Wednesday, June 25, 2014

Everyone Calm Down. YouTube Is NOT Going To Remove Music Videos

If Youtube continues this, I expect someone will create a site that will take it's place in popularity.

http://www.digitalmusicnews.com/permalink/2014/06/17/youtube-not-going-remove-music-videos

Tuesday, June 17, 2014
by Ari Herstand

Everyone got it wrong. The Financial Times, The Guardian, MusicWeek, The Verge, Bob Lefsetz , The Daily Digest, and, yes, Digital Music News (sorry Paul).

It just goes to show, that a sensationalist headline is too good to pass up. And yes, if YouTube was going to rip down every video containing music that was not signed up to their new Spotify-esque music streaming service, then that WOULD be HUGE news. As it was today.

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You really think that every video that contains music is going to be ripped down if that song has not been submitted to YouTube’s new music streaming service? That would be a nightmare for YouTube. With lots of room for error.

In addition to the indie labels holding out, some artists have direct deals with iTunes and distribute their music there and to NO OTHER retailer. Not Spotify. Not Amazon. Not Beats. Just iTunes. But they have tons of music videos on YouTube. There is no way YouTube will remove these artists’ videos for lack of a distribution deal.

**Update 6/18/14 9:52am – There are millions and millions of videos uploaded by 14 year olds in their bedrooms around the world singing songs they just wrote. Or cover songs they did not obtain the license for. They have not distributed these songs to YouTube Music, iTunes, Spotify or anywhere else. You think YouTube is just going to start banning these users? Ripping down millions of videos from kids? From artists who don’t know better?

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A source very familiar with YouTube Music’s streaming partner agreement, who would like to remain anonymous, told us today:

“With the surrounding text (and other things I’ve read including the partner agreement) I take it to say “We’re blocking videos [from monetization].” When they say “platform” they mean content ID. Saying they’re blocking videos from YouTube doesn’t make any logical sense to YouTube as a platform. One thing I’ve noticed from working with them is they tend to use a lot of insider language when trying to communicate with the masses. It’s very confusing.”

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So, monetization will be shut down from videos that contain music that has not been submitted to YouTube’s music streaming service.
It’s well documented that YouTube’s proposed royalty rate for independent labels and musicians on its pending music streaming service is horribly unbalanced. Independent music licensing company Merlin’s CEO, Charles Caldas, mentioned at the AIM Music Connected conference in London on April 30th:

“The ironic thing is that the service that pays the least is the service that’s the most well funded and run by the biggest company in the world: their figures are by far the worst, whether you measure them on a per-stream basis or a per-user basis.”

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YouTube has refused to negotiate with independent labels and is going to pay them a horrible rate. What happened to “don’t be evil?”

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