A Convenient Untruth (For Now)

As we noted yesterday, the blogosphere echo-chamber convinced itself that the RIAA is sending take-down notices to YouTubers who lip-synch their favorite songs.  Now, as tracked by Technorati, the second most popular blog -- Boing Boing -- is piling on. 

Is the RIAA's credibility so low that they get dinged for excessive measures even when they only think about them?  And, why wouldn't the RIAA jump at the opportunity to shine some truth on this?

Probably because their member companies are divided on how to actually deal with YouTube and other video sites right now.  We noted the Matador video contest in yesterday's post.  Today's LA Times has a timely editorial on this very issue and gives this friendly homily (excerpt after jump):

At issue are sites such as YouTube.com that enable users to upload and watch thousands of videos, many of which use copyrighted songs. But labels and songwriters aren't collecting the royalties they're due. The situation recalls the early days of Napster's pioneering song-swapping network, which enabled users to download songs for free from one another's computers. Rather than siccing a phalanx of lawyers onto YouTube and its users, as they did with Napster, some labels and songwriters are looking for a way to turn online video into a profit center....

...In an enlightened move, Warner Music Group is taking the same approach to videos created by fans. Technically, labels and music publishers can sue the creators of these videos for unauthorized use of songs in their miniature movies, and some executives want to do just that. But that's overlooking the benefit of the homemade videos, which amount to quirky (and free) advertising.

(Flickr photo credit here.)

Comments

[Cory Doctorow]

If by "piling on," you mean, "questioning the veracity of the rumor," then you've got a point.

[463]

From the Boing Boing post: "The RIAA is reportedly sending letters to YouTube users demanding that they take down videos of kids singing along and dancing to their favorite songs. This is pretty crazy, of course -- as Battelle says, 'Wake up. This is how we use music in the real world. Get over yourselves.'

You did couch the subject by saying it was a rumor and then you generally put the onus on the RIAA to clear things up.

But, yes, when Boing Boing adds fuel to a rumor (even while clearly noting its status as a rumor), that could be construed as piling on.

This isn't the DaVinci Code. Someone read a Wall Street Journal piece (or a portion of it) about the the labels worrying about the use of their content on video sites. (After all, we note in out other post on this, that they almost directly pulled a quote from the story about Universal.) They probably also read that the labels *have* been requesting take downs of artist videos. Then they likely somehow merged the two stories and out came that Project Opus piece. Then came the reaction to it.

On a tangential note.... Isn't it remarkable that a blog posting on something called Project Opus got more attention than a A1 Wall Street Journal story about the very same thing? Says something about the liquidity of blog content versus words behind firewalls.

[Cory Doctorow]

The real problems are:

1. The RIAA and MPAA created a rule (the DMCA) that makes it trivial to have material removed from the Web merely by sending a takedown notice, so it's easy to impersonate them or anyone else if you want to prank or censor a site.

2. The RIAA refuses to post any kind of policy about its position on the incidental use of copyrighted music in the course noncommercial fan videos. As we lack any information about the RIAA's view of these videos, it's hard to understand whether rumors are credible or not.

3. The RIAA's litigation strategy has included genuinely dire and evil stuff, like suing children, dead people, grannies, etc -- even demanding as terms of a settlement that two computer science majors give up studying comp sci and never try to work in the industry. This makes over-the-top rumors seem true.

Thus, there are three ways that the RIAA could keep rumors like this from circulating:

1. Support DMCA reform to inject even a modicum of evidence, due process and authentication into the takedown process. This would be the world's easiest-to-pass copyright law. Everyone (except the RIAA) wants this.

2. Publish a coherent policy on the use of music in fan films.

3. Stop suing children, grannies, and others.