isn't "stolen"! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      A lot of sucky things aren't theft. So what's your point?

    5. Re:It isn't "stolen"! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Exactly, I'm going to a restaurant and paying them the cost of their food raw materials, the labor to cook the food, and the kitchen cost. That's it, I'm not paying for the recipe. I'm going to "buy" (take) a car from the dealership for 20% the retail price. I'm not paying for the car design R&D. IP should free (thousands of slashdotters can't be wrong).

    6. Re:It isn't "stolen"! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Except it isn't if you cared in any way about the law or were in any way educated about the law.
      I know being a pseudo-intellectual is a fad with you, and you like philosophizing, but it's pointless when even the Supreme Court of the USA ruled that copyright infringement isn't theft or stealing, and that any correlations being made in court can be punishable and are in contempt of court (in later proceedings).

      Refer to Dowling v. United States.

    7. Re:It isn't "stolen"! by alva_edison · · Score: 1

      It would also not be stealing to make a replica car or food dish. Misappropriating IP has several names depending on exactly what you are doing, but none of them is "stealing". And AFAIK, none of them are criminal in the U.S. (they're all civil offenses).
      It's only theft if the thing being stolen is removed from the person possessing it.

      --
      He effected a bored affect.
    8. Re:It isn't "stolen"! by SeriousTube · · Score: 1

      Copyright infringement is not stealing. Whatever you might think about the ethics of it, the definitions of the terms are different. See for example - https://www.quora.com/Intellec...

    9. Re:It isn't "stolen"! by lgw · · Score: 1

      You're "stealing" the money you didn't pay. The word makes sense. Taking-without-paying is stealing. Just as it makes sense to call it "stealing" if you don't pay for a service you consume. Not all theft is equal of course - the losses due to piracy are pretty theoretical, and I don't care much about them, but some money is certainly lost to it.

      --
      Socialism: a lie told by totalitarians and believed by fools.
    10. Re:It isn't "stolen"! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You can't steal money you didn't pay. The money has never traded ownership in order to be eligible for the "theft" branding. If your logic was put to use, then companies and creators would be allowed to sue competitors for "theft" because they "lost money" to a competitor. That's simply conjuring money out of thin air in most cases.
      You are just twisting semantics in an illogical and dumb way and both the Supreme Court and all the legal professionals have already emphasized this and the following:
      At best you can legally label that as being "ripped off" or "scammed". Theft and stealing are legally invalid words in regards to copyright infringement, and the courts even fine for any correlations or implications of correlation!

    11. Re:It isn't "stolen"! by dave420 · · Score: 1

      Depriving someone of their property is stealing. It has nothing to do with someone getting something for free. Your understanding of this is comical.

  5. Re:Google needs to be responsible by gmack · · Score: 3, Interesting

    One thing that came up in the original Youtube lawsuit was that the content owners themselves can't tell what is infringing and if they can't, how do you expect Youtube to manage?

  6. Re:Google needs to be responsible by PaperDragonFly · · Score: 1

    The billions aren't going to YouTube. They're being paid out to the content holders, the people complaining. Or are you suggesting that youtube stop paying the content holders to build a monitoring system that can monitor 100% of user submissions, which is about 5 million hours of video ever day?

  7. Man, that ReCode article... by jddj · · Score: 1

    It's Kafkaesque...

  8. Re:Google needs to be responsible by Megol · · Score: 2

    I hope you are trolling...

  9. guess what else the content ID tool does by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Content ID tool, which lets copyright owners "claim" their videos that users upload to YouTube so that ad money can be made off it, has garnered $2 billion since 2007

    Do you know what other kinds of things that content ID tool does?

    And guess what happens if you don't have the resources and fame of NASA, so it's not the same scope of public relations disaster?

  10. Content owners? by Trailer+Trash · · Score: 5, Informative

    What is a "content owner"? Oh, the person who owns the recording.

    For those of you who don't understand the big issue, there are two kinds of "owners" for a piece of recorded music - the guy who owns the actual sound recording (master) and the person/people who own the copyright on the underlying work (the writers). These are often not the same people, particularly in commercial music where a record label typically owns the masters.

    Writers get paid statutory rates for sound recordings or digital downloads, known as a mechanical royalty rate. For a song that's 5 minutes or less, it's 9.1 cents per copy, with a 1.75 cent/minute increment above 5 minutes. They also get paid for broadcast uses of their works (this is what BMI, ASCAP, and SESAC handle in the US). The issue with Youtube is that there's no good way to pay writers, so they get screwed. Frankly, the labels are getting screwed, too, as $1B isn't a whole lot of money after it's sliced a million ways. I doubt Youtube's ads bring in enough money to pay out more, anyway. ASCAP, BMI, and SESAC pay writers some from Youtube if the song is recognized in the content-id system, but the money is paltry.

    Writers are really getting screwed on streaming and Youtube, and while people used to be able to make a decent living as a writer even 10 years ago, it's getting quite difficult now. I have a niece trying to get into the business and I'm telling her she has to perform as well as writing so she can make a good living at it.

    Anyway, that's the issue.

    1. Re:Content owners? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The best way to break into songwriting is to start with a hot body, then take guitar and voice lessons. The days of Bacharach and David are long gone.

    2. Re:Content owners? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I'm AC so I can't vote, but mod this parent up. This is an actual informed reply vs. the +5 Informative Rob MacDonald one calling "musicians" asshats.

      I realize that everyone thinks they should be able to download or stream and otherwise use music for free, but as a musician who has worked professionally, I disagree. If you like the music, pay the $10 pittance for the CD or digital download. Better yet, go see them live and buy a T-shirt or something, as that's about the only place left that musicians actually make any money.

    3. Re:Content owners? by QuietLagoon · · Score: 1

      ... people used to be able to make a decent living as a writer even 10 years ago...

      People used to be able to make a decent living making disco balls. But times have changed. Those who adopt do well, those who sit and expect the money to flow to them do not do well.

    4. Re:Content owners? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It gets funny when an H1-B story is posted here, then the same crowd all whines like bitches. Why aren't Congressmen getting off their asses to protect American jobs? I'm sure those Congressmen read the letters they're getting and think, did you guys do when the publishing, journalism, banking, music, and retail industries were laying off half their workforce, and taxi drivers are saying their medallians are worthless? Yeah, you guys taunted them as losers, didn't you.

    5. Re:Content owners? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Uhh.. The conclusion I get from your statement is not that "Youtube and Streaming is screwing writers", it is that their payment model is laughable outdated and naive. I suggest the correct course of action is to demand a change in payment schemes so the money isn't distributed in a "million different ways".

      The revenue stated from Google alone (1$B) is enough to pay over 16,000 people a $60k a year salary.. and this is only from the ConentID generated revenue, nothing about the revenue generated from actual "owned" postings. Assuming that there are alot of other outlets to make money, like live performances, other streaming services, traditional media sales, cameos, merchanides, etc.. There's still alot of money to go around if the payment schemes weren't so corrupt.

    6. Re:Content owners? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      ... people used to be able to make a decent living as a writer even 10 years ago...

      People used to be able to make a decent living making disco balls. But times have changed. Those who adopt do well, those who sit and expect the money to flow to them do not do well.

      I disagree. I think it is more likely that those who do well can afford to adopt. Most people don't want to waste their hard earned money on other people's children

    7. Re:Content owners? by Altrag · · Score: 1

      $1B isn't a whole lot of money after it's sliced a million ways

      According to http://www.musicbusinessworldwide.com/global-record-industry-income-drops-below-15bn-for-first-time-in-history/ (and corroborated by a couple other sites I found on a quick Google search,) the entire US music industry is only generating $15B annually, putting Youtube's injection at a bit under 7%.

      That's not bad revenue considering they don't have to do anything to get it beyond claim their copyrights (often excessively to the point of fraudulent but that's another rant.)

      Of course the most obvious counters would be a) Google is doing the math different which is well.. given what we already know about the RIAA's accounting schemes, that wouldn't be surprising (huh.. all of your artists lost money and had to pay out of pocket but you simultaneously reported record profits? Fancy! Not as bad as the MPAA's version though I suppose so that's something.)

