5th December 2019 - YouTube Infringements & Pachelbel

Thought for the day :"The other day I got into a fight – but I rolled 20’s so it was okay"

So I am in conversation with Michelle Shocked - or at least her company, thought it is still signed Michelle

Apparently back in the day when I was supporting local music in the Acoustic Circus, a local singer called  Patricia McPalin sang a Michelle Shocked Song at an open mike set up ...  I videoed and marked it up as a Cover and clearly marked who had written the song - I took the trouble to chase it up and find out who it was ....

But when I tried to load up the Frivolita video I found that the channel was blocked and notification that I had a "Strike" against the account for Copyright infringement.

This caused me some consternation as there appears to be no appeal unless you have not got copyright material at all. I acknowledged that it was a cover and normally that means that more adverts go onto the video and it is marked as someone having a claim but it does not affect the channel - but this one is a take down which means that a strike goes against the account - and three strikes mean that the whole site is closed. 

I contacted the email address apparently responsible for the take down request and got an interesting response and not what I expected from a company or person who had decided to enforce a copyright take-down...

May I apologise for any damage caused through an unintended infringement of Copyright in posting a local artist in Open Mic Session doing a cover of your song.

I mistakenly thought that “covers” in this fashion when properly attributed were acceptable and that YouTube would recompense writers and original artists by adding advertisements, as none of my videos are Monetised by myself, not qualifying for my own original material

The Song – Fog Town which is listed on the 1986 Texas Campfire Tapes – was part of my non-profit promotion of local artists, and in a series of similar covers.

I shall ensure that none of your material is used in this fashion again.

While I accept that the “Strike” which Youtube have given me will be removed in Three Months I would be very grateful if you would consider retracting the complaint – the video has been removed and I have deleted the original. Please accept that this was not done with any intention to defraud or undermine any financial return to yourselves. The removal would certainly assist as I have a large number of personal video works which could be at risk of deletion.

I understand that a retraction will remove the “STRIKE” that now appears against my channel – having spent this evening studying the Youtube Guidelines.

Apologies once again

Yours sincerely

Iain Sewell

[Vollsanger - here all week]

and in response

Hello Iain
Thank you for your explanation of the circumstances. We admit we were also naive about how YouTube uses covers on their platform.
We have always encouraged fans to sing Michelle Shocked's songs, and are dismayed by YouTube's violation of trust that naturally exists between a songwriter and her fans.
Can you send a link to request removal of the strike? Please be aware, YouTube usually demands a retraction of our claim. We can't state that there was not an infringement - there was - but we will gladly state that we wish the strike to be removed from your account.
W hope this helps.

Regrets,
Campfire Girl Publishing
on behalf of Michelle Shocked

Well, this did not sound like someone who had sent the first take-down so I did my research and sent the relevant addresses - as it seemed unfair to ask them to do the research - so I did it..

Thank you for your speedy response
I shall do some research to find out how to sort this and get back to you

From the information I have been given it states that you have taken legal action for the take down so there may be a confusion

The video clearly stated that it was a cover and attributed the song..

“More songs from the Greenfield Inn, Llanelli in the Sunday sessions - Acoustic Circus "open mike". Patricia G McParlin sings Michelle Shocked "Fog Town" “

I feel that the correct action is to have a copyright claim – so that it is monetised to the author – but not affecting the video itself …  But thank you for your supporting action.

I shall do some research

For editing purposes – the video location was

https://studio.youtube.com/video/ZtWZiiPQ6qE

https://studio.youtube.com/video/ZtWZiiPQ6qE/edit

regards

iain

Iain Sewell

[Vollsanger - here all week]

And we get a reply - quickly again ..

Hi
The problem isn't concerning whether your video clearly states it was a cover. That is not where the infringement takes place.
The problem is that YouTube doesn't have a license to distribute copyright protected content. They behave like a publisher while deploying an army of lobbyists to Washington to stifle reform of outdated legislation called DMCA Sec 512, which grants them a safe harbor from liability for copyright infringement. With their monopsony abuse of money-as-speech, they then pass the liability along to their content generating users,  while forcing creators to negotiate a minefield of endless whack a mole.
I'm sorry we've both been shoved in the maw of their surveillance/tracking/datamining/copyright infringing criminal racketeering.

Regrets,
Michelle

This again seems quite favourable except they do not seem to have addressed the main request - to put in a retractment...

Thank you for the explanation and your continuing response.

Based upon the links I sent however, they claim that the “Strike” has originated by a request from your email address and earlier you offered to ask for a retraction.
It seems that a retraction must be from the same email address.

The link for retraction request is here :
https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/6005900

This covers all the information needed for removal and retraction

Retraction option is on the right side and leads to this link

https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/2807691?hl=en&ref_topic=9282363

my records show that the video in question is located at
https://youtu.be/ZtWZiiPQ6qE

If you are able to attempt this I would be most grateful as it will allow me to retain control of the site and not risk a sudden withdrawal of 13 years work as an amateur singer song-writer and supporter of local music .

(I am not monetised at all as by the youtube rules I only have 545 followers and do not qualify and make no gains out of the site – only for the support of local talent)

For ease of reference I attach screen grabs of the relevant information

Thank you  

We shall see what happens next ....


In other news...   Pachelbel on Diesel Trains c/o Prague Railways

Sort of needed that 

And with that - I say have a good day 

I intend to got to Scarlet Cord and Secret Monitor - 

Cheers !