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What’s with copyrighted music on YouTube?
Today I received a call from a large medical facility. They want to use the song Happy from Pharrell. They referred me to other hospital videos on YouTube that used that song.
Of course I told them it’s illegal to use copyrighted music, and for us to produce a video synced to that song. Yet there are several versions of videos for large companies using that song on YouTube. I’m shocked!
How is this possible?
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7 Replies
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[Greg Ball] “…there are several versions of videos for large companies using that song on YouTube….How is this possible?”
I can only envision one of two scenarios as to how that is possible…
1) They paid for the usage rights
or
2) They simply haven’t been caught…. yet
There’s at least one national spot that I can think of that uses “Happy”… and they no doubt paid for the rights, and paid big (but Big Pharma can afford it). But even they don’t use Pharrell Williams’ version…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8XenPb1swfc
On an unrelated note, would one of you who is more contract-savvy than me please review Pharrell’s deal with the devil?… I’m very curious about the details. He has not aged a day in 15 years.
T2
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Todd Terry
Creative Director
Fantastic Plastic Entertainment, Inc.
fantasticplastic.com
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I agree with Terry’s assessment. Why not just call the hospital marketing departments that are using them and ask how they got the rights? They’d likely tell someone in the industry if asked.
Al
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The down side of Pharrell’s deal is he has to wear those hats.
BTW, “Happy” was first offered to Cee-lo Green, but his management said it wasn’t a “good direction” for his career or something to do with it not being “gangsta” enough and too “fluffy”.
If you said; “Cee-lo WHO?!?!” You now understand just how critical that choice was.
A bad person would file complaints against the other hospitals with you tube, get the music yanked.
A bad person would.
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[Mark Suszko] “The down side of Pharrell’s deal is he has to wear those hats.”
But the upside is that he gets free Arby’s.
I’m a fan, actually somehow he makes it work, as silly as it is. I once saw Pharrell performing at a formal event, and his tuxedo pants were shorts… well, more like capri pants. Somehow he pulled it off.
[Mark Suszko] “A bad person would file complaints against the other hospitals with you tube”
Yes, a bad person would. Bwaaahaaa haa haa <–evil laugh
T2
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Todd Terry
Creative Director
Fantastic Plastic Entertainment, Inc.
fantasticplastic.com
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Hopefully we can have someone who knows something about how YouTube handles music contribute to this conversation. We always use licensed music and it seems to always get challenged and we have to jump through a few hoops to prove that we, in fact, have rights to the music.
BUT… I believe there are some instances where pop music is accepted provided a link to purchase said tune is shown with the video. I think it’s a good bet that this is the case with only some of the older, lesser known pieces and there would be no possible way to do this with say a Beatles’ song.
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Here is a story about it from TechCrunch. https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/3376882?hl=en
It sounds like copyright holders can put their songs in the ‘ad supported’ program at YT which seems like it means people can use the song on YT, but they can’t monetize it (the money generated by the ads goes to the rights holder). Pharrell’s “Happy” is one of the songs in the ad supported program.
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[Nick Griffin] “Hopefully we can have someone who knows something about how YouTube handles music contribute to this conversation. We always use licensed music and it seems to always get challenged and we have to jump through a few hoops to prove that we, in fact, have rights to the music.”
I’ve had the same experience, over and over and over. They seem determined to put ads on my videos even though I’m using licensed music. As far as I can tell, YouTube doesn’t care if you use copyrighted music as long as they can monetize it.Jason Jenkins
Flowmotion Media
Video production… with style!Check out my Mormon.org profile.
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