Viral Music Videos A Problem For RIAA 182
prostoalex writes "A few years ago music videos were considered promotional, a tease to get the viewer to buy the whole album. However, now that a commercial market for music videos is springing up, the music industry is not quite happy with YouTube, iFilm, Google Video and other video sharing sites distributing the music videos of famous artists. Billboard magazine says: 'The RIAA estimates that sales of music videos topped $3.7 million in three months, after being introduced in October. Meanwhile, the major labels also are sharing in the profits of ad-supported video-on-demand offerings from AOL, Yahoo, Music Choice and others. That is revenue the music industry is keenly interested in protecting. Hopes are that YouTube and others will ink similar deals with the industry in the long run.'"
proof the RIAA is insane (Score:5, Insightful)
Has the RIAA seen the quality of the videos on youtube? We're not talking about redistribution of DVDs here, these are snippets people find interesting and worth sharing. And the quality of these videos is something you'd only look at in tiny resolution on a computer, and probably only once or twice.
From the article: "Viral video sharing would not have been an issue just 18 months ago, when the labels still viewed music videos as a promotional tool for selling albums. Now that their efforts have created interest in their videos, they want to take it away in any form except for what they dictate.
The RIAA and MPAA remind me of an old Peanuts cartoon, where Lucy takes all of Linus' toys away, and leaves him a rubber band to play with... I've got to dig that up, it's so appropriate (do you remember it?).
These videos surfacing on youtube and other video sites are free publicity and advertising for the subjects! I'm beginning to think the RIAA has some bizarre credo, something along the lines of, "No matter what!, we MUST stop any sharing, enjoyment, distribution of ANYTHING that we can possible stamp with OUR ownership!". I'm also convinced the people running RIAA are totally insane.
There's an adage "there's no such thing as bad publicity". Eventually, the RIAA and MPAA may prove that wrong. Idiots.
proof the RIAA is ISN'T insane (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:proof the RIAA is ISN'T insane (Score:2)
Re:proof the RIAA is ISN'T insane (Score:5, Insightful)
The MPAA did. Their Jack Valenti told the House of Representatives in 1982 "I say to you that the VCR is to the American film producer and the American public as the Boston strangler is to the woman home alone". They went clear to the Supreme Court in 1984 to ban the Betamax and almost succeeded (four justices (Blackmun, Marshall, Powell and Rehnquist) agreed with the appeals court that Sony's products were illegal).
At every point in the last few decades when an innovation increased the **AA's revenues but decreased their control, they have fought it like berserkers.
Re:proof the RIAA is ISN'T insane (Score:3, Funny)
Re:proof the RIAA is ISN'T insane (Score:2, Insightful)
Uh... (Score:2)
What's more likely, I expect, is that the majors want to have their cake and eat it too -- milking the promotional value in a controlled way so they can also sell the videos to consumers on the side... Obviously sites like YouTube are going to be the only way a lot of people see an unfamiliar artist's video these days, so that kind of use obviously fills the pro
Re:proof the RIAA is ISN'T insane (Score:3, Interesting)
Sure, they can try, like they did with The Pirate Bay, but it's a different question if they'll succeed.
Re:proof the RIAA is ISN'T insane (Score:2)
All they really need is a small army of min wage workers to police the sites and report violations.
YouTube already has a policy that allows for copyright holders to pull their material from the site.
The Pirate Bay is a spurious example and comparing the two is completely invalid for a variety of reasons.
Re:proof the RIAA is insane (Score:4, Funny)
Careful! Someone may want to start selling comics online next!
Re:proof the RIAA is insane - Every Note (Score:3, Insightful)
I'm certain that the final goal of the RIAA is to own every note in the musical scale, and collect a payment for every time any of those notes are played.
Re:proof the RIAA is insane - Every Note (Score:4, Funny)
Re:proof the RIAA is insane - Every Note (Score:2)
Re:proof the RIAA is insane - Every Note (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:proof the RIAA is insane - Every Note (Score:3, Funny)
"No Stairway? Denied." - Wayne Campbell
Re:You lot will go to any length to defend piratin (Score:3, Insightful)
The reason the copyright law sucks is because the companies bought it that way. They requested that feature specifically, and paid for it. For good measure, in Eldred v Ashcroft, they essentially bought the right to buy any kind of copyright law they want -- without having to demonstrate that it fulfills the Constitutional mandate (promoting science & useful arts).
The pr
Re:proof the RIAA is insane (Score:2)
Viral sites are on the rise for this very reason! (Score:4, Insightful)
Heck... It's getting easier to build sites with the ability to share content... Mtrx.net (see my sig) can share videos/images/music... But I've only turned on images and I'm not taking customers. But if I did, it would be a full time job for several people to scan thousands of uploads for copyrighted content... Which is a good reason not to take new people yet... Point being, the companies that have the most to lose will end up footing the bill (and because of this they will also keep trying to sue the pants off little guys when their customers post copyrighted content to their subsites)
Re:Viral sites are on the rise for this very reaso (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Viral sites are on the rise for this very reaso (Score:2)
That's why a lot of traffic is migrating away from YouTube and moving to Google video or even blip.tv
The RIAA and MPAA are effectively killing their own markets.
Erm. (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Erm. (Score:1, Offtopic)
Re:Erm. (Score:2, Interesting)
Viral... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Viral... (Score:2)
Dear **AA: (Score:5, Interesting)
Signed,
The World.
Re:Dear **AA: (Score:3, Insightful)
Mod Parent RANT +1 (Score:1, Offtopic)
(Note: there should be a RANT -1 moderation as well.)
Re:Dear **AA: (Score:3, Insightful)
The music industry is never happy (Score:5, Insightful)
I don't think the music industry will ever be happy. I think they will always find some reason to complain, whether it was radio, audio cassette, file sharing, or now music video posting.
Re:The music industry is never happy (Score:2, Funny)
That, and whistling in public.
Re:The music industry is never happy (Score:2)
Enforcing laws against hummers (Score:2)
Oh, think that they wouldn't do that [unhappybirthday.com], eh? You're not cynical enough yet.
Re:The music industry is never happy (Score:3, Funny)
What a future.
Re:The music industry is never happy (Score:2)
And for the record, all of the new Dell keyboards squeak. It's a design flaw.
Pay?? For a music video?? (Score:5, Insightful)
Why would I pay for something that I have to watch and can't just turn on while I'm doing other stuff, unless it is going to provide me with some new content? Once I have seen a music video once, why would I ever want one enough to pay for it again? This isn't a movie or even porn we're talking about here. This is just another example of the RIAA inflating the amount of money they actually gain from something.
Unless they're charging over a dollar each for these they would have to have sold 1.2 million per month - that's 41,000 per day. I find that highly unlikely. Nothing to see here, just the RIAA trying to squeeze blood from a turnip and screwing themselves out of a perfectly good advertising method.
A pretty girl on a music video with a good voice will make me more likely to buy a CD or song, but not if they try to make me pay for the music video, I'll just stop watching them.
I buy Music Videos...but only collections (Score:1)
The Director's Collection Series [amazon.com] has some of the greatest music videos ever made. Works from the likes of Spike Jones and Michel Gondry are definitely worth purchasing, but I agree that the RIAA is out of hand (again).
The market for music videos is very small and very specific. I think they are using the revenue generated by these collections to support there argument, which doesn't
Re:Pay?? For a music video?? (Score:1, Informative)
Check http://www.promoonly.com/video/ [promoonly.com] for info.
Re:Pay?? For a music video?? (Score:2)
You've never seen Sir Mix a Lot's "Put 'Em On The Glass" then.
Re:Pay?? For a music video?? (Score:2)
I've bought music videos... not many but a few. Not all videos make their way to MTV/VH1, but I would agree for the most part most videos are taped off the air, or copied from some other source, and traded.
This being said... there are videos I would buy.... for example THE GO BETWEENS "Right Here" [youtube.com] off their Tallulah album, w
Re:Pay?? For a music video?? (Score:2)
And since VH1 and MTV have decided that all-day marathons of America's Next Top Model or Pimp My Ride are more important than music, aren't YouTube, Google Video, and the like just acting as a replacement of sorts?
As far as people in our generation (I'm 19) buying music videos...there's a good chance that iTunes might bring the amount of people that do up slightly, but the fact remains that I've never bought a music v
Re:Pay?? For a music video?? (Score:3, Interesting)
I bought the DVD with Weird Al Yankovic's videos, because I found them to be quite entertaining, and they actually add to the song. If more people could make music videos that were truly entertaining, then maybe there would be a reason to buy them other
Re:Pay?? For a music video?? (Score:2)
(emphasis mine)
Have you seen what the modern video clips of female performers and rap artist look like? I'd say it's the closest thing to porn.
