YouTube Kills Fair Use, Mutes Audio
Apparently YouTube has decided to ignore the whole “fair use” thing. You know, the law whereby you are allowed limited use of copyrighted material without requiring permission from the rights holders, such as use for scholarship or review. Fair use also allows for copyrighted materials to be used in spoofs, parodies, etc.
Many YouTube users create an original video using their favorite song as the audio in the background. They won’t be able to do that any more, since YouTube has started muting any videos that use unauthorized copyrighted music. You will see a message at the bottom of the video that says “Notice This video contains an audio track that has not been authorized by all copyright holders. The audio has been disabled. More about copyright”
You can see examples here, here and here.
Now does background music mixed into a video constitute “fair use” or copyright infringement? That’s a good question. Certainly, someone could strip the audio from the YouTube video and then upload to their MP3 player. Why they would do that is beyond me since the audio bitrate on YouTube isn’t that great and often times the music is overlaid on top of people’s voices speaking on the video.
But how far does this go? What if I capture a home video with my CD player playing music in the background with my 2.5 year old daughter dancing to it? Will YouTube “silence” the audio leaving my daughter dancing in eerie silence?
I think copyright holders need to get a grip in the digital age. Besides, people don’t go to YouTube to listen to music for free. They go for the fun & entertaining videos. By removing the YouTube user’s artistic license and replacing it with silence I feel as though my 1st Amendment right to “freedom of speech” has been silenced. Where’s the ACLU when you need them?
via Mashable
Tags: audio, copyright, copyright infringement, fair use, mashable, mute, videos, youtube
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Comments on this Entry:
(KerryJ on
Jan 15, 2009 9:36 PM)
I disagree that YouTube is “killing” fair use.
Does background music mixed into a video constitute “fair use” or copyright infringement?
Use of copyrighted music to create your own music video with is NOT fair use — even if you don’t do it for profit.
Re-mixes that use copyright material without permission are violating copyright if they are not used in accordance with the license or fair use.
The answer?
Video producers need to educate themselves. Not sure if the music in the background of a video will violate copyright? Research the answer.
Use Creative Commons music http://creativecommons.org/ and make sure to provide the appropriate attributions.
Get permission if you want to use copyrighted works and make sure you know how to state why you think you have a right to use those works.
Just saying you know it’s copyright but are using it anyway is not good enough.
If an artist is cluey, they’ll ensure that their record label allows fans to make their own music videos – I agree with you there.
But these cluey artists need to license their works accordingly so that people aren’t confused about what they can and cannot do with them.
These are issues that educators are wrangling with because in the near future, it’s hoped that every learner will have a digital portfolio of work that will last a lifetime.
(undead on
Jan 16, 2009 9:37 AM)
What happened to innocent AMVs and lip syncing videos?
People ( like KerryJ ) are being way too serious about it.
For example, my 4 year-old brother was on the official Hotwheels site watching videos entered in by toddlers for a contest to have their name put on a Hotwheels car. Of course, they’d put music on their videos.
The winner made a music video of their Hotwheel cars. You could tell this kid was around 6 years-old and had his parents or older siblings help out with the video.
Obviously, he didn’t have rights to the music he used in his video.
But it was a contest to have your name put on a Hotwheels car.
Saying people are unfairly stealing music like filthy, immoral criminals is outrageous.
(Christina on
Jan 16, 2009 11:30 PM)
How does one go about doing that, KerryJ?
(james on
Jan 17, 2009 2:21 PM)
I agree with “undead”.
I have a friend who was lip syncing to the song “Kiss Me” by Sixpence None The Richer. The video portion was completely hers, but the audio was the song “Kiss Me”. The video was up there for years and became very popular. One day she logged into youtube and had a email saying the video infringed on copyrights and had been immediately removed. She was really hurt.
(KerryJ on
Jan 17, 2009 4:26 PM)
Creative Commons is providing a viable alternative AND giving up and coming artists a chance to get exposure.
By using Creative Commons and promoting artists who get it, video creators can send a clear message to artists: if you lock up your work and don’t consider the fact that people are now active participants in art rather than passive consumers — you’ll be left behind.
We’ve GOT to take this seriously because there are a lot of freedoms at stake.
Politicians take silence as consent. Artists need to feel a pinch if they try to lock things up too tightly. And the recording industry needs to rethink their business model.
Ignoring the people who are trying to make changes through legal channels (Creative Commons) is about as fruitful as ignoring the law because it doesn’t suit you personally.
If you don’t like the current law, work to change it.
(KerryJ on
Jan 18, 2009 5:30 PM)
Hi Christina
Not sure what you’re asking – could you expand?
