Google seeks to turn a profit from YouTube copyright clashes; Guardian, 11/1/09

Katie Allen, Guardian; Google seeks to turn a profit from YouTube copyright clashes:

Group is working to persuade music and video companies to cash in rather than clamp down when their content is uploaded

"Google is seeking to drag YouTube into profit by convincing music and film footage rights owners to make advertising revenue from their content rather than remove it from the video-sharing site for breach of copyright.

The company has been touting a fingerprinting system for rights holders that means YouTube can identify their material even when it has been altered and made part of user-generated content such as wedding videos or satirical clips.

First developed two years ago, the ContentID system is attracting record labels, TV producers and sports rights owners keen to make more money from the web. Google's computers compare all the material uploaded to YouTube – around 20 hours every minute – against "ID files" from a 100,000-hour library of reference material from the rights holders. The system creates reports of what is viewed where and how often.

Rights holders then have the choice to either block their content or make money from it. That means putting advertising alongside the video and sharing the revenues with YouTube, which takes a small cut. They can also make money by linking to sites selling DVDs, downloads and CDs of the original content.

Google declines to give a number but says the majority of rights holders choose to monetise their content. It points to Mr Bean as a recent beneficiary of the system."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2009/nov/01/google-youtube-monetise-content

Music Industry Lures ‘Casual’ Pirates to Legal Sites; New York Times, 7/19/09

Eric Pfanner via New York Times; Music Industry Lures ‘Casual’ Pirates to Legal Sites:

"Record company executives say there are three kinds of music fans. There are those who buy music, and those who get a kick out of never paying for it. And then there are those whom Rob Wells at Universal Music Group calls “dinner party pirates”: the vast majority of listeners, those who copy music illegally because it is more convenient than buying it.

If those low-level copyright cheats could be converted to using legal music services, the digital music business would get much-needed help. Yet even industry executives acknowledge that until recently, they were not giving those listeners many ways to do what they wanted: to sample new music and to play it back anytime, at little or no cost."

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/20/technology/internet/20stream.html?_r=1&hpw

Boyle Web sensation: A massive missed opportunity?; Associated Press, 5/29/09

Jake Coyle via Associated Press; Boyle Web sensation: A massive missed opportunity?:

"According to rough estimates by the Times of London based on online ad rates, the first Boyle video could have earned close to $2 million with minimal advertising on YouTube.

Eliot Van Buskirk, a writer for Wired.com who has covered this territory, thinks a unique opportunity was missed.

"This video of Susan Boyle is quickly becoming the most viewed video of all-time — and nobody's making money," said Van Buskirk. "It's been sort of a growing pains stage of ad-supported media."

Van Buskirk said the situation showed the need for content creators and distributors to have agreements in place for when a sensation strikes.

"We're still in the early stages — somehow — of media on the Internet," he said.

A percentage of the would-be ad revenue also would have gone to YouTube. Instead, the Google Inc.-owned company has earned little directly from what might become its biggest hit since launching four years ago."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090529/ap_en_tv/us_web_susan_boyle