On the YouTube beat…. YouTube and MySpace have been making headlines recently regarding possible copyright infringement charges from Universal involving user-uploaded content, specifically the mass availability of artist music videos and songs on the popular sites. With a business model based on user-uploaded content – much of which has to be copyrighted material – I was wondering when this issue would emerge. Consider: A few weeks ago, after a Rick Springfield concert, I went on YouTube to see if I could locate some of his vintage videos. Sure enough, a search yielded dozens of clips – from classic videos to concert and TV clips (remember “Solid Gold”?) to footage shot by fans.
The latest development: news that YouTube has signed a deal with Warner Music Group to distribute the music company’s videos on its web site. Specific reporting software will help identify the copyrighted material on YouTube’s site and will also allow YouTube and WMG to share ad revenue generated by the videos and by user-uploaded videos that contain copyrighted content. Says Warner: “our general philosophy is, we want to lead through innovation as opposed to litigation.”
This is probably the beginning of a flood of negotiations between record labels and sites such as YouTube and the establishment of similar distribution deals (and a bridge of sorts between Hollywood and Silicon Valley). And with the Internet emerging as a key distribution point for entertainment content (and with everyone struggling to ID new revenue sources and get their piece of the monetary pie), such agreements are inevitable. Will such agreements change the face or community culture of YouTube? Time will tell.
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