http://tech.moneycontrol.com/news/riaa-sues-youtube-users/1526/india/



"Thursday June 15th 2006, 2:45 pm
Filed under: News
By: Jayesh Mansukhani

It seems our friends over at the RIAA just cannot get enough. The latest BS to emerge from there are cease-and-desist letters to Youtube users who have dared to put up videos of things such as themselves dancing to music they haven’t licensed.

Clearly an insanity plea no longer covers the RIAA’s stupidity. From trying to orchestrate illegal takedowns in other countries a la The Pirate Bay to sending cease-and-desist letters to some poor user who has just recorded himself doing silly things to a song no one will even remember a week later. Youtube is all about expressing yourself in your own little corner on the net. Guess with Big Brother watching, soon even putting out harmless videos will become illegal."

A new group of child victims to exploit for cash and prizes.

Since payola is temporarily unavailable, this is about the only way for them to advertise a new song other than the artist getting arrested.

I hope that Youtube will not let RIAA stop them. I guess its up to the courts to look into it and see if they have a case. I do not see how someone can stop someone from doing something that does not relate to RIAA.

perhaps to cover their butts YouTube can obtain a licence to play covers (doesnt Dmusic have one? and what's the correct legal term Im looking for?) however I dont see how dancing to a song or being silly in front of a webcam and then posting it can be seen in the same light as a live band performing cover songs in a bar......

Not the same thing, Wayne.

The RIAA is suing because in the background you can hear their recording. By playing it while the video is recording, you made a copy of their stuff. If it was actually a cover tune that you, for instance, recorded, then the RIAA doesn't own that recording. End of problem.

You can obtain a license to sell copies of a cover tune. That pays the publisher and writer. You can also pay ASCAP/BMI for licenses to cover every song played in a bar.

But so far as I can tell, there's no license to record a cover tune and put it on the Internet if you don't charge for it. I tried to find out. Tried to get approval/denial from the artist. Just annoyed their webmaster, but he did like our version. Technically, we made one copy, so maybe we owe Neil Young eight and a half cents.


The RIAA's music is illegal and every time they catch someone listening to it, they try to sue them. For the life of me, no matter how greed-oriented I try to plot and plan, I do not understand this approach. I don't see how they really expect to achieve anything beyond pissing off even more people.

Wouldn't this be related to what is termed "incidental and fortuitous reproduction" as stated under Fair Use? Weddings are one example. If you are recording a video (not as a professional) to capture the event, but happen to pick up the songs played by the DJ, this would be incidental. Another example is if you are at the beach, and recording a video of your children playing in the ocean, you may inadvertantly pick up the songs being played on a radio.

The intent of these videos is to capture an event or some special occasion, and not to rebroadcast RIAA songs. Of course, I don't know what types of videos they were going after in these lawsuits. I would have thought it was the actual music videos, which makes me wonder does Google have agreements with the necessary parties? They have RIAA videos archived on their site.

Download and save You Tube vids.
http://keepvid.com/

This article floored me. And in response, my record label, Polyvibe Records, has promised free music to anyone who wishes to snub their nose at the RIAA... Post a video of you dancing to any of our tracks on YouTube, and we'll send the first person who posts a link back to us of their video will get a big bag of swag from our label. For more info: http://www.polyvibeentertainmentgroup.com/2006/06/15/no-dancing-to-music-for-you/