Washing machine chime scandal shows how absurd YouTube copyright abuse can get

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2024/05/washing-machine-chime-scandal-shows-how-absurd-youtube-copyright-abuse-can-get/

by coloneltcb • 2 years ago

69 33 2 years ago

arstechnica.com

contravariant• 2 years ago

And of course the melody is public domain as well, just to add insult to injury.

dylan6042• 2 years ago

That's not how public domain works though. Just because you perform a song in the public domain does not mean that I can use your recording of the performance without your permission for whatever I want. You own the copyright to that performance (if you recorded it yourself). So if I posted something YT and was monetizing the video, I would be making money off of your work. Maybe you wouldn't care, but others will be in their right to care.

taeric7• 2 years ago

And before people simplify this to think it means you own recordings of yourself, contract law is a thing.

eurleif• 2 years ago

1. It's not that simple. There must be sufficient originality in the performance. If you record your orchestra performing the song, that's probably the case. If you mechanically convert a composition to MIDI and then have standard MIDI instruments automatically perform it, that's probably not the case.

2. The copyright claimant wasn't even Samsung. So either the copyright claimant actually infringed Samsung's copyright on the performance (to the extent that such a copyright exists), or their performance is separate from the performance in the video that was detected as copyright infringement, in which case the only thing the two videos had in common was the public domain composition.

darth_avocado• 2 years ago

Social media companies need to be required to have a way to reach customer support. The only reason he got any help was that he was a big enough content creator to be able to raise a stink.

ajsnigrutin• 2 years ago

Not just that, but the person issuing the false copyright claim should be responsibl for all the damages and predicted lost income in case of a false accusation, and that should include the operators of automated systems.

Will your false copyright claim cause someone to lose money? Well, you'll have to pay them back if they prove the claim is false, so better triple check the content for fase positives, fair use, etc., before claiming anything.

freedomben• 2 years ago

Yes, it really blows my mind that this isn't the case. It really shows how unbelievably powerful the "rightsholder" interests are, that they can not only demand one-way accountability, but also get one of the biggest and most powerful corporations in the world to enforce and operate it for them.

jasonjayr• 2 years ago

Youtube should immediately hold any revenue generated by the video in escrow till the dispute runs its course. It sounds like creating a Contentid claim on a video, especially for a popular streamer, will sap all the revenue from the new/fresh video to the claimer, with no recourse for the streamer to get it back if the claim was false.

taeric7• 2 years ago

I mean... If you think it is hard to compete with them now, just wait til you have to field the size team this would require.

I'm sympathetic. I think I even agree. Policy will be tough to craft here, sadly.

drdeca• 2 years ago

What if the law says "social media companies with more than [quantity] in revenue" ?

Or, something to that effect?

jprete• 2 years ago

Customer service is something that doesn't scale well, so requiring good customer service is probably an advantage to small players.

a_random_canuck• 2 years ago

I think this is a major (the only?) reason these internet companies are even successful. Because they just ignore all these costs that don’t scale well that ordinary companies should have.

mangamadaiyan• 2 years ago

Why single out social media companies? All companies need to be required to have a way to reach customer support (that's not a bot).

arp2422• 2 years ago

"A guy recorded his fucking washing machine and uploaded it to YouTube with Content ID," Albino said in a video on X. "And now I'm getting copyright claims" while "my money" is "going into the toilet and being given to this fucking slime."

It's not really clear to me this is an intentional attempt to game anything; that seems like a legit album, and one song is the washing machine chime. Probably just for the fun of it or whatever. It has "Provided to YouTube by MGM", so probably just the general MGM copyright matcher thing doing its thing.

In a way this is even worse, because bad actors gaming the system is always expected to a degree, and can be dealt with. Random obscure videos being marked as "copyright owner" means the entire system is just broken.

croes• 2 years ago

and one song is the washing machine chime.

A song he neither composed nor played.

Wait for my album of Taylor Swift's greatest hits.

arp2422• 2 years ago

Eh? It's public domain, as the article mentions. They're allowed to do that and there's nothing wrong with it.

type0• 2 years ago

The song was composed in 1817 and is in the public domain

so google doesn't acknowledge the existence of public domain on youtube

renegat0x0• 2 years ago

No it doesn't

https://www.theverge.com/2024/1/5/24026433/mickey-mouse-stea...

OutOfHere• 2 years ago

Those who worship the copyright system deserve all of the pain that comes with it. Maybe try not monetizing your video if it is so important.

Washing machine chime scandal shows how absurd YouTube copyright abuse can get

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