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It was little wonder Apple hurriedly silenced that infamous scathing open letter from Taylor Swift one year ago. The tech giant was adamant not to let even the world’s biggest music star dampen the brand and it’s future shiny offspring. They had seen what she did to Spotify when she pulled her entire music catalogue from them in 2014. She meant business. And we imagine it looked something like this:
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Now, Swift – and a slew of other musicians including U2, Kings of Leon and Paul McCartney – are going after the ostensible YouTube, who maybe should give Apple’s Tim Cook a call.
Artists have signed an open letter to Congress asking for the amendment of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) which oversees copyright online. It’s this rule, the artists say, gives YouTube a “safe habour” from copyright infringement liability as YouTube users can post copyrighted material without consequence at any time. The only time it will be taken down is if a rights holder requests so.
The letter will be published in Washington D.C. publications The Hill and Politico this week where it will ask for “sensible reform”. “We ask you to enact sensible reform that balances the interests of creators with the interests of the companies who exploit music for their financial enrichment. It’s only then that consumers will truly benefit.”
The letter, which is also signed and backed by Sony Music and Universal Music comes at an interesting time as labels renegotiate their deals with YouTube. Such signing indicates a change must happen as YouTube will not want to lose artist material.
Google will hear none of it though. Any claim that the DMCA safe harbours are responsible for a ‘value gap’ for music on YouTube is simply false,” the parent company of YouTube said in a statement. Last year, YouTube Red launched where users can stream videos without ads by paying a subscription fee.
It will be interesting to see how this plays out. But Taylor, don’t think you’ve distracted us from Tom Hiddleston just yet.