      Or b) Google's dividing that billion around the world, where it would be closer to 2% (some more Googling suggests around $50B global revenues.) I wouldn't be surprised by this scenario -- all sides love to massage the numbers in their favor. But still, 2% of your revenue for doing little beyond hosting DMCA threatbots and bitching to anyone who will listen isn't a bad return. Hell, I'd love to get paid a bonus 2% of my annual earnings just for being a loudmouth. I complain about things all the time I'd be great for the job!

    8. Re:Content owners? by Solandri · · Score: 1

      Why should YouTube have to pay the writers? I used to manage a restaurant and we'd play recorded music for the guests and occasionally had live bands. We'd pay the requisite fees to the copyright holders. They own the copyright on the actual sound recording, we use the actual sound recording, we pay them.

      If the writers hold a copyright on the lyrics to the song, the place for them to negotiate is with BMI, ASCAP, SESAC before the sound recording is allowed to be distributed. After all, it's using their copyright, it can't be distributed unless they agree to license their copyright. My restaurant and YouTube have nothing to do with that, just like when I buy a Dell laptop, I don't have to pay Samsung a licensing fee for patents they hold on the memory and NAND, LG for patents they have on the LCD, Intel for patents they have on the CPU, etc. Dell does all that so the end-user (whether an individual or a corporation) pays a single price for "everything" in the laptop.

      If the writers don't like how much money they're getting per YouTube play, they need to negotiate better terms with BMI, ASCAP, SESAC. YouTube and my restaurant have nothing to do with this - we're licensing the final sound recording from these associations under terms which the writers agreed to with these associations to use their copyright. If the writers don't like those terms, they need to renegotiate it with these associations. Not drag YouTube into it.

      For live bands, we paid a cover to a different organization (don't remember which) since for live performances the copyright for the music and lyrics was at play, not the copyright for the sound recording. Most of the bands actually pay this themselves, but as the venue you also have to pay it to CYA in case you unknowingly hire a band which hasn't paid. So the composers and writers are actually getting double-paid in most cases here.

    9. Re:Content owners? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yes, because being replaced by a foreign workforce exactly the same as monopolistic practices (taxi medallions) or people being paid in perpetuity for a job they did once.

    10. Re:Content owners? by dwywit · · Score: 1

      There is still quite a large market for music. Disco balls, on the other hand.....

      If there's someone out there who wants to listen to music, there's money to be made writing and performing it.

      --
      They sentenced me to twenty years of boredom
  11. Google Has No Responsibility -- And Shouldn't! by Tenebrousedge · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Google has absolutely no obligation to police any other party's copyrights, and the web would be a poorer place if they did.

    A copyright is your own private monopoly on a piece of content. It is a granted right, and something of a legal fiction: we have collectively agreed to treat this non-scarce good as if it were scarce, to serve an economic purpose. We, collectively and severally, have no further obligations to you. Neither Google nor any other third party is responsible for your private property, absent a specific agreement to that effect. The DMCA makes no provisions that Google do anything more to protect your property than [a] not to block tools used to detect infringement and [b] to respond expeditiously to takedown requests. ContentID is a wholly voluntary program, whose primary purpose is to reduce the number of DMCA requests they have to process.

    Forcing Google to police all content submitted would not only be contrary to centuries of jurisprudence, but it would probably kill off user-submitted content entirely. In point of fact, there's not been any clear ideas proposed on how exactly to do so, because the content industry knows very well that their position is legally indefensible. It's not like they have had any issues buying favorable legislation before, after all. This is a public campaign and not a K street one because they don't want a change in law, they just want more money. This is a shakedown, pure and simple.

    --
    Those who advocate genocide deserve every protection afforded by law, and none afforded by common human decency.
    1. Re:Google Has No Responsibility -- And Shouldn't! by Tenebrousedge · · Score: 1

      You are wrong. I don't really care if you like copyright or not, but they are responsible for serving copyrighted content. "Centuries of jurisprudence" is a joke.

      Presumably you meant "infringing content". Despite your eloquent and well researched rebuttal, it's very clear you have a motivated misunderstanding of copyright. Given your passion for this argument and your inability to support it, I would advise you to keep arguing in the exact same way: you're doing wonderful work for the opposite side.

      --
      Those who advocate genocide deserve every protection afforded by law, and none afforded by common human decency.
    2. Re:Google Has No Responsibility -- And Shouldn't! by ranton · · Score: 1

      You are wrong. I don't really care if you like copyright or not, but they are responsible for serving copyrighted content. "Centuries of jurisprudence" is a joke.

      Do you happen to have an example of case law which disputes his claims? The Viacom case in the US, GEMA case in Germany, and TF1 case in France all have held up that Youtube is not responsible for policing copyrighted content other than providing a reasonably expedited take down process.

      The only caveat I know of is Youtube may be responsible if it willfully ignored its own knowledge that content was copyrighted. As machine learning becomes more capable of identifying video content, Youtube may become required to preemptively take down content. But even that isn't settled law, and the law could end up varying by country.

      --
      -- All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing. -- Edmund Burke
    3. Re:Google Has No Responsibility -- And Shouldn't! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You are wrong. I don't really care if you like copyright or not, but they are responsible for serving copyrighted content. "Centuries of jurisprudence" is a joke.

      That must be why you haven't and can't post any links to a law that says you are correct...

      Until some law is written to state that, and you or anyone else can point to said law, saying it exists is nothing but pure fantasy on your part and completely disconnected from reality.

    4. Re:Google Has No Responsibility -- And Shouldn't! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Google has absolutely no obligation to police any other party's copyrights

      Yes, the only obligation Google has is to count the money it makes from publishing illegal content, before the rightful owner notices and tells Google to remove it.

      It is a granted right, and something of a legal fiction

      Full BS. If I create some content, it belongs me and not you, plain and simple. Just as if you buy a car, it belongs to you, not someone else. The only role government plays is ensuring, the content owner retains ownership. It's not legal fiction.

      Forcing Google to police all content submitted would not only be contrary to centuries of jurisprudence, but it would probably kill off user-submitted content entirely.

      Running a quick check using humans and software is not impossible. YouTube generates billions in revenue. I can't believe they can't hire people to police content, at least random checks, if 100% checking of all videos is too expensive.

    5. Re:Google Has No Responsibility -- And Shouldn't! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Youtube already does preemptively take down copyrighted content. When you upload a video it goes into an hours long "Processing" stage. Part of this is when it gets run past it's content ID system and if that system flags the content it notifies the poster to which portion is in violation and refuses to allow it to be published. One of the channels I follow has this happen occasionally as they do some commentary shows. Any failure on Youtubes part is due to difficulty in the task they're given and users constantly trying to figure ways around their filtering system. As a result often content which is legal to be posted due to fair use provisions in copyright gets blocked with no recourse to the poster. The GP really is an idiot and has no idea what he's talking about. Granted he probably disagrees with the whole concept of fair use as well, and the fact that it's part of the law is unimportant to him since he's clearly got an agenda.

    6. Re:Google Has No Responsibility -- And Shouldn't! by Tenebrousedge · · Score: 1

      Full BS. If I create some content, it belongs me and not you, plain and simple. Just as if you buy a car, it belongs to you, not someone else. The only role government plays is ensuring, the content owner retains ownership. It's not legal fiction.

      You clearly have no idea what copyright is. You would have a stronger claim if you suggested some sort of inherent right to attribution, but in the words of Jefferson:

      Stable ownership is the gift of social law, and is given late in the progress of society. It would be curious then, if an idea, the fugitive fermentation of an individual brain, could, of natural right, be claimed in exclusive and stable property. If nature has made any one thing less susceptible than all others of exclusive property, it is the action of the thinking power called an idea, which an individual may exclusively possess as long as he keeps it to himself; but the moment it is divulged, it forces itself into the possession of every one, and the receiver cannot dispossess himself of it.

      If you create a physical work, you are more than welcome to sell or trade that specific book or image. You cannot physically control the idea itself, even with the aid of the government. The term "legal fiction" is therefore justly warranted. What copyright actually does is provide an exclusive right to monetize a particular idea. It could be argued that this is not necessary, since humanity in general and the arts specifically carried on very well without any such invention for many centuries. However, I feel that some form of copyright is probably a better idea than e.g. patronage for allocating resources to content creators.

