Universal CEO Doug Morris calls YouTube and Myspace Copyright Infringers.
Posted September 14, 2006 — in Music News
Universal Music Group Doug Morris has stepped up his ‘rant’ against YouTube and MySpace, accusing them of infringing the copyrights of its artists’ music videos.
Universal CEO Doug Morris described YouTube and MySpace as “copyright infringers” during a Merrill Lynch investors’ conference speech on Tuesday that was closed to the press.
Morris said YouTube and other sites “owe us tens of millions of dollars. How we deal with these companies will be revealed shortly.”
“The poster child for (user-generated media) sites are MySpace and YouTube,” said Morris, according to a transcript obtained by Reuters. “We believe these new businesses are copyright infringers and owe us tens of millions of dollars.”
He added, “How we deal with these companies will be revealed shortly.”
A Call of legal action?
“His remarks strongly suggested the company was planning to take legal action in the near-term to either prevent the illegal use of their content on these Web sites or to ensure the company is compensated for the use of its content,” Jessica Reif Cohen, analyst at Merrill Lynch, wrote in a note on Wednesday. “This could be the first salvo from a content player against business models based on user-generated content, much of which relies on copyrighted material.”
Can’t build a successful business model giving away free products.
Record companies are keen to avoid repeating the mistake they believe they made when Viacom Inc.’s MTV was set up 25 years ago — allowing their artists’ music to be aired for free.
MTV built a billion dollar business airing artist videos and it won’t happen again.
Morris in his remarks to investors on Tuesday said MTV “built a multibillion-dollar company on our (music) … for virtually nothing. We learned a hard lesson.”
What about the American soldiers who are filming amateur videos in Iraq and posting on YouTube? This creates more competition for CNN and Fox.
I watched Tornadoes rip through farm houses on the Weather Channel and Discovery. Now I type in the search box “Tornado” and receive pages of tornado clips on YouTube. This creates more competition for major networks.
I can understand the label perspective of “copyright infringement”, but it’s not realistic especially in the internet age. Legal action is not a cure to the pain as much as building a brick wall won’t stop a 10 mile wide Tsunami. The YouTube idea was genius. Build a site that is ‘user friendly” with a simple search button and call it “Youtube”. No signups, no pop-up advertisements, and a simple search for your favorite video. Every business starts with an idea. One would have thought that labels would have come up with ideas and platforms to expose ‘artists’. The problem is that they are not and everyone else is. That is the reality.
major label…..always with the good ideas.first in not trying new ideas..first in let the other guy take the risk…first in the internet is just a waste of time .first in finding out that people just don’t need labels anymore.
Comment by larry anderson — September 14, 2006 @ 10:07 am
how about finding new talent on youtube / myspace
Comment by real mad — September 14, 2006 @ 11:37 am
cause a&r guys can’t get blow jobs from myspace or youtube.and they would have to listen to the songs.and as we all know all a&r guys are deaf.
Comment by larry anderson — September 14, 2006 @ 7:07 pm
ok labels…all label join together and buy a channel on sat or cable and just show the bands you have.the only advertisment on the channel would be your bands.no reality shows,no 15 minute commercial breaks,just bands live and on video.naw….no one watches tv anymore
Comment by larry anderson — September 14, 2006 @ 7:18 pm
Actually alot of people my age watch tons of TV. Personally, I would watch more TV if there was an actual music TV station for me. Fuse is good, but i dont get it on my cable.
I really dont see the big deal about the article topic though. I see Myspace and Youtube as major exposure for artists. Personally, I see labels getting as much money from it as they would if they sued. I’ve seen a video/song on myspace and gone out and bought their cd the next day, thats making them money isnt it?…
Comment by Andy — September 14, 2006 @ 7:48 pm
This is why myspace and sites like it hurts the artist (especially new ones) as much as the record company itself. Kids stay home a lot more now in the age of computers. Their computers are their life. A lot of them also have decent speakers for their audio. Now if I am a kid and a decent broadband connection and a good set of speakers and I go to myspace and can stream my favorite song without buying it why would I buy it at all? The consumer in general is always looking for a better deal. It’s embedded into us. So I can see why the majors are fretting over these type of sites. So there is no need to buy music when you can stream it for free at home where most people tend to be no a days. Computers have replaced TV as the preferred medium for everything.
The only way that companies and artists are going to benefit from using sites like myspace is to use clips of songs to promote their products. Using full streams is not logical. Speaking from a marketing and revenue perspective. It’s why there are trailers for movies. To tease you. But since anyone can create an account on a site like myspace and upload their favorite songs for everyone to hear it’s going to be a matter of myspace being forced more regularly to police their own sites or face stiff fines. That is going to cost more money for companies like myspace and quite honestly with how the seeds of this battle are being planted I think the majors will win. Either sites like myspace will play ball or they will be shut down. Corporations control everything as it is so there is more then fodder to fuel this storm that’s been brewing for quite a while. They usually win.
I am not saying this in support of either but more just trying to point out the obvious. However it’s the new artist that has a lot ot learn from this. I think it’s a mistake to upload your bands full song if you are tyring to sell a product. Established artist will continue to sell product even while this is happening but for the new artist it’s important to pay attention to what’s going on and how if affects your potential revenue stream. While you may be able to build a loyal fan base on those media sites that allow you to do so. It’s hard to get someone to buy your stuff if they can listen to it for free. So my advice for the artist trying to build a carrer, and again this is only my opinion…….use clips of your songs not the full monty.
The Zipper
Comment by The Zipper — September 14, 2006 @ 10:42 pm
myspace sucks now for bands. because every horrible band out there can record some basement crap recording. Ruining it for the good bands on myspace. So many of the kids now dont even accept adds from bands due to the over saturation.
it’s horrible.
Comment by some guy — September 15, 2006 @ 12:47 am
come on now..you can’t have good bands with out the bad.look.. all bands have the dream of being on x major label.so we can say ain’t we great we’re on a major label.point is times are a changing.the comments above is right.people are using the computer for their entertainment center and not radio or tv.our band is not signed.we released a 12 tune cd.4 of the songs are on myspace. we are having real good sales cause of myspace.and our somewhat home made video on youtube is helping.and merch sales are way up.(guess you can’t down load a t-shirt …yet)we know that we will never see a label deal.but our sales are close to what a small inde would have .myspace and youtube is a way to reach the world.and when your unsigned it’s the only tool we have.myspace.com/ditchwater
Comment by larry anderson — September 19, 2006 @ 1:30 pm