Re:Pay?? For a music video?? (Score:2)
Probably we'll already paying for adverts anyway, I just didn't find out the mechanism yet...
Re:Pay?? For a music video?? (Score:2)
We are already. The advertising budget is factored in to the retail price of an item/service.
Re:Pay?? For a music video?? (Score:2)
Re:Pay?? For a music video?? (Score:5, Funny)
What the fuck does this even mean? HAVE YOU STOPPED FAILING ENGLISH YET?
They want people to pay to watch commercials!? (Score:5, Interesting)
Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go find something, anything, to pirate after the shameful and possibly illegal things they did to the Pirate Bay the other day.
Not all music videos are commercials... (Score:2)
However, there are some great ones that I have already paid for. Fatboy Slims "Praise You" (Spike Jonze) is a brilliant example of guerilla filming. Aphex Twins "Window Licker" (again Spike Jonze) is a classic. De-lites "Groove is in the Heart" makes EVERYONE smile everytime. The Prodigy's
So, $3.7 million in three months... (Score:4, Insightful)
I know I've downloaded few music videos over the years, so I'm sure people share music videos out there in P2P.
Doesn't that shoot a hole in the claim that P2P file sharing is killing the RIAA when they're able to make $3.7 million in 3 months selling stuff that's available in P2P?
Re:So, $3.7 million in three months... (Score:2)
Y'can't win with these fuckers. I wouldn't be suprised if they started charging people for air one day, just because it was "used as a transmission medium for their protected works".
Re:So, $3.7 million in three months... (Score:2)
Sincerely,
The RIAA
Wonder what it would take to make the *AA happy? (Score:5, Informative)
Interestingly, every new and (arguably) useful tool on the Internet seems to somehow allow people to pirate the *AA's protected content. Somewhere in all that, somebody, group, or even countries should be hitting the *AA et al with the clue stick.... hard! Not that I think if they did get a clue it would make anything cheaper or easier for anyone that wants to use their content.
Instead of inventing licensing models that make sense, they simply seem to be trying to stop all use of their content.
Personally, I think it would be sort of sucky for a few months, but if everyone just stopped buying music and videos from *AA affiliated musicians, perhaps the hint would work. Try http://www.magnetbox.com/riaa/ [magnetbox.com] for music that they don't benefit from. See if buying music they don't get paid for makes them any happier?
But it would only make them... (Score:1)
If we stopped buying, then they would just scream about how P2P was robbing them of their profits! For crying out loud, they will whine no matter what you do!! This business model probably came out of their R+D departments observing two-year-old toddlers!
If artists held a survey asking where their listeners discovered them, they wou
Re:Wonder what it would take to make the *AA happy (Score:2, Interesting)
"sucky"? I think it would be fabulous. It's time to get serious. Call or write your local commercial radio station and tell them you are boycotting all their advertisers for supporting the RIAA. We must do everything we can to stop these RIAA-related articles from showing up on slashdot.
Huh? (Score:3, Interesting)
It also seems a little foolish for the RIAA because while some of the videos on YouTube and the like are videos record companies could make money off of, the majority of them are videos that are too old or obscure.
awwwww poor RIAA (Score:2, Interesting)
Awww, something else for the RIAA to whine about.
Ya know, this shit gets old. I wish I could blame somebody else when I make less money than I would like. If something doesn't turn out the way I want, it has to be the fault of someone else.
Fuck the RIAA. You cocksuckers are a bunch of whiney-ass motherfuckers. Get down on my dick while I rape your shit off usenet. There is no reason to pay for anything anymore, especially music and movies. Why should I finance the war on fair use?
If I deprive the artists of
Big Corporate Media (Score:3, Insightful)
As a musician, I think that's a big crock of shit.
That said, I keep the RIAA off my back the old fashioned way-- I rip my friends' CDs rather than download off the net, and similarly share the wealth off-line. Not like I could've bought the Beatles' albums in the Apple Store anyway. And Sir McCartney certainly doesn't need it, if he even sees royalties from those sales anymore. Perhaps it's time to drop the copyright timelimits, yeah?
Ultimately, it's increasingly clear that these incestuous corporate associations not only don't have the best interests of the emerging world culture at heart, but are an active enemy to both their customers and the future of the very industry they claim to represent. I know the list of evil organizations in the world is getting over-long at this point, but they really do need to be stopped, along with all the other fucks out there wrecking civilization for everyone else.
