Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
I can’t get this song clip out my head.
The one I didn’t hear today
I watched that YouTube video and there it wasn’t in the background
I can’t place it...
because the song wasn’t there.
WMG, IFPI, RIAA...
Take notice.
I didn’t hear a 5 second snip of one of your songs today.
Because you didn’t allow that clip to be used.
Viacom has already done what you’re doing and got busted for posting their own properties
on YouTube because portions of Viacom knew the value of incidental exposure in marketing.
...and when Viacom got all their properties pulled off of YT, their bottom line got butthurt.
Let’s review your legitimate interests...
You want to prevent people from grabbing songs you own and making a good quality audio copy
that they can enjoy without paying you. That’s all proper. You should protect your properties
from abuses that cut into your profits. You owe it to your artists and your shareholders.
Now let’s examine what your actions are actually producing...
You are damaging your own best promotional tool...
When a TV show or cable program needs a music clip they pay you for it.
...they have a budget for exactly that because they are going to make money on the show that
uses that clip...
But, they aren’t going to want to use a clip from a song that never becomes popular.
How do you make a song popular?
YOU don’t.
In spite of the billions of dollars you spend promoting your properties, in a saturated
market it is not you who promotes your artists and properties effectively, it is the public.
A song doesn’t become popular in proportion to the money you spend promoting it, but by
the exposure the fans of the songs give it... “Dude have you heard the lastest song from
…”
That is what drives your industry... not promotional campaigns.
That’s why you set up live tours on the front end of the release of an album.
You don’t make money on the tour. The bigger the venue, and more *** you pack into the
seats, the higher your costs. The average tour does really well if it clears $25,000.
A major headliner might expect to clear hundreds of thousands of dollars from a tour...
As a proportion of the expenses necessary to make that tour happen, that’s chicken
feed.
...and if the fans aren’t pushing the artists, a tour turns into a hole for you to pour money
into.
The very best advertising you have is fan based word of mouth and incidental exposure.
...YouTube is your biggest promotional venue.
Non-profit videos, using clips or talking over a sound bed... nothing that someone can
clean-up and copy.
and most of the people who use clips, attribute the artist... promoting your property.
So, if this is what you really want then in my opinion you should be extended every cooperation.
Everyone on YouTube using any portion of one of your properties should take it down.
No fuss, no fanfare, and no publicity...
It isn’t many companies that will go this far out of their way to damage their own interests,
but if this is what you want... You are completely entitled legally to shoot yourself in the
foot as many times as you like.
We should avoid even discussing your artists.
It might be seen as an unauthorized promotion.
We wouldn’t want that... Now, would we?