Elton John, Anti-YouTube Crusader, Partners With YouTube For Public Music Competition

from the oh-ok dept

Elton John is no stranger either to crazy suggestions for how the internet should be or to flip-flopping on those very same suggestions. For example, he once suggested that the whole internet should be shut down for half a decade in order to foster better musical acts (seriously), then years later he was on a list of artists seeking to keep music pirates from being kicked off of that same internet he wanted shut down, until shortly after that list came out when he was totally behind kicking people off of the internet again.

Well, here we go again, it seems. Earlier this year, Elton John joined other artists in asking Congress to remove safe harbor protections, with a specific eye on YouTube. Shortly after, he also signed onto a letter sent to several ranking EU officials complaining about record label music appearing on YouTube and suggesting that artists weren't being paid enough by the video-sharing site for their content. Which brings us to the present, where we come across Elton John's YouTube video revealing a public music video contest on YouTube, sponsored by YouTube.

‘Elton John: The Cut’ will launch at YouTube’s end-of-year show Brandcast, hosted by James Corden today (December 12), with entries officially opening to the public on January 9, 2017.

Elton John said: “We’re excited to partner with YouTube to bring together generations of artists and music lovers around a shared passion for storytelling. YouTube is a rich tapestry of creativity, and I can’t wait to see how the breadth of talent from the dance, live-action and animation communities apply their vision to these cherished songs.”

YouTube is a rich tapestery of creativity? I mean, I don't want to ding someone who appears to have come around on a more sensible point of view, but this is a far cry from "let's turn off the internet for five years." Not to mention that this partnership with YouTube flies in the face, or at least seems to muddle, the claims that the platform is some kind of problem for musical acts. If anything, this partnership shows how valuable YouTube can be and is for musical artists looking for new avenues to get their music noticed, sponsored, and to engage with the public. It's exactly the kind of thing that YouTube is good for...and has been good for dating back to Elton John's several screeds against it.

And it's quite nice to see that YouTube's involvement appears to be aimed at spawning further creativity.

YouTube’s support provides applicants with funding and use to of the YouTube Space production facilities. The production of the final music videos will be supported by Pulse Films – makers of Beyonce’s Emmy-nominated “Lemonade” film. YouTube will also award the prize fund of ten thousand U.S. dollars to the winning creators to support future video-based creative projects.

I truly hope that one of music's most famous voices has managed to come around and realize that the internet and YouTube are not enemies, but tools for music acts. It's just that the speed at which the flip-flopping is occurring is somewhat jarring.

Filed Under: business models, elton john, internet, platforms
Companies: youtube

Legacy Artists Sign Letter Demanding ISPs & Search Engines Pitch In To Return Them To Their Former Glory

from the because-when-I-think-underpaid,-I-think-Simon-Cowell,-Elton-John,-etc. dept

In what one can only assume was the result of a long weekend retreat at an exclusive resort, various British artists have banded together to post an open letter to, well, who knows? The open letter, signed by several beneficiaries* of the recording industry, calls for the British government to make with the three strikes and such already. Apparently, these artists feel that the badly drafted (and hastily approved) Digital Economy Act is taking far too long to implement. In the meantime, millions of pirating pirates are pirating millions of pounds right out of their pockets. 

*The full list of signatories includes Simon Cowell, Roger Daltrey, Professor Green, Sir Elton John, Lord Lloyd-Webber, Dr (?) Brian May, Robert Plant, Roger Taylor, Tinie Tempah and Pete Townshend. With a few exceptions, we're looking at artists that have re-sold albums on vinyl, eight-track, cassettes, CDs, SACDs and digital.

The letter touches all the right political nerve endings, starting with the British "creative sector:"

As the world's focus turns to Britain, there is an opportunity to stimulate growth in sectors where Britain has a competitive edge. Our creative industries represent one such sector, which creates jobs at twice the speed of the rest of the economy.

Considering the "creative sector" involves everyone from songwriters to bagboys, it can probably be safely stated that the "creative industries" create jobs faster than whatever few industries remain once the "creative sector" finally closes the tent door. 

Next there's a bit of talk addressing trade deficits... or something:

Britain's share of the global music market is higher than ever with British artists, led by Adele, breaking through to global stardom. As a digitally advanced nation whose language is spoken around the world, Britain is well-positioned to increase its exports in the digital age.