      Running a quick check using humans and software is not impossible. YouTube generates billions in revenue. I can't believe they can't hire people to police content, at least random checks, if 100% checking of all videos is too expensive.

      You have yet to establish any sort of argument for why they should do any such thing, even assuming it were possible, which I do not grant -- the issue of whether a work is infringing is a legal problem, not a technical one. Not only does Google not have the obligation to determine the legal status of a work, they also do not have the right to do so, absent a specific agreement from the content owner. It is not to say that no part of the legal system may be automated away, but this particular problem is not remotely tractable.

      Again, legally this is all very clear-cut, and no one is considering changing any of the laws here, or even pursuing any other service providers. Not only would there be wild outrage about introducing liability for infringement for service providers, but actually jeopardizing YouTube's existence would eliminate a billion dollar revenue stream that the content creators don't have to pay overhead costs for. We are not hearing cries for new laws, we are not hearing cries for the Department of Justice to investigate, we are not hearing cries for YouTube to be shut down. We are hearing cries about Google's profits. You yourself are only complaining about the monetary issues. This is a shakedown.

      --
      Those who advocate genocide deserve every protection afforded by law, and none afforded by common human decency.
    7. Re:Google Has No Responsibility -- And Shouldn't! by spire3661 · · Score: 1

      "Full BS. If I create some content, it belongs me and not you, plain and simple. Just as if you buy a car, it belongs to you, not someone else. The only role government plays is ensuring, the content owner retains ownership. It's not legal fiction."

      Where did you get the thought that you can OWN an idea? DO you understand how fucking stupid that is as we sit in the middle of an Information Age? You are petty and small and standing on the shoulders of giants. Learn to see the world past your own nose.

      --
      Good-bye
    8. Re:Google Has No Responsibility -- And Shouldn't! by Lucidus · · Score: 1

      You express yourself very well.

  12. Re:Google needs to be responsible by Kjella · · Score: 1

    Great idea... let's also make the phone company responsible for what everyone talks about on the phone. I can't really tell if you're a troll, shill or just retarded but there's nothing wrong with Google's business model. If they manage to choke Google, it'll be the end of user supplied content as we know it - as was the point all along. How long do you think it'll take /. editors to review every comment in case somebody posted something copyrighted without permission? Particularly when there's no centralized archive over all that is copyrighted or who has granted rights under miscellaneous licenses. Sure, a lot of things are well known and would be flagged but they'd never know the long tail of no-name bands who may or may not have given their music away for free.

    --
    Live today, because you never know what tomorrow brings
  13. Re:Google needs to be responsible by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    In fact, Google outright removes just about anything any company complains about, whether the infringement is real or not, thereby depriving thousands if not hundreds of thousands independent artists ad revenue or just removing personal videos with bird noise in the background.

    That's the real issue.

  14. Out of six billion by XXongo · · Score: 1

    Looks like Google made about 6 billion dollars on Youtube last year, so something like 17% of what they make goes to the people whose actual content is being played. (Reference: http://www.businessinsider.com... ).

    Of course, the people who write and perform got only a tiny fraction of that. They'd probably prefer a model where they actually get paid, instead of google giving away their performances for free and then raking off a few cents for advertising, of which the performers get a fraction.

    1. Re: Out of six billion by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I would prefer that neither Google nor anybody else got a cent.

    2. Re:Out of six billion by GLMDesigns · · Score: 1

      And how much did Google spend on infrastructure, salaries, etc? (I'm not a Google fan - in fact I'm a DuckDuckGo user)

      Revenue is not profit. Revenue == Sales.

      --
      If you're scared of your govt then you need to further restrict its powers
      Vote 3rd Party in 2016 and beyond
    3. Re:Out of six billion by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Are you really trying to imply that it take 5 billion dollars to support YouTube annually?

    4. Re:Out of six billion by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Are you really trying to imply that it take 5 billion dollars to support YouTube annually?

      Apparently. You're welcome to show otherwise.

    5. Re:Out of six billion by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      A quick web search easily finds articles indicating that youtube brought in $4 billion in revenue in 2014, but approximately broke even.

      You should be asking yourself "Are you really trying to treat revenue as though it were profit?". They may have $2 billion more in revenue now than they did then, but even that will not automatically translate to $2 billion more in profit.

  15. Re:Google needs to be responsible by Xenographic · · Score: 1

    > Well guess what: that isn't the copyright holders problem. If your business model is such that you can't monitor everything, then YOU NEED TO FIX your business model.

    This is utter nonsense. One, that's not how the DMCA is set up--this burden is squarely on the copyright holder to identify and issue takedowns.

    Two, it shouldn't work the other way. You see, copyright relies upon PERMISSION. So even if I upload a "leaked' video that looks completely pirated to an outsider, if I have permission from the copyright holder, it's legal. Given that the copyright holder is the only one who can reasonably be expected to know who they have and have not given permission to, they are the only reasonable party to do so. If you think this example sounds far-fetched, then you need to go back and read Viacom v. YouTube, because Viacom did exactly this and had to remove "infringing" videos they'd given permission to from the case. Twice. After extensive review by expensive lawyers. If their own lawyers with all that information can't get it right, what hope does a 3rd party have?

    That this burden is unreasonable is of no concern to the rest of us--it's simply not our property, so it's unreasonable to expect the rest of the world to manage it for them.

  16. Re:Google needs to be responsible by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Reread parent, but replace youtube with society and copyright infringment with any type of criminal of your choice.

    I see 1984 problems.

    Captcha: prepare

  17. Re:Google needs to be responsible by rtb61 · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Well of course, infringement is not what it is all about. That is a lie put out by the publishers. The problem is old content competing with new content, they want to bury the old content, so they can charge a premium for new content and of course pay fuck all for that new content, just like the old days. So they attack all over the place and want infinite copyright and infinite patents and the right for corporations to be able to print their own cash when ever they feel like, which is of course what they do via the US Fed, they just want the sole right to do that globally. Everything from them is double speak and lies.

    They don't give a fuck how much you tube makes or how much it pays, they want you tube dead because it keeps to much old content alive and produces way too much new content. For me the most annoying thing about you tube is not being able to block content you have no interest in, and guess who that content is I would most like to block and pretend it doesn't even exist, the lame types like the biebers and taylors of this world, not interested in the PR bullshit marketing. It is high time you tube allowed the rest of us to block content and let's see the reality of who gets the most blocks. Who is really unpopular because blocks are the most accurate measure of all and not likes. Just plain disinterested please do not show me this shit any more on the you tube home page, make it worth while to log in. You bet main stream publishers and the shit content will end up being buried the deepest. We'll be happy and they'll be happy, when their content is buried beyond end user blocks, well, of course they will be extremely unhappy to have their content blocked but, meh, fuck em.

    --
    Chaos - everything, everywhere, everywhen
  18. Re:Google needs to be responsible by 110010001000 · · Score: 0

    Yes, the billions ARE going to Youtube and some to the content holders. I'm not suggested what you said. Read it again.

  19. Re:Google needs to be responsible by 110010001000 · · Score: 0

    Oh yes, the "poor Google" defense. How original.

  20. Copyright blackmailers by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    YouTube says a good thing for a change, even if it is to their own benefit.
    The creators get money, but the labels who want to get money from creators by doing nothing except resting their legs on the table all day are the ones who are mad. They are mad because creators don't want to be part of cancerous and castrating contracts that take away more than 50% of creator revenue for doing nothing except looking formal in a suit and having brand art that they spent a month and 200 people working on with the money gotten from existing contracts of slave ownership over creators.
    Well the times of such shit have ended. Artist independence is now a reality thanks to Internet advancement and integration.
    Fuck off 3rd party distributors, fuck off 3rd party labels, fuck off contractors, fuck off business suits, and fuck your mothers for birthing you.

  21. The media content industry is greedy... by QuietLagoon · · Score: 1, Informative
    ... no matter how much money they receive, they will always want more.

    .

    1. Re:The media content industry is greedy... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      > no matter how much money they receive, they will always want more.

      As are most industries, agencies, people. I remember when webcontent had no ads- then ads created inhouse and coded/placed in tables- then ads served through big business adservers- and now ads injected on top of web pages or tv shows by the ISPs themselves.

