YouTube blocks music videos in Britain

YouTube is blocking thousands of music videos to British users after failing to reach a new licensing agreement with the Performing Rights Society (PRS), which collects royalties for songwriters.

The move on Monday has angered the PRS, which says YouTube — bought by Google in 2006 — is "punishing British consumers and the songwriters whose interests we protect and represent."

Steve Porter, head of the PRS, said he is "outraged" and "shocked" by the move.

His group released a statement condemning YouTube's tactics:

"Google has told us they are taking this step because they wish to pay significantly less than at present to the writers of the music on which their service relies, despite the massive increase in YouTube viewing. This action has been taken without any consultation with PRS … and in the middle of negotiations between the two parties."

Patrick Walker, the director of video partnerships at YouTube, said the action was "regrettable" but added the PRS is seeking much higher fees, which were "prohibitive."

YouTube pays a licence to the PRS, which allows the site to stream music videos from three major music labels and several independent ones.

"We feel so far apart that we have to remove content while we negotiate with the PRS," Walker said on BBC News.

He said the rates that the PRS was seeking would result in YouTube losing "significant amounts of money on every stream of video."

YouTube is the world's most popular video sharing website.

The dispute between YouTube and the Performing Rights Society for Music that prompted the website to remove music videos could spread to MySpace UK and other music sites, industry sources said.

MySpace UK and other sites are struggling to renegotiate their own licences with PRS, which pays royalties to artists.

One source close to the negotiations said that the launch of MySpace UK's comprehensive music service later this year could be thrown into jeopardy unless it secured an economically viable licence with PRS.

"A lot of service providers are negotiating and renewing licences with PRS right now, but the rates are widely known to be uneconomical," said the source. "Nobody could run an online business on those terms."

The streaming service Pandora was forced to cut off its service for UK users on 15 January after it failed to renegotiate its licence with PRS. Imeem, which reportedly received $15m in funding from Warner Music last year, and RealNetworks are also understood to be renegotiating.

Meanwhile, YouTube and PRS are due to meet in London this afternoon and both say they are determined to resolve the deadlock.

PRS is understood to be basing its royalty claims on the results of the 2007 UK Copyright Tribunal, but the source said the rates PRS were demanding were so high that a free-to-view, advertising-based service would not be able to charge advertisers enough to cover the royalty payment on each video.

YouTube, which started to remove videos last night, repeated its claim that the rates are not sustainable except for sites that charge subscription access.

"However, we want to share the revenue generated from music videos on YouTube with the music industry," said a spokesman. "But at the rate set by the Copyright Tribunal - which is the rate PRS is seeking - YouTube would be losing money with each stream.

"It's simply unsustainable for our business."

A PRS spokeswoman said the ultimate aim of the talks were to come to an agreement, while YouTube said withdrawing videos from UK users was "not a breakdown in talks, but something that had to happen for talks to continue".

Rihanna and Chris Brown stun fans with reconciliation

Fans of singers Chris Brown and Rihanna expressed dismay on Saturday at reports the couple had reunited just three weeks after Brown was alleged to have assaulted her.

Celebrity magazines People and Us Weekly said that the R&B stars were spending time together at the Miami home of hip hop mogul Sean "Diddy" Combs -- and that Rihanna's father was supporting her decision.

"I love my daughter with whatever road she takes. I'm behind her win or lose. I will be supportive. If that's the road she wants to choose, I'm behind her," Rihanna's dad Ronald Fenty told Us Weekly from his Barbados home.

Fans could scarcely believe the news that came a week after a picture, showing the 21-year-old "Umbrella" singer with bruises to her face and swollen lips, was leaked on the Internet.

"All the abusive men are celebrating," Highroller33138 wrote in a posting on the MTV.com website. "It sets a terrible example for women everywhere. Rihanna really disappointed me."

"Stupid, really stupid. ... I hate women like this," wrote ladyofthelake in a posting on TVGuide.com.

On Friday, People quoted an unidentified source saying the couple, who had been dating for about a year, were back together.

"They care for each other. While Chris is reflective and saddened about what happened, he is really happy to be with the woman he loves," the source told People.

Representatives of Brown, 19, a clean-cut teen artist whose hits include "Run It!", declined comment on the reports. Rihanna's publicist were also not commenting.

Los Angeles prosecutors have yet to decide whether to file charges against Brown after his arrest on February 8 on suspicion of making criminal threats against a woman.

The alleged assault on the eve of the Grammy Awards caused both stars to cancel their scheduled appearances. Brown issued a statement a week after the incident saying he was "sorry and saddened" and seeking counseling.

It's Ike and Tina all over again... Thoughts?

Steven Page to leave Barenaked Ladies

By "mutual agreement", Barenaked Ladies lead singer Steven Page will be leaving the band.

