Google announced this week that it earned record profits, about $1 billion, in the first quarter, 2007. If you’re a musician or band with content posted on YouTube without your permission, you may be wondering, where’s my big payday? You may be wondering, is this the most underappreciated job on this planet?
Unless you’ve been hiding under a rock, Google owns a site called YouTube. YouTube allows users to post videos, oftentimes of content the user doesn’t own. In turn, when you visit YouTube to see the pirated content, Google hopes you’ll click on one or more of the banner ads, thereby generating huge money for the parent owner. Google even figures out what you like to look at and displays banner ads based upon those views.
The problem is, all those clicks equal big money for Google because advertisers pay based upon the number of times their banner ad is displayed and clicked on. Of course, that’s all invisible to you, you just go to YouTube to watch videos. And, although the site is a great way to while away a few hours, no one is really there because of the ads, but because we are all curious to see just what Freddie King really sounded and looked like live in Sweden in 1973.
Too bad Freddie’s surviving wife and children will never see a dime of all that Google ad money. Back in the early 1960s, the story goes, they had to beg for royalties just to make a down payment on a house in Texas. I bet the people that started and run Google don’t have to beg to make the mortgage payments.
I guess that’s the way musicians get treated today anyways. Singles cost no more than 99 cents these days. I paid 40 cents more than that in the late 1970s at the local Woolworth’s. Most peole don’t pay anything. Pirated music is easily obtained, for free, usually by online means. People think nothing of spending 10 dollars to sit in a movie theater and talk on a cell phone, yet won’t pony up a few measly cents to hear their favorite song.
The solution? Federal law allows a pirated musician to notify YouTube in writing of a pirated use. YouTube is then obligated to remove the content, but not on an ongoing basis. A bootlegger can just report, forcing a musician to participate in an endless string of notifications. You’d think a company making a billion dollars a quarter can figure out a way to filter out the offending content. My guess is that Google probably doesn’t want to figure out a way, preferring instead to attract users at Freddie’s expense.
A simple royalty scheme would solve the problem, although I’m sure Google would oppose this. Why would they agree to add an expense to an otherwise foolproof business model of obtaining content for free? Hopefully Viacom’s recent lawsuit versus Google over this issue will sort the matter out. I’m guessing though that Google will delay the case until the last possible moment and then buy its way out of expensive litigation, well before any court weighs in on the matter.
So, what’s Freddie to do?
4.21.2007
4.15.2007
Doesn't Matter If We're Wrong
In my opinion, global warming is real and man made. I’ve seen both the anecdotal photos, video, and reports and have read some of the scientific reports. I believe it is undisputable. But, what if I’m wrong? Are we doing something for nothing?
If global warming is not a man made phenomena, or if it is a natural occurrence for which society can do nothing to stop, I still believe that making an effort to create a greener sustainable world is an effort we should undertake nonetheless. Here’s two reasons.
First, we’ll create more efficiency in our lives and business. Waste equals inefficiency. It’s expensive to throw stuff away. If you buy things you don’t need or can’t use you’ve wasted your money. If what was previously meant for the garbage can ends up not being thrown away, you’ve put that resource to use some other way. That’s efficiency—getting the most out of what you consume. That’s true for both business and everyday life. The answer to avoid the waste heap? Recycle and reuse.
Actually, I think reuse is a much better efficient use of resources than recycling. Don’t get me wrong, recycling, for the 33% of the people in the United States, is a great thing. Recycling reduces the need for expensive landfill space, and it eventually puts a resource to use again. But, recycling takes energy. The waste has to be transported from the discarding point to wherever it is to be transformed into something else. And the transformation uses energy, most often electricity.
Reusing avoids that. No need to transport an item you plan to use for another purpose, no need to use energy to transform it. For example, at Smog Veil, we get tons of demos, magazines, and promotional items sent to us every day. We could throw away or recycle the packaging used to get the stuff to us. Instead, we gather the mailers and use them to process mailorders or shred the stuff by hand and use it in place of Styrofoam peanuts. The process saves us money and avoids the recycling conundrum. Now, that’s efficiency as I described above.