      Basically, now that the world has gone 'digital' it sure is easier to proliferate money-grabbing techniques across the entire audience. Us.
      BTW where is my pay raise too!?!

  22. So go on TOUR! Do more GIGS! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Don't expect a hand-out in this world to-day, young man!

    Go out on TOUR! Play more GIGS! Get a REAL job!

  23. Hot? Not. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    The best way to break into songwriting is to start with a hot body, then take guitar and voice lessons. The days of Bacharach and David are long gone.

    Looking at what's on the Billboard top 100 at the moment, this does not seem to be the case. A few of the performers are hot, but not a majority.

    (And I'm not sure about the guitar and voice lessons, either. But that's always what us old guys say-- "This modern music is nothing but noise! Not like the music when I was a kid!")

    1. Re:Hot? Not. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You can never go wrong with music lessons. Auto-tune is not talent.

  24. Must of been nice to have grown up priveleged by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The rest of us, who are more nerd than corporate whore, did not have a vast appreciation for the offerings the music industry presented us over the years. We did not appreciate buying an album that really only had one good song. We did not appreciate the corporate whore selection that was offered by most retailers. But we could put music on blank discs and tapes, we could let our friends borrow our albums, and this is how we were able to get music that didn't suck more often than not. Now we have Youtube, and we love it. We accept being corporate whores in this instance. We do not need to go back to the past.

    1. Re:Must of been nice to have grown up priveleged by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      We did not appreciate buying an album that really only had one good song.

      Of all the many hundreds of albums I have owned, first on vinyl then on CD, the vast majority have very few songs I would consider "bad". Apparently you have really shitty taste when it comes to music, because I have never encountered an album with "only one good song".

    2. Re:Must of been nice to have grown up priveleged by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Sounds more like you are the one with no taste and will listen to whatever is thrown at you.

  25. Re:Google needs to be responsible by swillden · · Score: 2

    Actually no, that IS how it works. It isn't up to the copyright owners to monitor every video sharing site or search through Youtube. It is the responsibility of the site that is providing the service to make sure they arent SERVING copyrighted content they haven't licensed it. That is what the PRO-IP act was for.

    WTF are you smoking? The PRO-IP act did nothing to remove the safe harbor provisions for site owners, which was established in the DMCA. It increased infringement penalties and allowed the DoJ to proactively go after infringers, rather than relying on copyright owners to initiate action, but nowhere did it do anything to require site owners to police content.

    You apparently think site owners should be responsible for policing user-posted content, which is fine for you, but that's not what the law says, and I think the DMCA Safe Harbor provisions are a very good thing myself. Without them, no organization would dare host a site that allowed user-uploaded content. Slashdot might have to shut down, for example, or risk having to police user posts for material from copyrighted books.

    --
    Note to ACs: I usually delete AC replies without reading them. If you want to talk to me, log in.
  26. Re:Google needs to be responsible by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    There is some validity to what you are saying, and many people would agree. While they are at it, they should have to responsibility of removing unwanted videos on people with bad thoughts. Those people who think and look differently should not be allowed on the the platform either. No content should be posted unless it meets certain criteria. Some people call that censorship. We call it keeping the peace by controlling the masses.

  27. Money by internerdj · · Score: 1

    I'm pretty much done purchasing music. There is more entertainment content that I can consume in my lifetime. Getting rid of Youtube or Pandora is going to net them $0 from me as a consumer.

  28. Like when their content producers are dishonest by kriston · · Score: 1

    Yeah, especially when their content producers are dishonest about how they "earn" that money.

    http://www.theverge.com/2016/7...

    --

    Kriston

  29. Re:Google needs to be responsible by tepples · · Score: 2

    Are you claiming that YouTube ought to require each uploader to provide evidence that he owns copyright in the video (or has an appropriate license from its copyright owner) and that it is not an unlawful derivative work? If so, what steps would an uploader need to take to provide this evidence?

    The article states that YouTube already reviews each uploaded video by machine to ensure that it is not an unlawful derivative of a work owned by a user of the "Content ID" staydown system. Are you claiming that YouTube ought to do so by hand as well? If so, and if you were running YouTube, how would you organize and fund such manual review?

  30. Google fights piracy? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Those Somalians better watch out then.

    Ah, you mean Google fights _copying files they don't want to be copied_? Then tell it like it is instead of calling it grandiose names that have little to do with reality.

  31. You're hired. Now what do you do? by tepples · · Score: 1

    That is THEIR problem.

    If YouTube were to spend some of its billions on hiring you to solve the problem, how would you go about it? As soon as you specify a practical method of doing so, it'll become practical for the U.S. Congress to add a staydown clause to the OCILLA (17 USC 512).

  32. Re:Google needs to be responsible by gmack · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Well you know what they say: "Anything is easy if you don't know what you are talking about"

  33. Re:Google needs to be responsible by Gilgaron · · Score: 1

    Did Whipslash personally review your comment for copyrighted content before it was allowed to be posted?

  34. Then let's end the joke by tepples · · Score: 1

    You are wrong.

    To which claims in Tenebrousedge's comment does this apply?

    "Centuries of jurisprudence" is a joke.

    If you present a practical staydown solution, the U.S. Congress and President can wipe out said "joke" with a stroke of a pen. I'm interested to hear it.

  35. Music label will never stop complaining... by GerardAtJob · · Score: 1

    The act of complaining for the movie/music industry is in itself an industry, with """unlimited funds"""...

    --
    I can't call that English ;-)
  36. solution by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    just shut down youtube for a month , then let them start whining they ant making money.....
    all the people listening to it will then go nutz and the issue comes to a proper head about it

  37. Prove that you have permission by tepples · · Score: 1

    You see, copyright relies upon PERMISSION. So even if I upload a "leaked' video that looks completely pirated to an outsider, if I have permission from the copyright holder, it's legal.

    This requires that A. the entity that you claim to be the copyright owner is in fact the copyright owner, and that B. the permission that you claim to exist actually exists. I think 110010001000 is trying to suggest to research some way to represent proof of A and B, and that YouTube and other sites accepting user-uploaded works should have finished this research before accepting even the first upload.

    1. Re:Prove that you have permission by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      > This requires that A. the entity that you claim to be the copyright owner is in fact the copyright owner, and that B. the permission that you claim to exist actually exists.

      Of course, but as pointed out, only the copyright holder has direct knowledge of this.

      > I think 110010001000 is trying to suggest to research some way to represent proof of A and B, and that YouTube and other sites accepting user-uploaded works should have finished this research before accepting even the first upload.

      They have Content ID and that leads to people claiming to own lots of things that are not theirs, e.g. Scripps News taking down all those public domain NASA videos. I don't think you can have reasonable proof because you run into trust issues with whose assertions you can believe, as has been shown by all the problems with Content ID.

    2. Re:Prove that you have permission by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Your hypothetical process fails to account for derivative or composite works, fair use, or (as Xenographic points out) licensed use (tacit or explicit). If your intention is to force content providers to assume infringement unless proven otherwise, you've probably just killed YouTube, even if you don't try to make them liable for infringement. 110010001000 is perhaps dumb enough to suggest content owners kill off a $1B revenue stream but in point of fact, they have a couple billion reasons to keep YouTube operating exactly as it is now. They just want a bigger cut of the revenue.

    3. Re:Prove that you have permission by tepples · · Score: 1

      If your intention is to force content providers to assume infringement unless proven otherwise, you've probably just killed YouTube

      Unless the big labels and TV networks want to kill YouTube and drive those bored by its absence to video sites operated by record labels and TV networks, such as VEVO, Hulu, and CBS All Access.

  38. Re:Google needs to be responsible by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    When road construction and maintenance firms start being responsible for the crime that happens on their roads,
    when car manufacturers start being responsible for the crime being perpetrated with their cars,
    when the HDD manufacturers start being responsible for what their HDDs are being used for,
    and so on and so on,
    that's when your stupid incoherent and unrealistic argument will start being legitimate.
    Till then, your statement has no legitimacy.