In a statement posted late Tuesday on the band's website, the Toronto-based group said that "Jim Creeggan, Kevin Hearn, Ed Robertson, and Tyler Stewart will continue recording and touring together as Barenaked Ladies.

"Steven Page will pursue solo projects including theatrical opportunities while the band enters the studio in April 2009, and hits the road in the fall."

The band had the following quotes.

"These guys are my brothers. We've grown up together over the past twenty years," the 38-year-old Page said. "I love them and wish them all the best in the future."

Ed Robertson said: "It's the start of a new chapter for all of us. Here's to the future!"

There was no mention in the statement of Page's drug arrest last year or whether that might be related to the announcement.

Police in Fayetteville, N.Y. charged Page, his girlfriend and her roommate with drug possession in July. Cocaine was found in the apartment.

The trio got a deal in late October where they would avoid criminal convictions if they stayed out of trouble for six months.

News of the arrest had come as the veteran band had released a children's album, Snacktime.

In another bit of hard luck, Robertson crashed his float plane north of Bancroft, Ont. last year. He and three passengers escaped without any serious injury.

The BareNaked Ladies first formed in Scarborough in 1988.

Since then, they have become among Canada's most accomplished recording artists, with top hits such as "If I had a Million Dollars," "Brian Wilson" and a cover of Bruce Cockburn's "Lovers in a Dangerous Time." The single "One Week" reached the top of the U.S. charts just over a decade ago.

They have won almost 20 Juno Awards and been nominated for two Grammies.

In Toronto, their name got them kicked off a 1991 New Year's Eve concert bill at city hall when a staffer of then-mayor June Rowlands felt the name objectified women. However, it turned out to be a huge publicity boon for the then-young band.

Users baffled as Zune MP3 players freeze up en masse

Many Mp3 music consumers are left baffled and griping about a mysterious glitch that appeared to cause thousands of Zune music players to simultaneously stop working late Tuesday and early Wednesday.

message boards across the internet have been flooded with complaints about Zune's 30GB model Mp3 players freezing, prompting Y2K-like speculation about end-of-year hardware or software problems.

"It seems that every Zune on the planet has just frozen up and will not work," posted a Mountain Home, Idaho, user on CNN's iReport.com site. "I have 3 and they all in the same night stopped working."

Another on the same site said he was working the night shift at a Toys R Us store in Puerto Rico when his Zune player and the Zunes of four co-workers all failed about 1:30 a.m. ET Wednesday

"It froze and there was no way to turn it off so you just have to wait until the batteries went dead. You can't push any buttons or anything," says Carlos Colon. Colon said he owns a first-generation 30GB model.

Other users report their Zunes reboot but freeze when the startup status bar reaches 100 percent. A post on Zune.net titled "Help-frozen zune!!!!" had attracted more than 19,000 comments by Wednesday afternoon.

Some Zune users have dubbed the crisis "Y2K9" or "Z2K9," a reference to New Year's Eve and concerns over potential widespread computer failures on January 1, 2000 -- fears that ultimately were proved to be unfounded.

Zune users were still trying to discover the cause of the problem Wednesday afternoon.

Microsoft Corp., maker of the Zune, posted this statement Wednesday morning on the Zune Web site: "Customers with 30gb Zune devices may experience issues when booting their Zune hardware. We're aware of the problem and are working to correct it. Sorry for the inconvenience, and thanks for your patience!"

Contacted Wednesday morning by e-mail, a Zune spokeswoman said, "We are actively working now to isolate the issue and develop a solution to address it. We will keep customers informed on next steps via the support page on zune.net.

Microsoft released its first Zune 30GB music player, as a competitor to Apple's popular iPod mp3 player, in 2006. No widespread glitches have been reported this week in its second-generation 80GB or 120GB models.

After some more digging around on the issue, I was able to find a posting from a user who seemed to have discovered a fix for the problem:

IF ANYBODY STILL HAS NOT BEEN ABLE TO GET THEIR ZUNE TO WORK, THERE IS A SIMPLE SOLUTION: PRESS AND HOLD THE BACK BUTTON AND UP ON THE TOUCH PAD TO REBOOT YOUR ZUNE.

I personally do not own a Zune player, but for anyone reading this posting that may be having the same problem.. Give the fix a shot, hopefully it works for you as well... leave a reply post and let us know if it or anything else you've tried, does.....

Madonna pulled from YouTube

Madonna's record label is pulling her videos from YouTube.com

Several artists, including Madonna, Led Zeppelin and James Blunt, are seeing their videos vanish from the popular video sharing website (one of my favorites as well!) YouTube, following a dispute between their record company and the site, reports FemaleFirst.

