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EU Sides With RIAA, Says YouTube Underpays For Music Streaming (mercurynews.com)
Profits from both CD sales and digital downloads are declining, while online streaming now accounts for the majority of the $7.7 billion U.S. music market, according to a new article. And the music industry's newest complaint is that 25% of music streaming is happening on YouTube, which they believe is paying them too little. An anonymous reader quotes the San Jose Mercury News:
Now, the battle is heating up as the European Union is expected to release new rules later this year for how services such as YouTube handle music, potentially upending some of the copyright protections that undergird the Internet... The E.U. has formally recognized that there is a "value gap" between song royalties and what user-upload services such as YouTube earn from selling ads while playing music... How such a law would address the gap is still being decided, but the E.U. has indicated it plans to focus on ensuring copyright holders are "properly remunerated." Even the value gap's existence is disputed.
A recent economic study commissioned by YouTube found no value gap -- in fact, the report said YouTube promotes the music industry, and if YouTube stopped playing music, 85 percent of users would flock to services that offered lower or no royalties. A different study by an independent consulting group pegged the YouTube value gap at more than $650 million in the United States alone. "YouTube is viewed as a giant obstacle in the path to success for the streaming marketplace," said Mitch Glazier, president of the Recording Industry Association of America... YouTube pays an estimated $1 per 1,000 plays on average, while Spotify and Apple music pay a rate closer to $7... The music industry claims YouTube has avoided paying a fair-market rate by hiding behind broad legal protections. In the United States, that's the "safe harbor" provision, which essentially says YouTube is not to blame if someone uploads a copy-protected song -- unless the copyright holder complains.
YouTube argues that its automatic Content ID system recognizes 98% of all copyright-infringing uploads -- and that each year they're already paying the music industry $1 billion in royalties.
A recent economic study commissioned by YouTube found no value gap -- in fact, the report said YouTube promotes the music industry, and if YouTube stopped playing music, 85 percent of users would flock to services that offered lower or no royalties. A different study by an independent consulting group pegged the YouTube value gap at more than $650 million in the United States alone. "YouTube is viewed as a giant obstacle in the path to success for the streaming marketplace," said Mitch Glazier, president of the Recording Industry Association of America... YouTube pays an estimated $1 per 1,000 plays on average, while Spotify and Apple music pay a rate closer to $7... The music industry claims YouTube has avoided paying a fair-market rate by hiding behind broad legal protections. In the United States, that's the "safe harbor" provision, which essentially says YouTube is not to blame if someone uploads a copy-protected song -- unless the copyright holder complains.
YouTube argues that its automatic Content ID system recognizes 98% of all copyright-infringing uploads -- and that each year they're already paying the music industry $1 billion in royalties.
But it's not copyright infrimgement. It's paying agreed charges when the charges weren't well thought out by RIAA when they were set before YouTube was conceived. There is no piracy/infringement happening, just a unilateral change to terms of a contract because the RIAA wants more money.
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I usually like the stance against huge monopolies like Google and Microsoft that EU goes for, but not when it's in support of asshole troll associations like MPAA and RIAA.
Honestly, I want to see YouTube just outright removing all music videos licensed under big labels that lobby under RIAA just to see what would happen. They'll never do it, and RIAA will keep whinning and begging for more money (occasionally using artists to do it) 'till the end of times, but I'd want to see that happens just so that these associations take another shot in the foot like the multiple ones they already did.
It's quite obvious what happens when labels decide to take their content out of hugely popular platforms to put into stuff like Tidal and other crap like that. You already tried those, you lost it.
Honestly, from a cold perspective, here's what happens: everyone that's not willing to pay for a streaming service subscription or doesn't have money to keep paying directly for digital music goes to YouTube, plain and simple. The idea that a majority of people who goes to YouTube would migrate to paid streaming services or outright buying digital music is as ridiculous as saying that every pirated music would automatically translate to CD or digital music sales in the past. It doesn't. We all know that, despite the likes of RIAA and MPAA repeating this mantra to death.
YouTube won't pay more for those views because it would disrupt business for them with advertisers, they can't keep business afloat with something like this because they have multiple times more views in comparison to paid subscription music streaming services, and the music industry also cannot give away such a lucrative stream of revenue.
It's all kinda bullshit anyways. YouTube has contracts with major music labels. This isn't some sort of charity or fine that YouTube pay for them. Music labels signed deals with YouTube to get that revenue. If YouTube doesn't have a contract with a specific label that has music on YouTube, the video gets flagged and taken down by the overzealous automatic DMCA bot. So the licensed music that is on YouTube is there because there is a signed contract agreement on both sides stating that 1 buck every 1000 plays is the deal. And it's far better than what most people creating content on YouTube gets. It's far better than what creators making content exclusively for YouTube that is not only music but also video gets.
You can't compare YouTube with streaming services as if the model of business was the same. It's like saying that TV stations should pay the same as Cable TV which should pay the same as movie theaters for content. They don't. They all have different contracts that will stipulate payment based on how each media makes money, which in turn is directly related to target audience and revenue stream.
The comparison that needs to be made is what music labels get on YouTube versus what all the rest do. Music labels have a far better deal. If I had a buck for every 1000 views on my videos, even though I have almost nothing published, I'd still be making a living from almost nothing. The RIAA is complaining about having an incredible deal effortlessly. If they really think the whole thing is unfair, cancel your contracts and tell YouTube to remove all their intellectual properties from the website. They don't do it because they don't want to lose the revenue. And if they were so sure that people would migrate to other music streaming services, they would have done it already.
One of the paradoxically interesting flameouts. The observation that nobody is attacking the EU, when the US would be vilified, is rather insightful on the surface.
Criticism is usually funneled to a US political body or a Corporation on slashdot. I can see how it might be a disturbing pattern to non-US readers. This is probably because the EU (as a whole) is too unfamiliar and fragmented to make casual connections, for the majority of readers. When talking about the US or US Corporations (although you sometimes see a random Monsanto or Alibaba, etc), there are existing insiders, an accessible history, and strong pre-existing viewpoints. Visitors want to read about and discuss topics they are able to relate to and reason about.
Beyond the blame, I think there's obvious self-injected bias of the poster. The focus on bigotry/pro-white? male-centric views is apt, if you analyze posts in a cursory way. Every /. reader, I know IRL, fits that stereotype so our views will often be framed from that perspective. From the first time I visited /. the bias toward a specific sexuality (specifically straight), was something that was refreshingly absent. I feel like that's just something the poster wants to be true.
Nothing is wrong with being frustrated by the state of /.
I don't think there's anything to gain from trying to SJW the site into some equity of content.
You're free to leave and find a subreddit you like better.
That's just my .02
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Isn't there a European record industry association, or a consortium of national associations that would be better placed here?