  39. YouTube is on demand, unlike radio by tepples · · Score: 1

    There's a big difference. FM radio, Sirius XM radio, and Pandora don't give the user much control over what is played beyond the genre. Spotify and YouTube, on the other hand, are what 17 USC 114 calls "interactive services". An interactive service plays a particular song on demand, which is a much closer substitute for buying a phonorecord* than a radio-style service is. Avoiding the "interactive service" designation is how Pandora can negotiate such lower royalty rates than services like Spotify and YouTube.

    * "Phonorecord" is legalese for a copy of a sound recording. It doesn't mean specifically vinyl.

  40. The content owners are right by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    in this case. No one was paid during youtube's ascension, and divide that money amongst every instance of a video by every single artist and i doubt it's very much. I also very much doubt it was divided equally among everyone represented. This is yet another lame attempt on google's part to cover their asses and deflect attention from their thoroughly unethical business practices, nothing new to see here.

  41. Re:Google needs to be responsible by Jason+Levine · · Score: 1

    It's also about "corporate content" versus "user created content." If users are able to create good enough content by themselves, that might reduce demand for corporate produced content. So if you can find some very minor copyright concern in the user uploaded content (there's 5 seconds of music playing from someone walking by in the background), you can knock these "competitors" offline and push more of your corporate produced content.

    --
    My sci-fi novel, Ghost Thief, is now available from Amazon.com.
  42. WB Games is a red herring here by tepples · · Score: 1

    The article you linked is about undisclosed advertisement-like behavior by WB Games. But this has nothing to do with the record industry. Even Warner Bros. Records has nothing to do with WB Games anymore since Time Warner spun off Warner Music in 2004

  43. Youtube by ADRA · · Score: 2

    They're fighting hard to make content owners look good by not pissing off their audience (and hence content cabal's customers), but over and over, they find a way to spit on YouTube's services.

    Remember when basically everyone pirated music and didn't give a dime to the artists? Well, at least with Youtube, they're getting some compensation. What do they want? More hand jobs and blow?

    --
    Bye!
    1. Re:Youtube by dcollins117 · · Score: 1

      What do they want? More hand jobs and blow?

      My acute senses are alerting me that this may be, in fact, a rhetorical question.

      I've noticed since the economic depression circa 2008 people think it is much more acceptable now to just ask you to give them money. For the small town I live in, there are an extrodinary number of panhandlers*. Their proposal is this: you give me money and I'll do nothing in return. That's a pretty good deal for one of us, but it's not me.

      * That's the euphamism they prefer to be called now too. It's not like they are panning for gold in the mountains of California, they are begging. Rather than face the fact, they have to lie to themselves and insist everybody calls them panhandlers. And society appears to just play along with all this.

    2. Re:Youtube by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Remember when basically everyone pirated music and didn't give a dime to the artists?

      Nope. I remember when I and the other nerdy kids pirated everything, and everyone else went to the record store. Both piracy and legal purchase have gotten easier since then.

    3. Re:Youtube by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Remember when basically everyone pirated music and didn't give a dime to the artists?

      No, I don't remember that, because it never happened. The amount of "piracy" has always been vastly exaggerated by the record companies, as proven by their enormous and constantly increasing revenue. Here's a fun story I came across while looking though some old record industry trade magazines from the early 1980s:

        In 1981, the RIAA commissioned a study they hoped would convince congress that tougher laws were needed to address the problem of piracy. The villain, according to the record industry, was cassette tape decks - people were recording their friends albums instead of buying their own.

      But the story took an unexpected twist and the study was shelved and never pursued any further, because it showed that people who owned cassette tape decks bought 75% more albums than people who didn't.

    4. Re:Youtube by dwywit · · Score: 1

      They want more money. The Copyright Royalties Board decided that streaming royalties would increase, and small broadcasters' offsets would stop, and that's why Live365 closed. I was a subscriber, my favourite stations moved to different services, and I'm not going to pay each of those services to listen to 1 or 2 stations, so the net result is - artists who were getting a little bit of money from my subscription are now getting nothing.

      --
      They sentenced me to twenty years of boredom
  44. The "Problem" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The real "problem" is that the original big media companies are no longer the primary providers of content, and they don't like it. So as with many incumbents who have grown fat and useless from years of lack of real competition and see the "good times" fading they want the government to step in and prop up their business.

  45. Re:Google needs to be responsible by AmiMoJo · · Score: 4, Insightful

    YouTube need to reign in their ContentID system because it's stealing money from the content creators, i.e. the people making the videos. The false positive rate is insane, and the moment it decides a video uses some bit of content all the revenue gets siphoned off and can never be recovered, even when the mistake is corrected.

    Content producers are resorting to deliberately including some copyright material at the end, from a company that doesn't allow commercial use such as Nintendo. Just a few seconds of Mario, say. Then Nintendo flags the video as "no monetization", which blocks all the other arseholes trying to leech off if. Unfortunately it also means that the video owner can't get paid either, so it's a choice between being robbed or working for free.

    --
    const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
    SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
  46. Art is best as a hobby by bradley13 · · Score: 1

    Tell your niece that art makes a great hobby and a lousy profession.

    For 99.99% of the musicians out there, that's reality. There are literally billions of people in the world who play a musical instrument, or sing, or dance. Hundreds of millions who do so competently. Tens of millions good enough to perform publicly. Of those, how many can actually make a living at it? I know far more people who have a garage band, or do the occasional gig for beer money. I think they enjoy it more as well, because there's no pressure to sell, sell, sell - they can do their music for enjoyment.

    Far better to find a career that will actually earn a living, and enjoy your music on the side. If lightning strikes, one can always shift the balance later.

    --
    Enjoy life! This is not a dress rehearsal.
    1. Re:Art is best as a hobby by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Live performers who are very good can still make a decent living, and the multiple venues to easily and economically release recorded music provide a way to them to advertise their craft. In some ways, the smaller artist may have it better these days.

    2. Re:Art is best as a hobby by Trailer+Trash · · Score: 1

      Thanks for the advice. I work on the fringes of the music industry and know plenty of people who make money from it. Few of them "perform". She's very capable and has what it takes, just needs to add "hard work" to what she has. Difficult to say what she'll end up doing.

      I've explained that it's a hard road, but I think she'll be fine.

    3. Re:Art is best as a hobby by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      So SO much this.
      As a secondary income, it is fine.
      As a main, it is stupidly hard and will probably make you hate it unless you are lucky enough to get a good, solid and repeatable gig, or manage to tickle some m/billionaires fancy and they pay top dollar for your silly drawings / words / glass dildos.

      I have a friend who refuses to accept it and she is stuck between sporadic work and welfare, living in a home on her OWN. She is just nuts.
      She is also doing a whole bunch of different creative jobs at that, model making, tattoos, painting, drawing, digital art.
      There are too many people for the Creative industries to be a good solid career, whether it is painting, tattooing, model making, music making or any other sub-industry. I never went in to it for that very reason as well.
      Hell, even programming is too mainstream that it has become a shitty career because there are millions of horribly cheap positions being filled in countries where the cost of living is almost non-existent.
      My Art teachers last words he said to be before a holiday break, during which he actually died, were, "The only reason you get in to art as a career is if you want to teach it or if you are 120% confident you can make it, otherwise don't bother because you will hate it". (maybe Ghost Van Gogh killed him)
      I still hold them close to me.

      I know a few people who are stuck in a horrible life of trying to do creative as a job.
      Only one of them has had the balls to admit that it can't work as a full career especially if you start out as that. (unless, again, extremely lucky)
      He tries to have fun doing art streams of drawing videogame scenes, but it is stressful.
      Luckily his friend might have a part-time position for him, which works well for him. Cost of living isn't massively expensive, but it is still beyond his art income. The part-time will help there. He might finally be able to enjoy his drawing without too much stress.

      I've heard it so many times, and so have others most likely, but it doesn't hurt repeating it: turning a hobby in to a primary career can put stress levels through the roof and more-times-than-not can make you hate said hobby.
      Having a hobby as a side-job is fine, but don't main it for your own sake.
      Just set up an Amazon / Ebay / other-site store and chill. Occasionally shill yourself.