Second, you make the earth a cleaner, greener place to live. Take a look at my previous post where I listed ten things anyone can do for free to take part in the environmental movement. If global warming doesn’t exist or isn’t man made and can’t be stopped, you’ll still benefit from doing one or more of those ten activities. For example, you could buy your food at the mega grocery and help clog our freeways with exhaust spewing trucks, or you can grow a garden or buy at a local farmer’s market and rediscover what strawberries taste like. Continue smoking and driving cars every day for simple errands and feel sick in the end of the day or take a walk, smell the flowers, listen to the birds, and breathe a little easier.
Get the picture? It doesn’t matter if the environmental movement is a fool’s errand because we’ll all benefit anyways from just a little effort.
If global warming is not a man made phenomena, or if it is a natural occurrence for which society can do nothing to stop, I still believe that making an effort to create a greener sustainable world is an effort we should undertake nonetheless. Here’s two reasons.
First, we’ll create more efficiency in our lives and business. Waste equals inefficiency. It’s expensive to throw stuff away. If you buy things you don’t need or can’t use you’ve wasted your money. If what was previously meant for the garbage can ends up not being thrown away, you’ve put that resource to use some other way. That’s efficiency—getting the most out of what you consume. That’s true for both business and everyday life. The answer to avoid the waste heap? Recycle and reuse.
Actually, I think reuse is a much better efficient use of resources than recycling. Don’t get me wrong, recycling, for the 33% of the people in the United States, is a great thing. Recycling reduces the need for expensive landfill space, and it eventually puts a resource to use again. But, recycling takes energy. The waste has to be transported from the discarding point to wherever it is to be transformed into something else. And the transformation uses energy, most often electricity.
Reusing avoids that. No need to transport an item you plan to use for another purpose, no need to use energy to transform it. For example, at Smog Veil, we get tons of demos, magazines, and promotional items sent to us every day. We could throw away or recycle the packaging used to get the stuff to us. Instead, we gather the mailers and use them to process mailorders or shred the stuff by hand and use it in place of Styrofoam peanuts. The process saves us money and avoids the recycling conundrum. Now, that’s efficiency as I described above.
Second, you make the earth a cleaner, greener place to live. Take a look at my previous post where I listed ten things anyone can do for free to take part in the environmental movement. If global warming doesn’t exist or isn’t man made and can’t be stopped, you’ll still benefit from doing one or more of those ten activities. For example, you could buy your food at the mega grocery and help clog our freeways with exhaust spewing trucks, or you can grow a garden or buy at a local farmer’s market and rediscover what strawberries taste like. Continue smoking and driving cars every day for simple errands and feel sick in the end of the day or take a walk, smell the flowers, listen to the birds, and breathe a little easier.
Get the picture? It doesn’t matter if the environmental movement is a fool’s errand because we’ll all benefit anyways from just a little effort.
4.11.2007
America's Favorite Bigot
Every so often, we become so enamored in this country with personalities, that they become immune to criticism. They can do no wrong. They can insult and demean without fear of retribution. They can debase our society and cheapen our way of life knowing that most people will look the other way. Now and then, America loves a bigot.
Recently, Don Imus, of radio and cable network fame, figuratively removed his trademark cowboy hat and replaced it with a hood of a whiter shade, and uttered such demeaning racial slurs while on the air, that I will not honor them with repeating them here. I have seen the transcript of the broadcast, and this was no slip of the tongue. This was a paragraph long conversation with his on-air producer wherein certain accomplished members of our society were completely humiliated.
The initial penalty: 2 weeks suspension from on-air duties, timed to return just at the peak of ratings season. Now, MSNBC has pulled the plug on the television simulcast. CBS Radio and Westwood Radio, the syndicaters of the program have to date failed to act further.
