Easy Come, Easy Go: EMI Pulls Video Of Drunk Guy Singing Bohemian Rhapsody, Reinstates It After Backlash
from the can't-do-this-to-me-baby dept
You may have heard the story in the last few days about the really drunk guy, Robert Wilkinson, who was arrested and put in a police car up in Canada, and responded by breaking into song with a complete rendition of Bohemian Rhapsody. If you haven't seen it yet, you're one of just a few people:So what happened? You guessed it. EMI, in its ultimate ridiculousness, issued a takedown for violating its publishing copyright. The immediate outcry actually made EMI back down, with the company saying:
"It seems like a mistake has been made."That's a fun way of indirectly saying "hey, we made a mistake." Suggesting "a mistake has been made" leaves open the possibility that someone else made that mistake. But, in this day and age where the major labels are so quick to shut down anything that doesn't involve them first getting a huge check, perhaps the "mistake" is with the way the law works.
Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.
While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.
–The Techdirt Team
Filed Under: bohemian rhapsody, drunk, queen, youtube
Companies: emi
Reader Comments
Subscribe: RSS
View by: Time | Thread
All that singing...
I like how right at the end he states "physical violence is the least of my priorities." Carry on with the protests good sir, carry on...
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Passive Tone
Why do videos get pulled? Why do homeowners get shot? It's a complete mystery!
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Passive Tone
Try this one on for size:
"Why do homeowners get shot?"
"Science!"
Pretty good, eh?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Passive Tone
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re: Passive Tone
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Passive Tone
Thomas Dolby on line three for you.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Passive Tone
"Why do homeowners get shot?"
"Science!"
I like this response better... "ballistics". Newtonian physics would also work.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Passive Tone
Oh wait... Can I even mention his name? I mean, that might infringe on his publicity rights or something? And didn't he come up with the idea about explaining the unexplainable? Oh crap, now I probably have to pay a license fee as well...
/some kind of mark goes here... or something
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Exactly, the law shouldn't leave it up to some random entity to determine if their own takedown request is valid, the law should require a neutral third party (ie: due process, via a judge) make that determination and it should severely punish those who make bogus takedown requests.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
A mistake was made.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Passive Voice
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
The takedown is valid (not nice, but valid), but leaving it up is the right choice here.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
Probably - and that's a violation of the DMCA takedown requirements. You can't make a sworn legal statement in "good faith" that a YouTube video is infringing without actually watching the video.
The takedown may turn out to be valid, but issuing it based on the title of a video is not.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
The takedown is valid (not nice, but valid), but leaving it up is the right choice here.
You appear not to be familiar with the DMCA. If the takedown was, as you say, by name, then it is not "valid." A valid takedown requires the party issuing the takedown to check out the content and swear -- upon penalty of perjury -- that the content itself is infringing.
I would suggest familiarizing yourself with the DMCA before making statements about how "valid" this is.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Since when does DMCA have a "Disrespectful" Element?
“It seems like a mistake has been made,” said Dylan Jones, a spokesman with EMI in New York.
He said the company often requests videos be pulled from the site if they are “disrespectful,” but it did not in this case.
Er, huh? What? Let's hope that was just the writer's error, 'cause otherwise ...
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Since when does DMCA have a "Disrespectful" Element?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Since when does DMCA have a "Disrespectful" Element?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QOKKWtJoDHg&feature=youtu.be
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Replace "Beelzebub" with "The public" and "a devil" for "awareness" and keep singing the song...
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
spelling mistake
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: spelling mistake
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
pffffft.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Hmmmm
I think it's a little unfair to change the person's name to Robert Wilkinson when we all know this was Marcus Carab after a night of too many appletinis and Twizzlers....
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Hmmmm
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Not just drunk
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Police: We'll not let you go ):
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
Sadly, I was disappointed.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]