Management at Warner Music has decided to remove the artists' promotional videos, after negotiations failed for a new contract with site's owners regarding downloading rights. "We simply cannot accept terms that fail to appropriately and fairly compensate recording artists, songwriters, labels and publishers for the value they provide," folks at Warner Music stated.

But let's hold up for just a second...Time out! everyone back to there own corners...

Not fairly compensating What the artists, songwriters, labels and publishers provide? What about what the website DOES provide to them? it can be argued that today, more then music videos on MTV/MuchMusic, or the radio... People are turning to the web for information on the newest releases by the artists. Youtube is an invaluable marketing source for the artists, labels and publishers in getting the word out about the newest hits. One of the best things about it? It costs nothing to upload the videos as opposed to buying airtime on the television and radio stations. They are also able to reach a far wider audience through the website then they would have through the television and radio spots (where they would have to hope that people are listening to those particular stations, or are tuned to those particular channels at the time that the videos and songs are airing) With Youtube, people would be coming online looking for them, guaranteeing that the video is seen, and the song is heard.

Instead of arguing with each other, and complaining back and forth, instead recognize that in the 2.0 world that this is the way to now reach there intended audience and embrace it.
Instead of complaining when public users are posting videos of there favorite musicians hottest videos, the artists, labels and publishers need to "beat them to the punch" :

- Have there own account on youtube.com

- Upload the videos on there own when new songs and videos are released, or promotional videos when one is about to come out, create a real buzz about it, give people a taste of the upcoming release.

- Watermark each of there own videos so that people know that this is an official, approved release by the artist / label / publisher.

- promote there other videos and artists through there accounts, as I said before, no real worry about the videos not being seen because people that WANT to see them, WILL come see them!

The same people that are viewing the videos on youtube, are the same people that are going to the concerts, buying the tickets, filling the seats, buying the merchandise, standing in long lines for when there favorite artists are in town for any reason, be it a concert, an autograph signing, or just there!

These fans are what "make" the artists.

They are the ones who decide who's hot, and who's not.

Without these fans buying the tickets, without them filling the seats at the concerts, the merchandise, being at autograph signings... The artist wouldn't have a career, they'd be a bust!

Youtube has kept alive, elongated (and maybe, in some cases, even revived) the careers of some of these artists.

It can be argued (quite strongly) that without youtube, many of these artists's (including some of the ones that are complaining about there music being on the popular website) careers would already be over. Considered a part of the past, With the way entertainment is now, with youth being a really big thing (you may not want to, but you have to admit it, youth rules the industry)

These artists are still around, in part due to the popularity of Youtube.
The fans that have been following them throughout there careers over the years and decades, have continued to follow them, and kept them as popular as ever, online.

You can still find older hits from the artists (arguably there best, or more better work) on youtube.

Youtube is another reason why Elvis, The Rolling Stones, The Beatles and so many others still have growing fan bases even today, on the heels of 2009!

But for now... The gloves are off...

Music industry moves to disconnect file sharers in U.S.

As a follow up to a story I posted here yesterday.

The U.S. recording industry is shifting away from suing file sharers and toward working out deals with internet service providers that could see downloaders have their access cut off, but the issue in Canada is still muddy because of a lack of clear copyright law.

The Recording Industry Association of America (or RIAA) on Friday said it was changing its approach to one it hopes will be more effective in persuading people to stop downloading music illegally.

More than 35,000 Americans have been sued since 2003, but the percentage of internet users who pirate music has stayed relatively steady at around 20 per cent, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Under the new approach, the RIAA will send an e-mail to an ISP when it believes one of the service provider's customers is downloading music illegally. Depending on the deal set up with the service provider, customers will receive warnings, possibly followed by a slow-down in their connection speed and ultimately a cancellation of their access (If you think your connection is slow now...just keep downloading, you'll see what slow is!) .

The RIAA said it has agreements in principle with some U.S. ISPs, but it didn't name them. Service providers have in the past been reluctant to act as copyright police, but some are becoming more co-operative with the entertainment industry as they seek to sign more deals for content with those same companies.

The move would follow similar developments in other countries including France and Britain, where ISPs are working with the entertainment industry to curtail illegal downloading.

Canadian ISPs have so far successfully lobbied the federal government against forcing them to intervene in downloading. The government's controversial Bill C-61 copyright reform legislation, introduced in the summer, contained a "safe harbour" provision that would have let ISPs off the hook for what their customers downloaded. Bill C-61, however, died when the fall election was called.

Lawsuits against music downloaders have not materialized in Canada to the same level as in the United States. The Canadian Recording Industry Association in 2004 sued 29 unnamed alleged file-sharers but the case was defeated when the Federal Court of Canada ruled that making digital music files available to others for download did not constitute copyright infringement.