    4. Re:Art is best as a hobby by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I'll add to what that guy said:
      If your niece ever has a chance to convert her hobby into a profession, it is by being scouted/found via YouTube or Veoh (because there's lots of artistic groups there and a higher chance of being "found").
      So have her pursue an actual job and education; while leaving art as a relaxation and a "sleeping hobby" in spare time to be uploaded to YouTube or Veoh from time to time. I think you know what i mean by "sleeping hobby". A hobby until (and if) luck befalls her to get scouted.
      A real job from education is not luck based, it is a guarantee. But art is all about luck. Ergo it must be treated as "prospective" rather than "guaranteed", else the person will lose their mind, and also their best years and both mental and physical health.
      It's always best to balance realism and potential.
      If you have the luck to be scouted, then all's great. If you don't have the luck, at least you have a job and a life due to intelligent prioritization.

  47. Greed will never be silent, nor reasonable. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Fuck the music industry.

  48. Re:Google needs to be responsible by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The Internet is first and foremost a communication medium, not a monetary medium. It can be used for monetary purposes, but that is not its main purpose, never has been, never will be.
    What you are suggesting is to break the definition of the Internet, to undermine its structure, and to basically destroy it. There doesn't exist a company that can support the surveillance and management you are suggesting, the staff required for it, nor will there ever be a software and hardware capable of regulating it due to the massive cost of such software and hardware, and the massive false positives impact on independent creators who are frankly a far bigger quantity than your labels, and thus a far greater political influence. You can observe the recent YouTuber conglomeration and the influence it had against copyright shenanigans and in regards to fair use. That is only the tip of the ice berg.
    I hope this realization breaks your shortsightedness with the bigger picture, because what you are saying is unrealistic and very dangerous. And this is coming from someone who dislikes Google as a company very much.

  49. Re:Google needs to be responsible by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Youtube has been annoying about the automatic revenue transfer away from small publishers too. I recently had my Youtube revenue transferred to a big recording label. The offending music in my video was one of Youtube's own royalty free music tracks. In addition, the link to file a complaint was broken, so I simply removed the audio and the situation

  50. Re:Google needs to be responsible by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Unfortunately it also means that the video owner can't get paid either, so it's a choice between being robbed or working for free.

    How much is YouTube charging you to upload your videos? Oh, that's right, NOTHING.

    I don't like a lot of what YouTube/Google does, but they are under no obligation to provide you with a free platform so you can make money. Just don't put your videos on YouTube. Problem solved.

  51. Re:Google needs to be responsible by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I've got 1984 problems but big brother ain't doubleplus ungood.

  52. Poor Taylor Swift by Bender+Unit+22 · · Score: 2

    So she is getting a raw deal from YouTube, causing her to miss hitting the mark of earning 1 million dollar a day.
    She has also turned feminist because she believes that, as a woman, she has been held back in her career.

    Fuck off. :D

  53. Re:Google needs to be responsible by kelemvor4 · · Score: 2

    Google just trained 2 millions Indians.

    1. They just announced the program. Training has not yet started.
    2. They are training these guys in android development, not hiring and training them to manage youtube content.

  54. Re:So go on TOUR! Do more GIGS! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    or you could keep up and adopt with the times, be more responsible with your finances, and realize the fickle nature of the industry you "love" to work in so much.

  55. Re:Google needs to be responsible by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    "They are making billions"

    They have REVENUE in the billions but by all accounts they make little to no profit. It takes a lot of hardware and bandwidth to keep Youtube afloat. And as others have noted many content companies can't reliably flag offending content (often catching massive amounts of fair use, completely unrelated and even content owned by the people they file takedowns against). Tie that with the constantly changing, vagueness and contravening nature of many laws and you might as well be a computer program given an impossible question (which is more correct; 5-2=4 or 3+3=5).

    http://www.wsj.com/articles/viewers-dont-add-up-to-profit-for-youtube-1424897967

  56. Maybe if these labels let you download music... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    You can only find some music via YouTube. There is a lot of music that is not available via download nor streaming and I have tried many offerings including Apple iTunes, Google Play, Rhapsody, and others. Maybe if these labels allowed the music to be streamed or downloaded, I would BUY it. So, blame this bull feces on the music labels/distribtors/artists themselves. Yep, some artists have said no to downloading music or streaming and you wonder why that music has a lot of pirating. Allow me to buy the music and I will buy it. These music lables/artists should just stop whining. It is getting old. They should just get with how the modern music is done these days - streamed or downloaded - not via CDs or records or 8-tracks or cassette tapes...

  57. Re:Google needs to be responsible by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Taste great, less filling.

  58. Re:Google needs to be responsible by codeButcher · · Score: 1

    Google just trained 2 millions Indians.

    I'd say they also need to train a few chiefs then...

    --
    Free, as in your money being freed from the confines of your account.
  59. Re:Google needs to be responsible by mschwanke97402 · · Score: 1

    People always say "Well Google can't monitor EVERYTHING on youtube! There are too many videos to find all the infringing ones!" Well guess what: that isn't the copyright holders problem. If your business model is such that you can't monitor everything, then YOU NEED TO FIX your business model. Spend some of those billions in cash and hire 50,000 people to monitor video submissions. It can be done, but Google just wants the cash with minimal expenditure.

    EXCUUUUUSE ME!! But isn't that what being a disruptive force in the market is all about, ignoring the rules, regulations, laws, etc. through automation? Hire 50,000 people? That is SOOOO last century!!!

  60. "Training" India's 31 chiefs by tepples · · Score: 1

    Is "training" India's 31 state and territorial chiefs the new politically correct code word for lobbying?

  61. Re:Google needs to be responsible by mschwanke97402 · · Score: 1

    ACtually, no, that's not how copyright works at all. The copyright OWNER is responsible for finding and reporting infringement, the service provider needs to provide some means for the content owner to report and request a take down. Youtube automatically scans content, flags are copyrighted, then layers ads on it sending the revenue to the content owner, or outright removes the video. Every single asshat "musician" complaining about youtube is doing so because they are attempting to launch their own service and it sucks.

    Yahh, no. Courts have already spoken in other cases about this. When you are operating a whack-a-mole operation pretending to observe DMCA requirements, all the while knowing you have copyrighted material on your service, in fact depending on that material for your profits, then it is your (the service provider) responsibility.

    That Google hasn't been hit harder over their YouTube operation is in large part because they have the money for a lot of lawyers.

  62. Current law or changing the law? by tepples · · Score: 1

    If your business model is such that you can't monitor everything, then YOU NEED TO FIX your business model.

    Just to be absolutely clear: Are you referring to requirements under current copyright law, or are you suggesting changing the law? If the former, then what invalidates YouTube's defense under OCILLA (17 USC 512)? Citation please.

  63. People like redistribution of wealth by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    When they can YouTube it from their own backyard. Robin Hood was a socialist, so was Jesus. Get with the program you tards.

  64. Re:Google needs to be responsible by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    You're a fucking moron.

  65. Re:Google needs to be responsible by Joe_Dragon · · Score: 1

    For the most part the state owns the roads and sub's out the construction and maintenance (some times with kick backs). Any ways it's like saying that the sate is responsible for the crime that happens when there is no cop there to stop it.

  66. Re:Google needs to be responsible by PCM2 · · Score: 3, Informative

    Are you claiming that YouTube ought to require each uploader to provide evidence that he owns copyright in the video (or has an appropriate license from its copyright owner) and that it is not an unlawful derivative work? If so, what steps would an uploader need to take to provide this evidence?

    The short answer, for those who don't understand how copyright works, is that it would be literally impossible for Google to require such evidence, because in most cases there isn't any. Copyright is automatic. For you to own the copyright on your own creative works, you are required to do literally nothing.

    --
    Breakfast served all day!
  67. Re:Google needs to be responsible by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Finally a comment where you're not completely bent out of shape.

    What the hell is your problem? If you're angry now, wait until your R team finishes self-destructing. It's as if they're trying to lose the presidency and the house and the senate. And it's a fucking shame. Why self destruct like that? For what? So cops can keep murdering blacks? Because you're so afraid of the bathroom rapist? So that gays can't file head of household status on their taxes? I don't recognize the R team any more. If the demise of the R team is what you're so worked up about, you need to take a step back and seriously reconsider your priorities.

    I don't vote D team, but you right wing authoritarians have gone full retard as of late. Seriously, what is the fucking deal with you authoritarians lately? Why the fuck don't you just move to North Korea already? You'd be a lot happier there.

