Viral video sharing is new headache for music biz
As the recording industry tries to block file trading of songs across peer-to-peer networks, blogs and other viral distribution channels, the major labels suddenly have a whole new piracy concern: music videos.
The rise of user-generated content sites like YouTube, MySpace, Google Video and iFilm has sparked a revolution in the viral sharing of music videos across these Web communities. The problem is, much of the distribution taking place — outside a select number of promotional deals — is happening without the approval of record companies.
In recent weeks the
Recording Industry Association of America has been stepping up its efforts to stop sharing of popular videos on such sites, particularly on the rapidly expanding YouTube. The site, which now claims more than 6 million visitors and 40 million streams daily, has become a haven for unlicensed music videos, which users are capturing with
TiVo and other digital video recorders and then posting the files to the Web. Much of the material is coming from recorded MTV broadcasts.
The RIAA recently issued cease-and-desist letters to YouTube users sharing videos from the likes of
Nelly Furtado, Beyonce and Rihanna.
In the wake of the takedowns, users following links to the video are greeted by this notice: “This video has been removed at the request of copyright owner the RIAA because its content was used without permission.”
Reps for the RIAA and YouTube declined to comment.
However, one source close to the situation says that the recording industry is lobbying YouTube and other viral video sites to implement content-filtering technologies to identify and block unauthorized distribution of copyrighted works.
Reuters/Billboard