Some lawyers and internet law experts also argue that a private copying tax on blank media is intended to compensate artists for revenue lost to file-sharing.

The Canadian Recording Industry Association (CRIA) , however, says the levy was never intended to legalize file-sharing. CRIA president Graham Henderson said it is not OK for a person to walk into a store, physically steal a CD, make copies of it and then have those copies considered legal. File-sharing of digital copies is the same thing, he asserted.

"[The levy] is one of the muddiest of the muddy waterers. (Is waterers a word?) I don't see it as having a role in legalizing it at all, but it certainly is one of the many excuses floated for why it's OK to do this in Canada," Henderson said. "You can't take something in an unauthorized way, copy it and then that copy is somehow legal."

University of Ottawa internet law professor Michael Geist said the analogy is irrelevant because the courts have been clear that the original source of the copy doesn't matter.

"It's certainly an arguable case that some of the personal non-commercial downloading that takes place falls within the ambit of the levy," he said.

Henderson said the CRIA has had a policy of not suing downloaders since he took the group's reins four years ago, despite people such as Barenaked Ladies frontman Steven Page warning that it was considering doing so. The CRIA has instead focused on getting copyright law straightened out so that it would be clear what people could and couldn't do with their music, he said.

Geist said the industry group has avoided lawsuits because of the negative publicity the 2004 case attracted. He also said that moves to involve ISPs as copyright cops in several countries have been hugely controversial and could backfire on both the industry as well as the service providers.

"It's viewed by many as a draconian step and we've seen push back against it in many countries," he said. "The ISPs that do that risk a serious backlash from their customers."

Henderson applauded the RIAA's move toward negotiating with ISPs and would like to do the same in Canada, but said the copyright situation needs to be sorted out first.

"Then we could give Canadians a fair chance to obey the law because, as I've said many, many times, I believe Canadians are fundamentally law abiding," he said. "The problem in Canada is we don't have laws to abide by. People are confused."

The Conservatives promised to reintroduce copyright reform legislation as part of their election platform, but those plans were put on hold with the eruption of parliamentary turmoil in November.

Although the CRIA praised Bill C-61 for its tough stance against file-sharing, the legislation was widely opposed by numerous other industry groups as being too heavily skewed toward copyright owners.

Geist said the only way the music industry can combat file-sharing is to provide a compelling legal alternative.

"The industry chose to sue rather than innovate," he said. "They're starting to come around, but it's pretty late in the game."

RIAA axes P2P file-sharing lawsuits

Those of you who regularly share music over the Internet, Whether legally or illegally, might have by now heard the news that the Recording Industry Association of America is shelving the practice of filing lawsuits against most individuals it suspects are pirating copyrighted music online.

I say most because the RIAA still reserves the right to sue heavy file sharers or those who ignore warnings to stop. Now, the RIAA has a new tactic. It’s made agreements with several Internet service providers in which the ISPs will help them police alleged law-breakers.

According to The Wall Street Journal, the RIAA will send a letter to an ISP (internet service provider) when it thinks one of its customers is illegally sharing copyrighted music. The ISP will then either forward the letter to the alleged offender or ask him or her to stop.

If the file-sharer ignores the warning, he/she risks having his/her Internet service terminated or his/her bandwidth squeezed to the point where it takes watching the entire “Lord of the Rings” trilogy before all 11 tracks of Beyonce’s “Sasha..I am Fierce” are illegally in his/her possession. Ouch...that's slow!

So why the change of heart? The RIAA has sued some 30,000 people over the past five years, a tactic that’s proved expensive and , critics argue, has been largely ineffective. I mean, has anyone really stopped sharing their music library since the lawsuits began? I didn’t think so, And they’re not alone.
While CD sales continue to decline, the number of people sharing files online continues to increase.

This new deal makes me a little nervous because now, your ISP is poised to become an uptight hall monitor who'll narcs on every kid who smokes in the bathroom, instead of looking the other way even though it knows what you’re doing is against the rules.

I think ISPs should remain neutral.

Nervous? Maybe you should be. Maybe you shouldn’t.

You could continue to share copyrighted songs online, hoping you’ll never be caught.
At the very least, perhaps you should look to the Electronic Frontiers Foundation’s advice on how to avoid trouble (at least take a peek?).

There’s a decent chance you’ll never feel the RIAA’s tap on your shoulder. Plus, the way things are, I have no doubt word will spread quickly on how to cloak file-sharing so the ISPs and the RIAA can’t see what you’re up to.

The bottom line is: Sharing copyrighted material online is against the law.

To quote Dirty Harry, “You’ve got to ask yourself one question: Do I feel lucky? Well, do ya, punk?”