About Me

My photo
Orlando, Florida, United States
I am a graduate from the University of South Florida, with a degree in English and American literature, as well as professional/technical writing. I am a graduate student at Full Sail University-- seeking a Masters in Entertainment Business. My background includes blogging, social networking, branding, creative and strategic marketing, advanced technical communication, etc. I am currently writing my first book and look forward to this new platform for conveying my thoughts, ideas, and observations.

Thursday, July 21, 2011

YouTube Suspends Lady Gaga


The most popular woman on YouTube found herself in a little trouble recently. According to Gil Kaufman of MTV News (2011), Lady Gaga had her account suspended on July 14th for “violating YouTube’s Copyright Policy” (¶2).

It all began when Lady Gaga’s official YouTube account posted a video of a performance where the pop star performed with Japanese boy band SMAP on Fuji TV’s “SMAP x SMAP.” The video shows the band dancing with Lady Gaga’s dancers during a performance of “Born This Way”. The problem? Lady Gaga’s team did not secure the digital rights to post the performance. Consequently, YouTube received a takedown notice from Media Interactive Inc. (¶3-4).

The problem Lady Gaga’s team faced is a problem many YouTube users have encountered—you cannot use audio and video that you don’t have appropriate licenses and/or permission to use. If you were working on a special project and you would like to include an artist’s music there are ways to get the needed licenses. First, research what type of license your project requires, then check out the websites for ASCAP and BMI for information on what steps to take and the financial obligation.

The MTV News story about Lady Gaga’s YouTube suspension discusses a very minor consequence of posting content without proper permission. In many cases, a situation like this would result in more than a cease and desist—possibly a lawsuit claiming copyright infringement or intellectual property violations.

The Queen of YouTube has been compared to icons, such as Madonna—and with the sold-out shows, interesting fashion, and provocative lyrics—its no surprise as to why. Lady Gaga has racked up more than a billion YouTube views, so chances are this suspension was more of an annoyance to her fans than Lady Gaga herself; however, for the average YouTube user, it is important to understand and obey copyright policies or you might be standing on the edge of glory a lawsuit.

Photo Courtesy of: Paul Flynn (Flickr)

Source:

Kaufman, G (2011). “Lady Gaga’s YouTube account suspended.” MTV News. Retrieved on July 21, 2011, from http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/ 1667242/lady-gaga-youtube-suspended.jhtml. 
Posted by at

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)