The Universal Music Group is set to take on MySpace and You Tube over copyright, alleging that the sites are allowing users to post copyrighted material.
“We believe these new businesses are copyright infringers and owe us tens of millions of dollars,” Universal CEO Doug Morris was quoted as saying.
“How we deal with these companies will be revealed shortly,” he said.
Morris has a point. Universal Music Group does own the copyright of the music and videos of its acts, and it’s pretty obvious that some of the music and videos being posted are violating copyright (some but not all, as some online providers of music and video code have the appropriate licenses).
However, what Morris doesn’t realize is that the world have changed, and it’s not just MySpace and YouTube. Sure, they may recover some damages from these companies, but as many corporations have found, the old rules no longer apply.
Take the example of Napster. Yes the music industry has managed to clean up Napster, but what can it really do about the open-source alternatives, such as Bit Torrent, that have sprouted up as alternatives?
My advice to Morris is that his efforts would be better spent adapting his business model to the new competitive environment, and instead of taking on MySpace and YouTube, he should be turning them into partners. Though, I’ll be the first to admit, that this is easier said than done.
Related:
Responses to “Universal to take on MySpace and YouTube”
November 23rd, 2006 at 9:12 pm
Hey guys,
I have an iMac G5 running tiger 10.4.7 and I an having a wierd problem. Whenever I go to a site that has an embedded youtube, flash or some kind of video, there is no sound. If it a quicktime file there is no problem. There is not sound no matter what broswer I use, firefox, camino, safari, or shiira. And keep in mind that about a week ago I was not having this issue.
Help Would be awesome
Thanks!
September 26th, 2006 at 4:38 am
I think that all these people who wanna sue over using the videos and music to put on profiles should be considered flattering not copyright infringement I think that back in the day when I was a kid and I couldnt afford to buy tapes cause we were poor and I did h ave a recorder and tapes I recorded music for my own personal use NO ONE made these fuss’s back then I think its all about money not princible MY GAWD People arent you rich enough Leave the little guys alone Get a Life if I someone used my poem on there site to there boyfriend as long as they didnt claim it as there own writing I wouldnt have no problem with it. I tihnk its just Pathetic its cause people every where are sue happy how much more can we get and our Government is FUCKED for allowing this Crap to carry on!