  68. Re:Google needs to be responsible by lgw · · Score: 1

    Google has at least made some minimal progress towards making the system less abusive to content creators. From what I hear, you can actually get your money back if you counterclaim successfully.

    What Google needs to add is a more automated system for movie and game reviewers to counterclaim. Being a reviewer isn't a "get out of copyright free" card, and it's not like YouTube can ignore the claims, but they can make it easy for e.g. a movie reviewer to counterclaim fair use by checking a couple of boxes.

    What we as a nation can do is fix copyright law for YouTube-style derivative works. Some sort of mandatory FRAND licensing to protect everything from people uploading "lyrics on screen" song videos, to internet radio stations. Keep the licensing costs legally to a point where the artists gets the ad revenue, but that's it, no takedowns, and public radio stations can reasonably afford the licenses they need for an internet "station".

    --
    Socialism: a lie told by totalitarians and believed by fools.
  69. Re:Google needs to be responsible by BarbaraHudson · · Score: 1

    Every time google redistributes material without having a license from the copyright holder, they are violating copyright. Doesn't matter who uploaded it (they are in the same boat, but not nearly as much as google in terms of the number of infringements).

    Register the work (video, book, other creative work) and you are allowed to sue for up to $150,000 per individual infringement. No need to give notice, same as the RIAA doesn't have to give anyone a notice before suing them. The DMCA notice and notice provisions are about removing infringing material - the lawsuits are about money. I'd rather have the money.

    --
    "Transparent" is a shit show that trades on every stereotype going. A man in drag is NOT a transsexual.
  70. Re:Google needs to be responsible by BarbaraHudson · · Score: 1

    And before everyone screams about the safe harbour provisions in the DMCA, 95.6% of the world's population isn't governed bu US law.

    --
    "Transparent" is a shit show that trades on every stereotype going. A man in drag is NOT a transsexual.
  71. Re:Google needs to be responsible by BarbaraHudson · · Score: 1

    Do you think that Google operates youtube as a charity? They knew about the copyright problems before they bought it, and figured "screw it - we're big enough to get away with it." Sort of how banks are too big to fail.

    If they can't get a valid license to redistribute, then they shouldn't do it. Same as the Pirate Bay, MegaUpload, etc.

    --
    "Transparent" is a shit show that trades on every stereotype going. A man in drag is NOT a transsexual.
  72. Re:Google needs to be responsible by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    If your business model is such that you can't monitor everything, then YOU NEED TO FIX your business model.

    Spoken like someone who truly believes the content industry's demands should dictate everyone's rights, and that Big Brother should see to it that those rights are upheld, and too bad for anyone else. Never mind that this makes things like YouTube, with its sheer mass of footage uploaded every second, virtually unviable. And never mind that things like YouTube might be more valuable, both objectively and subjectively, than the content industry's feelings and profit margins.

    I wonder at what point people will say "enough is enough" and stop allowing the content industry to attack virtually everything they deem slightly injurious to their profits, most of which don't even make it to the actual creators anyway. As-is, copyright is already causing more trouble than it's worth - even economically, fair use profits are greater than those brought in by copyright, and that says nothing of the value of freedom of speech, innovation that is hobbled by over-protection, and the cultural aspects by being able to actually use copyrighted material as it was designed in the Constitution, e.g. a time-limited monopoly with "time" being a relatively short period as opposed to this "80+ years after the last author dies" crap. And most certainly not dictated by the lifetime of the author, as copyright was never intended to allow people to begin rent-taking from it. Copyright was intended as a deliberate, temporary lien on the people's rights to encourage works to be developed, not a title to a pile of words, pictures or videos onto the end of time, or at least long after anyone who cares are nothing but a pile of rotten bones.

    Piracy is a direct result of this gross overreach. While some complain of content being "stolen," few realize that the content providers are pretty much thieves themselves, both from the creators and the general public. The middle-men - the publishing and distribution companies - will do everything in their power to force their business model down society's throat.

    So. Fuck that. You want everything monitored? Go to Russia, they're implementing just that.

  73. Material that has been used unlawfully by tepples · · Score: 1

    For you to own the copyright on your own creative works, you are required to do literally nothing.

    This is true except in one case: "protection for a work employing preexisting material in which copyright subsists does not extend to any part of the work in which such material has been used unlawfully." (17 USC 103(a)) When George Harrison wrote the song "My Sweet Lord", he unwittingly "used unlawfully" a portion of the song "He's So Fine" written by Ronald Mack and lost a million dollar lawsuit over it. Another way in which a work can be accidentally "used unlawfully" is a claim of fair use pursuant to section 107 that a copyright owner disputes, such as the Harry Potter Lexicon case.

  74. And how much money did Google make? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    how much money did Google make hosting copyrighted content they have no copyright to host?

    I can't wait until Youtube is shut down. Anyone else running this scheme would have long ago been put in jail.

  75. Re:Google needs to be responsible by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    It would have sufficed to say:
    "Fixing the business model to monitor everything is only possible with a maintenance cost that would render the business bankrupt and the Internet infrastructure overloaded by the required running software."
    After which you add:
    "The only realistic way to achieve your copyright regulation requirements is to outright ban video file uploading and sound file uploading on the Internet for good; which would not only cripple the Internet, but also attract massive ire from freedom of speech movements, independent artists and creators and their respective organizations and collectives, various political parties and ideological spectrums, and pretty much all of society that holds even the tiniest bit of disdain towards the corporate world including moderates."

    In which case you prove that the user "110010001000" is narrow-minded, shortsighted, anything but educated in how business works or even how tech works, completely clueless about society and human nature, and just a complete baboon.

  76. Re:Google needs to be responsible by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Here is the issue. How should revenue be apportioned among the creators, distributors, marketers, etc of copyrighted artistic works? Calling names e.g. "stealing"
    is juvenile and does not lead to reasonable discussions..

  77. But of course by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    This is only $1 billion. It is less than All The Monies. Therefore, by RIAA/MPAA standards, that is not enough.

  78. Re:Google needs to be responsible by Altrag · · Score: 1

    In the same sense that 95.6% of the world isn't under the finger of the RIAA either though. Someone in Argentina posting a Taylor Swift video to Youtube will have it taken down under a DMCA claim just as fast as someone in the US will. Because Youtube is governed by DMCA law and has to deal with the RIAA.

    And its already enough of a hassle trying to deal with takedowns without trying to do it by geolocation (which would then require geolocking which would then turn into Netflix-style VPN blocking attempts and so on.. and having to properly deal with individual country's copyright laws rather than just going for the lowest common denominator of removing anything anyone anywhere files a complaint about.)

    If you can find a streaming service hosted in and limited to a country not subjected to US copyright law, or at least not bothering to enforce it then I'm sure you'll be able to find all the TS videos you can stomach. But Youtube sure doesn't fit that bill.

  79. Re:Google needs to be responsible by Altrag · · Score: 2

    I agree with your premise but the issue is scale. The reason Content ID exists is because Youtube can't possibly manually review everything. Unfortunately the reverse is also true -- they can't possibly manually review every single counterclaim either if they made the counterclaim process easy enough that everyone Content ID screws can potentially counterclaim.

    I don't really have a solution (and I'm sure the people at Google trying to find a solution are much better suited to the job than I am, and they still haven't found one either.) Its absolutely not in Google's best interest to be taking down valid content -- it makes them look bad and also reduces their own revenue stream a bit -- so its not like Google is teaming up with the RIAA here to screw the little guy.

    Google is, I'm reasonably sure, doing everything in their power to make the situation as positive as possible for everyone but unfortunately if they don't make a profit, all videos will be taken down (because Youtube won't exist) so doing something like hiring 10,000 reviewers to try and keep up with manual workload isn't really possible and we're stuck in a situation where all they can do is try to tweak the automated systems in hopes of getting incremental improvements.

    Also, for everyone who continually complains about false negatives -- there's also a right boatload of false positives. You can find practically anything on there if you hit the right search terms (especially if that "anything" is more than a couple years old) and it often remains available for weeks or months before it gets taken down -- and there's usually a replacement or 3 just another search away.

    I'm not saying either of those failure modes is a good thing, but ignoring half the problem just because it benefits you isn't really helping anything and makes you sound just as far off from reality as the RIAA lobbyists -- and they're at least getting paid to ignore reality in their rants.

