I thought I'd share something that happened very recently. Happily, it was resolved easily with a few emails but I'll present the situation as it happened before the resolution.
I'm sure a lot of you are like me in that one of the worst, most insulting and enraging things in life is to be accused of something you didn't do. Nothing gets me thinking of doing violence quite like false accusations !
So, imagine my joy when I receive a notification from Youtube to say one of my videos was taken down on behalf of Warner Music Group. It was one of the songs I'd written for The Reckoning: Vigilante. My first thoughts were "How ? It was just cheap, badly edited handheld camera footage ?" I guess there was no way the imagery could be confused for anything pre existing so it must be a case of the music itself.
I read through the necessary BS that comes with a copyright infringement notification; If you get 2 more strikes, your account will be suspended, no longer able to monetise videos etc.. ok, whatever. Now if I had willingly used material that was from something pre existing and the copyright holders made me aware that they wanted it removed then I would do so willingly. Fair enough. But to remove something immediately with no prior warning of any suggestion of infringement gives one no chance to defend themselves against a case of misidentification. And gives you a 'bad standing' status with your YT account.
Now if I want to dispute this claim I have to submit a counter notification. Ok, I can do that but be warned, if I submit a claim falsely then I will be liable to get my ass sued. I know that I'm not submitting it falsely but somebody with more clout than I have could still decide I was in the wrong, even if I wasn't. So in their eyes I've submitted a false claim even though I haven't. I'm not saying that would definitely happen but it could. And that's enough to put anyone off the idea of making that counter notification. How many YT users can afford to go to court with this stuff ? So, if they manage to scare you off the idea of making a counter notification then the only choice you have is to put up with it and accept the black mark against your account.
I've contacted the claimant directly with the hope of sorting it out amicably because I know they've made a mistake. They've made the claim relating to some band on a label owned by WMG. I know the band hasn't got anything to do with it, I've got no issues with them. But a quick bit of research tells me that their first album was released in 2013, a year after my song 'Vigilante' was made public. (I wrote the song in 2011). I later saw they released an EP in 2011 but apart from scanning the song titles, I can't see anything that could possibly relate to my material.
I wrote the song partly because of the London riots, all the looting and general idiotry that was going on. I definitely didn't take any ideas from any other songs or media creations.
I'm sure some of you have been through a similar situation. Nothing hits you in the gut quite like the feeling of a big corporation reaching out from the void and touching your life. It feels personal, even though it isn't. Thankfully I got it sorted but for a short while I was full of the typical feelings of injustice, prepared to fight tooth and nail etc.
So, my thoughts today are about plagiarism
In music, we know that we borrow ideas and are influenced from each other. That's how it works. Just like language. It requires each other to blossom over the decades and centuries.
So, we have the obvious points of subconscious influence and cultural influence. Then there's the subject of paying tribute to something. Movies do it a lot. You might see a reference to some other famous piece of work, inserted into a movie as a mark of respect. It can also happen in music too.
When does something stop being an obvious reference to something and when does it become plagiarism ?
obviously, when those with enough money , say so
Sadly, as CRSN mentioned, those with the gold and the lawyers often make the rules which can be frustrating for the rest of us. The whole thing sounds like a crap deal to me. Youtube uses visual pattern matching algorithms to make these accusations and keep the majors happy.
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