YouTube DRMed my video!
December 23, 2008 9:30 PM
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What bullshit! I got an email from YouTube today, letting me know that they'd blocked one of my videos. The backstory is that I used their "AudioSwap" thing on one of my videos. That's a scheme that lets you pick from a list of songs, and YouTube lays them over your video. It's a nice idea: let users pick from a list of licensed, free songs, so that copyright owners can calm down about someone using their music without permission.
Except that they apparently were unable to maintain their license for Tiny Tim's "Tiptoe Through the Tulips." I picked that song to accompany a time-lapse video of NextBus routes, and it worked perfectly until today.
Now, when you try to view my video, it's offline due to a copyright claim. Worse yet, I can't change the audio because it's locked! When I try to edit anything, I get a "blocked by content owner" error. So my video's in limbo, locked up because I trusted YouTube's dumb licensing scam.
Weirdly, though, the embed code still works; even though you can no longer access the video through YouTube's site, you can still embed it in your own. So, without any further ado, here is an ILLEGAL RENDITION of "Tiptoe Through the Tulips."
I tried to play by the rules, stupidly. Next time, I'll just steal the music.
Here's what YouTube has to say for themselves. Note that they say that I can use AudioSwap to pick a new song -- as if I would want to use AudioSwap after learning that it can arbitrarily turn into a kill switch! But of course, even if I wanted to use AudioSwap, YouTube won't let me because the video is blocked. Nice work, YouTube engineers.
Dear mattymatt,
We regret to inform you that the audio in your AudioSwapped video Muni's N Line on 4-10-07 is no longer licensed for use on YouTube. As a result your video has been muted or blocked.
Every day we work to make it as easy as possible for you to watch and share videos. For example, we work with the music community to license your favorite music for you to use on YouTube. But music licensing can be very complicated. The right to use a single song often requires permission from multiple owners, particularly when it comes to original fan-made videos that incorporate commercial music. That said, despite our constant efforts, it isn't always possible to maintain these innovative agreements, as is the case with the song used in your video.
Please visit AudioSwap and select another track from our growing library of prelicensed songs. After you swap, your video will again be available globally.
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