I have chose three different recent legal
controversies that associated with my future business plan.
The first article I chose was about a
controversy on Soundcloud’s copyright system.
Soundcloud has introduced a system that automatically removes any track
that is against copyright laws unless authorized by labels. Additionally, Soundcloud incorporated a
three-strike system, which accounts will be deleted after three violations of
copyright infringements. The controversy
has surfaced when well-known producers and DJs including Kaskade, could not
upload their remixes or mash-ups to Soudcloud.
Many times, famous DJs upload their exclusive remix or mash-up of their
works to Souncloud for many EDM fans, however Soundcloud’s copyright system
detects them as copyright infringements and takes them down. Furthermore, a bigger problem is that even
the labels do not want to authorize any mash-up or remix of their artists to be
on Soundcloud. Kaskade explained that he
understands that Soundcloud is trying to keep copyright protected music off
from the site and he knows that Sony owns his music. However, Kaskade is frustrated about the fact
that he could not upload his own remixes and mash-ups for his fans. He said that the labels should adapt and move
along with innovation in music industry, and stop following money.
In my opinion, I think Kaskade well pointed out
the problems of Soundcloud and the record labels today. It is a problem not just for well-known
artists. Soundcloud is a community where
all the amateur artists and DJs share their original music and remixes. Besides their original music, I think
Soundcloud puts too much restriction on remixes and mash-ups. If they cannot use single stem track of
original music, how can they produce remixes or mash-ups? Many amateur artists and DJs build their
careers and reputations through remixes and mash-up. Therefore, if Soundcloud does not willing to
provide such platforms, the artists and DJs will look forward to finding
another platform.
The second article I chose was about, YouTube
facing a $1 billion lawsuit over 20,000 songs.
A conflict began when YouTube announced their launching of a new service
called, YouTube Music Key, which is a music streaming service like Pandora and
Spotify. Global Music Right, a new performance
rights organization holding rights of about 20,000 songs, including songs of
Pharrell Williams, claimed that YouTube lacks performance rights. Global Music Right alleged that YouTube is
not cooperating with the company and clients with requesting higher compensation
of loyalties from streaming services compare to other streaming services.
When I read this article, I felt that our music
industry is slowly moving toward to streaming services from digital download
services. I know that when each song
gets played from streaming services, royalties that songwriters and musicians get
paid is fractions of a penny. Therefore,
I understand and agree with Global Music Right’s viewpoint of asking more
compensation from streaming services for their songwriters. It is true that as our technology develops,
revenues from music sales are decreasing, and it is because people keep
pursuing convenient ways of listening music.
Even I usually listen to music from Spotify just because it is
handy. I think we cannot blame our
innovation in technology for this phenomenon, but instead we need to improve our
songwriter’s performance rights loyalties handled by performance rights
organizations.
The last article I chose was about a privacy lawsuit on Hulu. A group of Hulu’s customers alleged that Hulu violated the Video Privacy Protection Act by sharing names of videos they were watching with Facebook. U.S District Court in San Francisco rejected the claim by saying that the violations did not affected users with changed privacy settings or with anti-tracking systems. In addition, it is due to cookies that allowed information to transfer from Hulu to Facebook. The users information would never been shared if the users cleared their cookies or logged out from Facebook.
Sometimes when I am online on Facebook, I can easily find out what my friends are listening from Spotify through notification pop-ups. Today, if you do not know how to protect your privacy on social medias, anyone can simply access your information. Just like from the article, it is not hard to find out what someone is watching or listening if your privacy setting is on public. I think it is our responsibility now to protect our privacy safe instead of relying on social medias.
The last article I chose was about a privacy lawsuit on Hulu. A group of Hulu’s customers alleged that Hulu violated the Video Privacy Protection Act by sharing names of videos they were watching with Facebook. U.S District Court in San Francisco rejected the claim by saying that the violations did not affected users with changed privacy settings or with anti-tracking systems. In addition, it is due to cookies that allowed information to transfer from Hulu to Facebook. The users information would never been shared if the users cleared their cookies or logged out from Facebook.
Sometimes when I am online on Facebook, I can easily find out what my friends are listening from Spotify through notification pop-ups. Today, if you do not know how to protect your privacy on social medias, anyone can simply access your information. Just like from the article, it is not hard to find out what someone is watching or listening if your privacy setting is on public. I think it is our responsibility now to protect our privacy safe instead of relying on social medias.
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