YouTube Cracking Down on Posted Videos
Posted: Fri Jan 23, 2009 6:46 pm
A couple weeks ago I read on a news site that YouTube is really gonna start cracking down on content that is posted, especially those that contain copyrighted material. In the article they stated that the videos would still be available to view but that they would mute audio (which I thought was a little strange to begin with); now that doesn't seem to be the case anymore.
Last week I had my Runaway Train music video that I made in high school removed (not deleted) because it contained the song, everything else was created and edited by me. I wasn't even given a notice that it was a possible candidate for removal. In my email I received that it had been removed stated that all videos can be eligible for removal whether they contain the whole song or just a small clip of it.
Since it seems you don't get any prior notice that it would be removed, it makes it even a bigger disappointment is to those who don't make backups or save their videos, because they don't think it posting something like that would even think it being a candidate for possible deletion (I know I wasn't).The only option YouTube is giving users to put videos back up is to replace the whole audio in the video unless you have a bunch of legal consent and/or permissions; (in my case from Sony/Columbia who own the rights) otherwise the video may be deleted. My video also contained spoken audio which the only way of replacing would be to find my backup copy (or re-rip the video from my original VHS tape) and edit the spoken audio in with another song. This removal would also apply for videos that have voice overs interlaced with songs, so you definitely couldn't restore those easily.
While YouTube has had a disclaimer for quite some time about what is allowed and not (concerts, official music videos, TV/DVD shows, sporting events, etc.), but what is not allowed almost seems what makes up half of YouTube's content and why the site has become one of the most visited sites on the internet. I guess this is what happens when one of the biggest companies buys your site, though I guess it could happen to anyone; Napster anyone?
Unfortunately what this "cracking down" process may lead to is all the footage of live performances (even all the Lima videos), television performances (MTV, Letterman, etc.) of Soul Asylum being eligible candidates for removal. I'm not exactly how the order of the removal/deletion process works; it must be random, because the live performances under my account are still up (yes I'm guilty of posting a few).
While I do understand some of the legal issues behind this (albeit insane) I think the whole situation is getting a little crazy. I had a feeling that something like this might be coming due to reading articles about it over time; I definitely didn't see it leading this way. I'm sure this comes to somewhat of a disappointment to the many users and the visitors of YouTube.
Although the removal process will probably be slow, but just to be safe; if you do have videos (or those you like viewing) that you think might be eligible for removal/deletion, you may want to grab them as soon as you can by using this site (which allows you to save the YouTube videos to your computer).
(Damn, I didn't realize I wrote THAT much text.)
Last week I had my Runaway Train music video that I made in high school removed (not deleted) because it contained the song, everything else was created and edited by me. I wasn't even given a notice that it was a possible candidate for removal. In my email I received that it had been removed stated that all videos can be eligible for removal whether they contain the whole song or just a small clip of it.
Since it seems you don't get any prior notice that it would be removed, it makes it even a bigger disappointment is to those who don't make backups or save their videos, because they don't think it posting something like that would even think it being a candidate for possible deletion (I know I wasn't).The only option YouTube is giving users to put videos back up is to replace the whole audio in the video unless you have a bunch of legal consent and/or permissions; (in my case from Sony/Columbia who own the rights) otherwise the video may be deleted. My video also contained spoken audio which the only way of replacing would be to find my backup copy (or re-rip the video from my original VHS tape) and edit the spoken audio in with another song. This removal would also apply for videos that have voice overs interlaced with songs, so you definitely couldn't restore those easily.
While YouTube has had a disclaimer for quite some time about what is allowed and not (concerts, official music videos, TV/DVD shows, sporting events, etc.), but what is not allowed almost seems what makes up half of YouTube's content and why the site has become one of the most visited sites on the internet. I guess this is what happens when one of the biggest companies buys your site, though I guess it could happen to anyone; Napster anyone?
Unfortunately what this "cracking down" process may lead to is all the footage of live performances (even all the Lima videos), television performances (MTV, Letterman, etc.) of Soul Asylum being eligible candidates for removal. I'm not exactly how the order of the removal/deletion process works; it must be random, because the live performances under my account are still up (yes I'm guilty of posting a few).
While I do understand some of the legal issues behind this (albeit insane) I think the whole situation is getting a little crazy. I had a feeling that something like this might be coming due to reading articles about it over time; I definitely didn't see it leading this way. I'm sure this comes to somewhat of a disappointment to the many users and the visitors of YouTube.
Although the removal process will probably be slow, but just to be safe; if you do have videos (or those you like viewing) that you think might be eligible for removal/deletion, you may want to grab them as soon as you can by using this site (which allows you to save the YouTube videos to your computer).
(Damn, I didn't realize I wrote THAT much text.)