Music Gestapo

Perun

Perun

His name struck fear into hearts of men
Staff member
I'm illiterate in legal matters, so I'll just let the internet do the talking here:

YouTube shuts out German users in dispute over fees

Hamburg  - Users of YouTube, the online video service, lost access Wednesday to a vast array of contemporary music in Europe's biggest nation after a dispute with a German fees agency escalated.

"This video is not available in your country," said a message when computers connected to the internet in Germany tried for example to open YouTube's Viva la Vida clip by British rock bank Coldplay.

YouTube, which belongs to US company Google and is the world's biggest online video platform, began late Tuesday to gradually block German access to music provided by main labels EMI, Sony Music and Universal and by many smaller recording companies.

It was hitting back against a demand from Gema, a German public agency that collects a performing-right fees, for 1 euro cent per video download. Gema, which has annual turnover of 850 million euros (1.13 billion dollars) represents writers and music publishers.
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(more in the link)

Interestingly, I have had no access restrictions, apparently because I don't log on to "youtube.de" but use UK settings instead. But I have heard people whine about it already.

I personally don't really care, because I hardly ever use Youtube. In fact, I'd even consider it a relief if this means that people will quit spamming me with Youtube links on every single damn instant messenger window (one reason why I hardly ever log on to those things anymore). Nevertheless, it does make me wonder what grotesque kind of bureaucracy forbids labels and artists to publish their own work in a country because a local agency claims that this only causes harm. And of course, I think it's a black day for freedom, even if I hate Youtube.

To make a bad thing even worse, a while ago, Gema also announced that it would demand a raise in live concert royalties, up to 10% per gig (unfortunately, I haven't found any English-language source for that). That obviously means a rise in (already way too high) ticket prices in Germany. Apparently, they are set to rise by 600% in some places, although I have yet to see a reliable source on that number.
 
We had something similar(ish) in the UK a few months back:

YouTube stands by UK video block

YouTube and the PRS, basically, failed to reach an agreement and as such, YouTube started to block videos. Haven't really kept up to speed with this story, but I very rarely get the "This video is not available in your country" message anyway, so I'm none the wiser if they sorted it out or not.
 
I've got the "not available in country" message once, I think, and that was with a Coldplay video.*  But yeah, I don't understand why these record companies and other organisations don't just let people watch the stuff on Youtube, the music gets played on radio, in stores, etc, and it's not downloaded to the computer even.  The music industry is surely one of the most conservative and stuck-in-the-past areas of business nowadays.  Especially since bands themselves seem to be adapting to the internet's role in music.

*Long story, basically trying to prove to a friend that Coldplay sucks.  Not being able to see the video helped actually. :D
 
I don't understand why these record companies and other organisations don't just let people watch the stuff on Youtube, the music gets played on radio, in stores, etc, and it's not downloaded to the computer even.
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Wrong, it's downloaded to your browser's cache.
The HQ setting supports 128kBit/s stereo audio quality. That's something people call "near CD" quality, and basically, putting up whole album on Youtube, is like ripping it into MP3s and sharing it with people.

Not defending RIAA in any way (i hope they die), just setting the facts straight.

By the way, this is nothing compared to stuff we've got here. There's an union of hmm...pop artists. Basically those are a bunch of people that get, overall, most of the airplays, TV appearances, etc. So they're not satisfied with audio piracy, because they lose money and they can't buy Maybach and have to drive pityful Mercedes SL. Anyways, so they drafted a law and the free democratic sovereign bullshit republic of Croatia accepted it.

For every blank CD, DVD, memory card, hard drive, USB flash drive, or any consumer-grade digital medium's price, there's small amount of fee (like 2%) included. That fee goes to the artists union, because you can use the medium to make a pirate copy of the copyrighted stuff.

I just love capitalism and "defense of intellectual property and rights". They can fuck themselves.
Oh i forgot. This is nothing compared to what they've done in Serbia. But i just don't have the nerve to write it right now. Need to have a smoke, asap.
 
Zare said:
Wrong, it's downloaded to your browser's cache.
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And Firefox has a tool to allow you to download and convert the .flv video to .avi (if you so wish).
 
I believe you can convert it into mp3 now as well.  Or m4a if you are so inclined.
 
Zare said:
For every blank CD, DVD, memory card, hard drive, USB flash drive, or any consumer-grade digital medium's price, there's small amount of fee (like 2%) included. That fee goes to the artists union, because you can use the medium to make a pirate copy of the copyrighted stuff.
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They did that in Swden long time ago. Something more recent however, is that record companies are allowed to collect information about IP adresses on the assumption that the said person is downloading something illegal - No proof besides a screeen shot is required.

This will be trialed as a civil court matter where the loosing part will pay for the opposite side's lawyers and even news paper ads where they declarare the outcome of the trial! But they can be reasonable. They'll send a letter to you before they go to court - Pay half of the sum they are suing you for and they won't take legal action. I came across a formula by which the Danish anti piracy buerau calculates the amount. Five small ipods filled with music= 200 000 Euros.

The criminals must think its Christmas or something - Now they can send false extort letters to a random person and hopes he pays out of fear. Though similar laws has been issued in many countries. On the top of my head, Holland, Denmark, probably Germany too. This is not the way to go.

Zare - Is an IP adress really bullet proof, or can they "get the wrong" guy?
 
Yax said:
Zare - Is an IP adress really bullet proof, or can they "get the wrong" guy?
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They can "get the wrong guy" and they often do. They do something similar in the UK where some ISP's will report you for downloading stuff (music, games, films, etc.) and base it on your IP address - but if you find that someone else has jumped on to your router and downloaded stuff, is it really your fault? Not everyone will know how to secure their own router and may fall victim to this scam. And what if you do secure it and some bugger has found a way in - again, is that your fault?
 
Albie said:
Not everyone will know how to secure their own router and may fall victim to this scam. And what if you do secure it and some bugger has found a way in - again, is that your fault?
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I know some computer nerds who say it is. That it's your responsibility to avoid this from happening. Obviously, those are people who spend their entire lives in front of the screen and can't imagine that there are not only people who don't know how to secure your router, but that there are even more people who don't even know that others can log onto yours.
 
For the most part, all you can do is secure it with the tightest encryption your router will allow (my router has three or four different levels of security). It's a bit like locking your car or your house when you leave it - it's all you can do.

A little tip though is to change your router's password and key every so often.
 
Do I just log into my router to do that?  I have mine password protected, but didn't know you could hide it.
 
Yes, you do log on to your router to do that. Look for something about what is called your SSID and it should have something there about hiding it.

A word of warning: once it's hidden and you have to re-enter the key, you just won't find it when you scan for wireless networks. If you know how to key it in manually, then fine. If you don't you have to plug in a cable and unhide it - then scan for it.
 
Ah, well... i have a problem right now of dropping my wireless and having to scan and re-key my password, so I might just stick with that for now.
 
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