I received the following email from YouTube earlier today:
Dear YouTube Member:
UMG has claimed some or all audio content in your video Pussycat Dolls @ Microsoft CES Party – basic Muvee w/U2. This claim was made as part of the YouTube Content Identification program.
Your video is still live because UMG has authorized the use of this content on YouTube. As long as UMG has a claim on your video, they will receive public statistics about your video, such as number of views. Viewers may also see advertising on your video’s page.
Claim Details:
Copyright owner: UMG Content claimed: Some or all of the audio content Policy: Allow this content to remain on YouTube.
- Place advertisements on this video’s watch page.
Applies to these locations:
EverywhereUMG claimed this content as a part of the YouTube Content Identification program. YouTube allows partners to review YouTube videos for content to which they own the rights. Partners may use our automated video / audio matching system to identify their content, or they may manually review videos.
If you believe that this claim was made in error, or that you are otherwise authorized to use the content at issue, you can dispute this claim with UMG and view other options in the Video ID Matches section of your YouTube account. Please note that YouTube does not mediate copyright disputes between YouTube owners. Learn more about video identification disputes.
Sincerely,
The YouTube Content Identification Team
At first, I was outraged. But at second, I really wasn’t. Why? Well, I *did* choose to use U2’s Beautiful Day for the background music, and I certainly didn’t ask for permission to do so. It would be their right to ask me to stop playing the video with that music in it. Instead, they’re taking ad revenue rights. Considering I wasn’t putting the video up for profit, I really don’t care, and if this allows me to continue using their music in such a way, I call it fair.
I believe this is the right kind of example content companies should set. Suing end-users is just a lose-lose proposition. Becoming ridiculously tightfisted about content use is also a dead-end. But here I’m basically being encouraged by a copyright owner to use their content for my purposes (fun) and yet meet their basic business needs as well (profit).
Here’s the video in question: