Well, I was hoping my next post a) wouldn’t take so long, or b) would be about something else, but here goes.
Corporate bigwigs can go play in traffic.
I’m specifically talking about the hooligans at Cass County Music, who recently have filed a copyright infringement complaint about my cover of The Eagles’ song “Best of My Love” https://laptopsessions.com/best-of-my-love-eagles-cover/. If you go to Youtube and try to watch this video, you are out of luck.
However, watching it through this site still works somehow.
But anyway, seriously. Why the heck would a company not want you to watch user created covers of these songs?
What’s next? No more cover bands at lounges unless royalties are paid for each song played?
It’s pretty ridiculous. I even got a Youtube email saying that further copyright infringements may lead to account banning.
Whatever. I’ll deal. You guys that come to our site are so wonderful that I am not going to take down my 170 video catalog just because one guy in a ten gallon hat in a shack thought my cover version somehow was causing them to lose money.
Hopefully it won’t be a big deal.
Jeff,
This happened to me and I BEAT IT!!
You can make a dispute on YouTube. You need to cite the Fair Use Act. Basically, it proves that you are not doing it to make any money and that the performance is for entertainment purposes only.
When you click the “Dispute” button (you’ll see it when you log in), enter in all the pertinent information and then paste this in the “Reason” area:
“Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for “fair use” for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Non-profit, educational or personal use tips the balance in favor of fair use.”
That’s how I got my “Heroes and Villains” music video back online! Good luck, man- don’t let it phase you. Never let the “man” bring the Laptop Sessions down!!
~Jim
I just got hit with this for “Love Minus Zero/No Limit” — if they accuse me of infringment for ALL my Dylan covers… well, let’s just say my total number of videos will take a significant hit. Ridiculous.
I can’t find the “Dispute” button, and this is what has been posted on the YouTube Copyright Tips page:
“What is copyright infringement? Copyright infringement occurs when a copyrighted work is reproduced, distributed, performed, publicly displayed, or made into a derivative work without the permission of the copyright owner.”
Are we really going to have to file official DMCA Counter Notifications for ALL of our videos???