I wonder if strong leadership and extensive organization could effect the degree of change the world needs before everything really goes to hell...
Re:Big Corporate Media (Score:2)
Re:Big Corporate Media (Score:2)
I'm not going to defend the MAFIAA, but I am going to take a stand and say that the concept of copyright is a good thing. I agree that it's been completely taken out of proportion and now favors the industry instead of the public, as it's supposed to. That doesn't mean we should scrap the whole idea.
I would strongly support a ten-year term or two five-year terms, or possibly lon
Re:Big Corporate Media (Score:2)
There is a solution, however: free "brownies" with every movie purchase!
Futility. (Score:3, Insightful)
Furthermore, the harder they try, the more they're just going to end up pissing off their ever-dwindling base of consumers. Right or wrong and for better or worse, it's reality.
(The above concept applies to the dumb-fsking war on terrorism, too, but I won't even begin ranting about that horrorshow.)
Lucas is one of the worst (Score:2)
Melissa
What's next? Pay-per-view advertising? (Score:4, Funny)
"Time for your new Brittany CD, citizen!"
Who is "us"? (Score:2)
Short of forcing me to buy their stuff, I don't understand the problem - if it is crap, what do you care what they charge for it?
If their crap is not free and you don't want it, don't buy it.
The industry may or may not know what they are doing when it comes to optimizing their profits, but that is their business. Time will tell, meanwhile don't buy "crap".
Excellent idea! (Score:5, Funny)
The MPAA could learn a lot from this! That's right, keep those movie trailers under lock and key! They usually show all the interesting parts of the movie, and they are condensed into just a few minutes! Who would pay to see a bloated movie when the Cliff Notes version is available?!? They should be charging more for the trailers than the movies. Pull them from the theaters and TV! That way, people will want to see the movies even more.
Oh, and someone check the water coolers at the RIAA. I suspect that some joker has been dropping LSD in with the bottle deliveries.
Re:Excellent idea! (Score:2)
That has already happened. MPAA sued sometime a channel projecting trailers 24/7. MPAA argued the channel uses copyrighted content for their own benefit without approval from the copyright owners.
There are also some attempts (even now) to prevent officially published movie trailers from the official sites fr
I'd buy the real thing...If it was available. (Score:3, Informative)
I'd love to be able to buy vcd/dvd video albums at a reasonable price. Particularly if I can get them locally and don't have to play them on my zone-free DVD player.
(There was, back in 1986, a jukebox/video I saw in some bars. Pick your song/album, and the video showed on the screen. I want one!)
Same for an iTunes-type service. I'd gladly pay to download good videos from a legitimate site. Hell, I'd pay to download good videos from an illegitimate site since the record industry isn't meeting my customer demands.
However, the videos on Google Video, and YouTube are mostly JUNK! I want artist-approved videos, not crappy, half-baked attempts at self-agrandizement.
Mike
I want HD transfers... (Score:2)
Well at least there's a place to see them... (Score:2)
I don't even know how to *buy* music videos, let alone why anyone would want to.
Re:Well at least there's a place to see them... (Score:2)
O-Zone (Numa Numa) (Score:5, Interesting)
Just take the Numa Numa video on the internet from a year ago. This is a potential hit song made popular in the US from the "Numa Numa" video at http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/206373 [newgrounds.com] that went nowhere on the buying charts due to pure stupidity of the recording industry. If you liked this song, you couldn't buy it.
iTunes only added it to their collection well after the interest in it subsided (and I bought it then). Sure it was in Romanian, but that really wasn't a big deal--just look at the success of 99 Luftballooons from 20 years ago.
The record industry is over-focused on piracy from folks who would never buy their music anyway. The positive word-of-mouth of a good song more than outweighs any piracy of a good song. And the greedy executives don't realize they'll make more money when teenagers grow up and *buy* music from nostalgia then they'll ever get from the same people when they are teenagers. But if the greedy recording companies force teenagers to get their music through piracy because they have no alternative, then those customers may be gone for good.
I'm old enough to know what I want in music, and as best as I can tell, the recording industry doesn't want to sell it to me at any price. They want to sell me their crap instead.
Re:O-Zone (Numa Numa) (Score:3, Funny)
I know this is slashdot and the culture is to be inward nerd looking, but even then I think you are vastly overestimating the general public's interest in non-uniform memory architecture.
