Bands, labels and artists… we need to have a little talk about YouTube. Specifically, the absence of your official and legitimate releases on YouTube uploaded by you so that royalties go to the bands.
Like many of us, I work in an office. There are many like it, but this one is mine. I have a computer where I am expected to do work. But who is fooled? Most “work” gets done in a few hours in the morning, and the rest of the day is dodging meetings and doing paperwork.
While I have this sort of expensive computer, fat internet access, and these nice Harmon/Kardon speakers, I like to put all this high technology to use as a $4 radio. A $4 radio where I can choose what the DJ plays.
I use YouTube to find music, like many others. The reason is simple: almost no workplaces filter YouTube, and no evidence is left behind. I am not keeping pirated music on my computer and I am not pirating music. I am watching videos. True, these videos seem to feature only the cover image of an album while music (just coincidentally from that album) plays. But nonetheless, technicallyTM they are videos.
Many of you do the same.
I have a problem with this situation. When I want to check out, say, an early death metal classic, I type it in the search blank on YouTube. Then a video comes up. But it does not belong to the band, the label, the musicians, their family, dogs or friends. It belongs to some random guy named “BronyThugLife69” from Hoboken.
Why does this matter? As I type this email, the Deicide video I am enjoying has 132,068 views. At the royalty rate that YouTube pays, which is about 1/10 of a cent per play, that means BronyThugLife69 has earned over a thousand dollars for this video. He’s making bank for the simple act of pasting a cover image onto an MP3, uploading it to YouTube and not getting busted.
Now I click on BronyThugLife69’s profile. Oh look — he has not ten, not a hundred, but a thousand videos. It takes about five minutes to paste ten MP3s and a cover image into a video creation program, save to WMV, and upload to YouTube. If only a hundred people click on each of his videos per month, he’s making a professional salary.
Now, you may ask, why do I not simply upload my own versions of my favorite bands?
Unlike BronyThugLife69, I do not want to make money from someone else’s work. This band wrote the music, got a record contract, recorded the album, promoted it and toured on it. They deserve the money. I could always upload videos without receiving compensation, but that is a boring hobby and I get nothing from it.
Since YouTube is unlikely to go away in the near future, people like me will continue to use it. Bands and labels should, instead of blowing off this opportunity, upload their own albums and make sure the checks go to the band. If they are too lazy to do this, I will do it for them for a royalty of ten percent of their royalties.
This is not difficult. People will listen to your music either way. You can take it down, but that requires constant vigilance because someone else will in turn upload the missing Deicide video. If the band uploads it, the cash goes directly to them.
Is YouTube piracy? Probably, but not really. Most of us are checking out new music or listening to favorites we own back at home. We don’t care that the sound quality is not good. Most will use earphones, or these tiny desktop speakers, because we are in noisy environments or quiet ones and we have to hide the evil devil metal we are enjoying from our coworkers who might exorcise and eviscerate us if they knew.
If you bands and labels could get your act together and upload your own stuff, you would enable me to enjoy guilt-free listening to classics while I file these TPS reports. Me, and millions of other faceless workers at anonymous jobs in generic companies across the world, would really appreciate it.
Who the hell wants people listening to their music through Youtube compression? That shit makes Mp3s look good.
DeaR Cory Van der Pol:
Fuck you.
I’ve a wife and kids to support and my livelihoot depends on this here income of teh you tubes. so wHy dont you just fuck off. I bet yalls here are a bonch of elitists with good paychecks. I am poor and trying to make an honest livin. you have no concideration for anyone elses but yourselfs huh? I smash yo face!
Sincery
BronyThugLife69
Hey [redacted], here is a song with you in mind: https://viranesir.bandcamp.com/track/kaos-ii-set-poor-people-on-fire
Dear,
Mr. BronyThugLife69 despite you are living a life from your youtube account but you hold no ground here, it’s a shame that you are not guilty !!! All the words from “Cory Van der Pol” makes sense because all those underground bands deserve this extra cash to live on and make great music..Unless you are running something official or on behalf of the bands you don’t deserve this cash, without any doubt bands and musicians deserve this,,though i know underground metal musicians don’t care about this and you peoples earning money in the name of sharing this music. Don’t give excuses that you are promoting this great bands cause they were promoted highly by zines and individual trading and will be promoted eternally from the souls. Mr. BronyThugLife69 at least you should share some of your earnings with the bands in near future. I appreciate your effort but you should be true and loyal.
Greatly appreciate this awesome time-worthy article from great “Cory Van der Pol”,,,you deserve applause for posting this article,,,All the bands and respective record labels really need to open their official account’s where they promote old and new full albums or other releases,,at least by this way fans like us wouldn’t be misinformed, we will be able to listen originals thus support all the great musics.
Underground never dies.
You know who pisses me off on YouTube? Retards who lip sync Taylor Swift and the millions of douchebags that click on their videos and give them moral encouragement for being different. I wish the powers that be would take Brett Steven’s advice and legalize murder, enabling me to take action, kill these retards and pay their families the $4.99 that their lives are worth.
Even better, we need to find people who like such things and exile them to some other society. Or even better, another planet. Let Planet Mediocrity solve its own problems.
Everyone already lives there, bro.
Ye gods, it’s true.
Brothers, fellows, hessians… I think I’ve managed to track down the original goatse man so if anyone’s interested I plan on forcing him at gunpoint to show the goatse while simultaneously engaging the high-art of the booty dance on camera. It will be a world first true, It will break new ground true. And aye, we are all kind of degenerate for even being here anyway, we are all wasting our lives, we deserve all possible variations of a sorry fate and you know it.
But will there be sodomy afterwards? No point in him spreading his arsecheeks if someone doesn’t fill it with his impressive girth.
You’re not herein wat am saying friend… The guy will be pullin the famous GOATSE while twerkin that pretty little thang like a fuckin maddog… and on Kamera mind you!
::who would have thought metal would come to this::
I doubt BronyThugLife69 will make any money off of Deicide… Let’s be honest, YouTube is probably pretty diligent about who they’re gonna pay, and according to YouTube’s Partner Program Policies:
“Own commercial-use rights: Make sure you have all the rights to the content submitted for monetization including all audio and video elements.
Be able to provide documentation proving you own commercial rights to all audio and video content, whether they belong to you or a third-party.”
In any case, the point stands that if the (good) bands/labels haven’t already created YouTube accounts to share their music (and profit from it), they probably should.
Mr T Hug-Life made $132.07 ≠ $1000
I’m not pedantic by nature, I just enjoy it.
Good, positive idea though. I wonder why the metal labels haven’t thought of it already. It shouldn’t be too hard for them to have a guy keeping watch when non-sanctioned channels upload one of their tracks, who then just tells youtube to take it down.
Though if a label makes say $2 per CD, they would need 2000 views before they have made the same dough they would get from 1 CD sale. The thought of that may be too much for them. It might work as long as it was done on a track-by-track basis. But for the more underground bands, there are probably only a couple of thousand people in the world who would watch the vids, so it still might not make that much. But, like you say, people are going to do it any way, so the labels might as well have a go.
Its been said that shitty conditions produce good art. Why not put this to a test and see if it holds true? Throw some artists, musicians, etc into forced labor camps and see if it would both boost the economy and create good art.
YouTube payout rates are much lower than that, and only if the channel is monetized. It’s almost negligible. Albums are going to end up on YouTube anyway, so I’d rather see a band/label upload it in decent quality.
The Harmon/Kardon speakers are very underrated. The ones that Dell packaged with enterprise desktops are really good and lack the low-end punch that can be heard in other rooms, but they’re very nice speakers.