A little background on Mr. Imus is in order. Mr. Imus courts the powerful Washington elite, Republicans and Democrats alike, who benefit from the radio show’s high ratings. Apparently a bit of a firebrand, Mr. Imus takes great joy in offending and trash talking, while politician guests smile and chuckle along.
Mr. Imus is of course free to speak his mind whenever he pleases in whatever manner he pleases. We have a law in this country, a basic principle of our existence, that allows for free speech. But, hate speech?
Don Imus has gone to far. The only way to rectify this matter is for CBS and Westwood to remove him from the airwaves. Never fear, Imus will find an outlet somewhere as I’m sure the white supremecist movement has a radio program that needs a host.
To continue to honor this guy with listenership, advertising, air-time, and politician guests is absurd. No one deserves the insults Imus hurled at the Rutger’s women’s basketball team. No one in our country deserves to be relegated to the garbage heap. No one should be the target of bigots. Incidents like these are what makes the practice of law and civil liberties an honorable profession.
But hey, America sometimes loves a bigot, and MSNBC really loved this guy. Heck, this is the network that lovingly honored America’s favorite child rapist, Mary Kay Letourneau with a soft focus, softball interview smack in the middle of ratings season, without an inkling of the terrible harm of her crime, and with the requisite dose of sexual perverse innuendo.
I’ve heard it said that since rappers use the same exact crude language that Imus used, that Imus should get a pass. Well, two wrongs never made a right.. If CBS and Westwood want to continue this absurd charade, then the way to honor that is by boycott. Corporate America, full of obscene profits, need not continue the obscene humiliations imposed by Mr. Imus. Wake up people.
Recently, Don Imus, of radio and cable network fame, figuratively removed his trademark cowboy hat and replaced it with a hood of a whiter shade, and uttered such demeaning racial slurs while on the air, that I will not honor them with repeating them here. I have seen the transcript of the broadcast, and this was no slip of the tongue. This was a paragraph long conversation with his on-air producer wherein certain accomplished members of our society were completely humiliated.
The initial penalty: 2 weeks suspension from on-air duties, timed to return just at the peak of ratings season. Now, MSNBC has pulled the plug on the television simulcast. CBS Radio and Westwood Radio, the syndicaters of the program have to date failed to act further.
A little background on Mr. Imus is in order. Mr. Imus courts the powerful Washington elite, Republicans and Democrats alike, who benefit from the radio show’s high ratings. Apparently a bit of a firebrand, Mr. Imus takes great joy in offending and trash talking, while politician guests smile and chuckle along.
Mr. Imus is of course free to speak his mind whenever he pleases in whatever manner he pleases. We have a law in this country, a basic principle of our existence, that allows for free speech. But, hate speech?
Don Imus has gone to far. The only way to rectify this matter is for CBS and Westwood to remove him from the airwaves. Never fear, Imus will find an outlet somewhere as I’m sure the white supremecist movement has a radio program that needs a host.
To continue to honor this guy with listenership, advertising, air-time, and politician guests is absurd. No one deserves the insults Imus hurled at the Rutger’s women’s basketball team. No one in our country deserves to be relegated to the garbage heap. No one should be the target of bigots. Incidents like these are what makes the practice of law and civil liberties an honorable profession.
But hey, America sometimes loves a bigot, and MSNBC really loved this guy. Heck, this is the network that lovingly honored America’s favorite child rapist, Mary Kay Letourneau with a soft focus, softball interview smack in the middle of ratings season, without an inkling of the terrible harm of her crime, and with the requisite dose of sexual perverse innuendo.
I’ve heard it said that since rappers use the same exact crude language that Imus used, that Imus should get a pass. Well, two wrongs never made a right.. If CBS and Westwood want to continue this absurd charade, then the way to honor that is by boycott. Corporate America, full of obscene profits, need not continue the obscene humiliations imposed by Mr. Imus. Wake up people.
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