The RIAA has a problem with everything. (Score:5, Insightful)
Maybe then, the RIAA will stop whining.
Re:The RIAA has a problem with everything. (Score:2)
Re:The RIAA has a problem with everything. (Score:2)
Because Slashdot is comprised of more than one person. Happy to help.
Re:The RIAA has a problem with everything. (Score:2)
There's no inconsistency here unless you don't believe that people should be perfectly free to share as they wish.
Re:The RIAA has a problem with everything. (Score:2)
- GPL works are bloody free! If some company is too _greedy_ to use other peoples work that they are happy to share and want to make some money out of it saving on its own labour, that we find that unethical.
- Music, movies etc are not free! And since most people believe that the prices are over-the-top on those they sure are inclined to seek cheaper methods of obtaining it. Also - most of the time the rules how they "sell" the content to you are queer - eg: try to return a CD or DVD
Re:The RIAA has a problem with everything. (Score:2)
Re:The RIAA has a problem with everything. (Score:2)
You can't be more wrong. After this here's what RIAA would whine about:
* Whine how people don't go frequently enough to the booths, and demand that a portable version in everyone's home is made mandatory.
* Whine people can't listen to music when they're at work, make the booths mandatory there
So this, pretty much... (Score:2)
Tell ya what, (Score:2, Funny)
lemme kno when the RIAA is happy.
It might be news then.The real RIAA fear: teens get bored with music (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:The real RIAA fear: teens get bored with music (Score:2)
they don't own our culture (Score:5, Insightful)
in our time, that struggle is the balance between corporate ownership and public culture
the riaa/ mpaa won't stop until they own all of our culture, period. every single bit of expression of it
its a pathology: greed, greed, greed, and it will never stop
but the struggle is too esoteric now, too new to have reached the man in the street yet
only us dweebs and tech heads see the outrageousness of this creeping doom on the horizon right now
but give it time. eventually it will rear its ugly head on the radar of public consciousness
and then maybe, hopefully, this pathology that is ip law that wants to own absolutely every bit of cultural expression will get the bitch slap down it deserves
you're forgetting a group of people (Score:3, Insightful)
interestingly enough, also the prime demographic for the culture brokers
so that's the warzone
frankly, anyone over 21 is too rich and too undermotivated to matter anymore
the corporations can spend trillions in advanced r&d, but if they ask for money, and the teenager doesn't have it (which is the case 99% of the time)
then take a wild guess what is going to happen next
Re:you're forgetting a group of people (Score:2)
How long before RIAA wants you to license your ear (Score:3, Insightful)
commercial market? ha! (Score:2, Informative)
This amount isn't even close to paying for the videos themselves, each video today costs
Re: (Score:2)
Re:Who cares? Most music video is JUNK anyway! (Score:2)
If that was true, music would of gotten a lot better in the past few years, as channels like MTV and VH1 have basically stopped playing music videos entirely, and a good por
Re: (Score:2)
Subject (Score:5, Interesting)
RIAA here is an acronym for you (Score:2, Funny)
Shooting themselves in the foot (Score:2)
Tips for selling a mass product (Score:3, Insightful)
It can be something as simple as a movie trailer or a music video or even an ad block (latter least effective, since people know the final goal is to trick them into buying something).
Doesn't RIAA realize this? Yes it does. But what you don't realize is that RIAA wants control. Viral marketing is good if RIAA creates it, if people start it themselves, it's bad.
If channels exist for commercial videos to be spread virally, they can be used to easily spread non-commercial non-RIAA production as well. That would mean less people buy RIAA product, more people learn about independent productions.
This can spell serious trouble for RIAA. This is why their first goal is closing the entire channel and not just filtering out their content.
I have the solution to piracy... (Score:2, Interesting)
From RIAA's website (Score:2)
Re:YTMND parodies are next i tell you! (Score:1)
( http://snakeliving.ytmnd.com/ [ytmnd.com] )
Re:The RIAA is a paid organization (Score:2)
Ah yes the oblig Anonymous Coward troll post calling everyone theifs for listening to music for free.
Maybe if you feel that your views really have some merit you won't post as AC.
Arn't there forums on the net you can go to where you can get support for your attack on non commercial file sharing.
No? Then thats a problem with your world view. Not the view of the rest of the internet society.
Now bugger off.