  80. YouTube by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    "YouTube". The name is "YouTube". It's not that hard to copy and paste it from, I don't know, something like a billion sources?

  81. Re:Google needs to be responsible by Altrag · · Score: 1

    No it won't. Especially in the realm of music, there's thousands of great musicians out there. The problem is that nobody's ever heard of them.

    The music "industry" isn't about making music so much as its about advertising music -- expensive music videos and massive stage shows and radio time and whatever else. Very little of that is available to your average garage band no matter how good their music happens to be.

    Movies and video games are a different story because they legitimately require big budgets for actors/programmers/special effects/etc if you want to compete on the AAA scale. You have to have an amazing story or gameplay (Minecraft!) in order to compensate for the lack of everything else since very few people have $10-100mill just sitting around waiting to dump into their pet project.

    But music doesn't have those limitations -- anyone creative enough with a decent voice and instrument skills can put together an album just as good as major studios for at most a few thousand dollars, and frequently much less if you use a lot of synthesized sounds (less studio time required) and are happy to go with purely digital distribution (save on the cost of physical discs, covers, etc.)

    But then they have to figure out how to get people to notice them and that's where the big money gets spent for the most part -- big money your average garage band probably doesn't have. The internet and digital distribution has certainly made it easier but its still hard to compete against songs that are continuously played on the radio and artists that are being paraded around on TV and written about in magazines and newspapers all the time.

  82. Who cares? Adblock all their shit and download it by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    YouTube and Google are the same US government spy shop run global.

  83. Not the same by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    ... allowed content owners to generate $1 billion in the last year ...

    "Content owners" aren't the same as writers and sometimes, not even the artists. Some years ago, YouTube revealed that many of the clips marked as infringing, are provided by the "content owners" themselves. Let's not forget that YouTube helps those "content owners" to commit fraud but is now being savaged by the very criminals they protected. I hope this is poetic justice; and it reveals what a legal quagmire copyright licensing has become.

  84. Re:Google needs to be responsible by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I don't like a lot of what YouTube/Google does, but they are under no obligation to provide you with a free platform so you can make money.

    Not an obligation, no, but given that YT's only source of revenue is ads on videos that people upload (for free) they'd be mad to charge people for it.

  85. It would be just so great, by jenningsthecat · · Score: 2

    if YouTube simply shut down for a week. Just one week. I rather suspect the drop in sales would have those music "industry" fuckers screaming like stuck pigs. Then maybe they'd just STFU about how YouTube is destroying their profitability. In a year or so they'd start bitching again. Lather, rinse, repeat. After a few wash cycles maybe they'd even catch on.

    --
    'The Economy' is a giant Ponzi scheme whose most pitiable suckers are the youngest among us and the yet-unborn.
  86. Re:Google needs to be responsible by rtb61 · · Score: 1

    It's youtube, if you everyone starts blocking undesirable content the hidden content will start to peek out and spread, should people decide to spread it via, word of video. It's not fast but once end users have much better control of the content that floods their home space, those garage bands will come through, being able to block crap your not interested will clear the fog of content and new light will shine through. The little guy and gal, getting a chance to break through is all about people being able to block corporate content they are sick of, all the shitty recommended corporate videos who pay to flood your personal space with their shit, seriously, fuck you youtube for not allowing blocking of content people are not interested to sell more commercials, arseholes.

    --
    Chaos - everything, everywhere, everywhen
  87. Re:Google needs to be responsible by radarskiy · · Score: 2

    "The reason Content ID exists is because Youtube can't possibly manually review everything."

    It's not YouTube's job to review *anything*. The DMCA obligates them to take down content when they get a claim, and to put the content back up when their is a counter claim. That's it. The Content ID system actually works outside of any legal requirement.

  88. after it's sliced a million ways by DarthVain · · Score: 1

    Actually that sounds like the issue. Too many hands in the pot. Too many middlemen. However writers and artists allow this to happen for their own profit (or not). Change your business model if it isn't working for you.

    The times they are a changin'! (They would probably want royalty for just using that quote) They have been changing for some time now. Trying to use legal machination as your only method of prolonging your business model is not going to work forever.

  89. Re:Google needs to be responsible by Altrag · · Score: 1

    They would have to review the claims. Content ID is a measure to help avoid being directly sent 150,000 claims every day by (attempting to) beat the claimants to the punch.

    Is it "fair"? Of course not. But its essentially necessary to do this in an automated way at some level. You could argue that it should be the content owners that write some equivalent of Content ID but then Google is stuck in a position where:
    a) They're getting dozens of individual formats from each owner's system which is a pain in itself and would still require automation due to the scale of the issue, and

    b) Without any neutral control over Content ID, you can guarantee that the false positives would be orders of magnitude more than what they currently are. In this case, Google's of course not entirely a "neutral" party but they're about as close as you could get to one because they're the only ones in a position to balance the two sides -- they get extra revenue when videos are NOT taken down but they also have to remain within the law.

    So yes, you're right in that Content ID isn't required by law specifically any more than its a requirement that a takedown be implemented by "rm" instead of "delete" (or more likely some proprietary command since I doubt they use a standard ext2 or NTFS file system!)

    Its just a tool to assist in doing the job and any alternative you can propose would be just some other tool for doing the same job, and it would necessarily also be automated with all of the same (if not worse) failings as Content ID due to the scale of the issue.

  90. Re:Google needs to be responsible by Altrag · · Score: 1

    That's all fine and good except the majority of people are NOT sick of the "corporate" content. If they were, they'd have already stopped buying it and the content would change.

    The RIAA and friends might fight tooth and nail against changing their business model, but they've got no qualms about changing the style of musicians they hire as tastes change -- that's already part of the business model and has happened dozens of times over the years.

    "Popular" music is called that for a reason. That doesn't imply that its "good" music (and 99% of pop songs are generally forgotten about a few weeks or even days after they stop getting airtime.)

    But it does mean that the probability of everyone (or even a significant minority) arbitrarily starting to block it is unfathomably small even if Youtube allowed it.

    Heck, sites like Facebook and Twitter already essentially provide what you describe -- a way to receive word of mouth about things from the friends you care to pay attention to and can block/ignore anything you aren't interested in. Yet somehow, the music revolution still hasn't happened and we all still listen to boxed boy bands like we have basically since radio became widespread.

  91. Re:Google needs to be responsible by BarbaraHudson · · Score: 1

    Who says they have to post it to youtube? Besides, my point, which you ignore, is that the DMCA is not a get out of jail card for distributing other people's copyright materials. Especially since google has a presence in many countries where the DMCA means shit, but copyright law is still the law.

    --
    "Transparent" is a shit show that trades on every stereotype going. A man in drag is NOT a transsexual.
  92. public negotiations are hillarious by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    two opposite camps each trying to figure out how to make more money by any means possible in a sustainable way.

    hilarity ensues.

  93. Re:Google needs to be responsible by radarskiy · · Score: 1

    "They would have to review the claims."

    The DMCA specifically forbids them from reviewing DMCA claims. They are expected to operate form the presumption that any claims and counterclaims are valid

  94. Don't mess with Hollywood by MichaelJackson123 · · Score: 1

    The powerful media companies in Hollywood have shown great results earlier. For instance, the White House threatened Russia trading with raised toll fees, unless Russia shut down an illegal MP3 site. Which Russia did. In Sweden the PirateBay was attacked by the government, in fact there are wikileaks diplomat mails proving this (site in swedish http://falkvinge.net/2010/12/2... ) that every new swedish law/investigation about "fighting terrorists" was in fact, commanded by the powerful media industry in Hollywood. For instance, Taylor Swift left Spotify, because she didnt earn any money. But Spotify said they paid millions to her. But her media company took the lion share and gave her tiny fraction so she left Spotify. In response, Spofity declared they pay 70% of all money they receive, to the media companies in Hollywood. And if the artists dont earn anything, it is not Spotify's fault. The media companies take everything. In fact, Spotify hardly earns any money because they pay so much to Hollywood. Thus, Google telling Hollywood that they earned 1 billion is chicken shit. They want more. Much more. They want 70% of what Google earns - just like Spotify. They will not be content with 1 billion.