No sooner are we assailed with the news of an impending if-only British Invasion than the authors begin conflating piracy with consumer confusion:

We can only realise this potential if we have a strong domestic copyright framework, so that British creative industries can earn a fair return on their huge investments creating original content. Illegal activity online must be pushed to the margins. This will benefit consumers, giving confidence they are buying safely online from legal websites.

"Fair return," eh? Well, one man's "fair" is another man's "month's worth of income." If you start with phrasing that makes your musical exports sound more like a colonizing force than a gift to the world, you need to be careful about what you assume is a "fair" return on your investments. Even domestically, people got a tad touchy when asked to shell out several pounds for a couple of decent tracks and 45 minutes of filler. Didn't seem all that "fair" back then, but we never heard Roger Daltry, Brian May, Elton John et al. complaining.

And as for the "buying safely online..." Well, that's just like ICE saying it needs to shut down file lockers because consumers might purchase faulty counterfeit fire alarms. For the most part, people engaged in "not paying" for their music and movies have confidence in their safety. It's not that people aren't buying because the pay options aren't "safe." They're not buying for any number of reasons. The content is over-priced. The content is "not available" for purchase due to licensing and region restrictions. The content is crippled with DRM. Sometimes they're not buying simply because they don't want it, but in the eyes of many in the industry, a drop in sales is always due to copyright infringement.

After half-assedly coming to the "aid" of the beleaguered consumer, the collective classic rock hydra turns on the faces of the internet itself:

The simplest way to ensure this would be to implement the long-overdue measures in the Digital Economy Act 2010; and to ensure broadband providers, search engines and online advertisers play their part in protecting consumers and creators from illegal sites.

By "protecting" consumers, they of course mean "cut off service," "serve with threatening letters," "allow certain industries to alter search results" and "punish fiscally without showing evidence of damage." Yes, nothing would send the masses back, money in hand, to the welcoming arms of the recording industry than giving each accused pirate (based on nothing stronger than an IP address, of course) the opportunity to spend their own time and money attempting to prove a negative. I imagine historians and economists will discuss the sudden spike in music sales resulting from the implementation of the Digital Economy Act for years to come, holding it up as a triumph of enforcement over reality. The recording industry will party like it's 1999 (except, like, if Napster had never happened).

They wrap up the open letter with a heartfelt plea:

We are proud of our cultural heritage and believe that we, and our sector, can play a much bigger role in supporting British growth. To continue to create world beating creative content, we need a little bit of help from our friends.

Hmm. "Friends." Well, it can't be the consumers. And it certainly can't be the ISPs and search engines (which really just means Google). So, these "friends" must be politicians. And if you can't "get by" without a little help from those friends, should you really be in business anyway? 

Filed Under: andrew lloyd-webber, blame, copyright, elton john, enforcement, pete townshend, roger daltrey, roger plant, simon cowell, three strikes, uk

Elton John Flip Flops: Kicking People Off The Internet Is Good! No, Bad! No, Good!

from the does-he-even-know-what-he's-saying? dept

Sometimes you have to wonder if certain celebrities even know what they're talking about half the time. A few years back, Elton John went on an anti-internet tirade, where he suggested shutting down the entire internet for five years for the sake of saving music. So, it was a bit of a surprise a few weeks back to see him among the list of big name rockstars coming out against kicking people off the internet for file sharing. Apparently, though, no one told Elton John that he was on that list, because now he's switched positions again and is saying that he's all for Peter Mandelson's proposal to kick people off the internet. Yes, just a couple weeks after his name was on a document against the very same proposal. Perhaps we shouldn't take much of what his opinion is this week seriously, when even he doesn't seem to know what it is.

Filed Under: elton john, file sharing, internet, three strikes

UK IP Minister Defends Kicking People Off The Internet, As Rockstars Come Out Against It

from the who-is-this-protecting-again? dept

Despite the UK gov't insisting recently that a policy of kicking file sharers off the internet was off the table, a nice dinner between UK Business Secretary Peter Mandelson and Hollywood bigshot David Geffen created a sudden new interest in the subject, which quickly turned into it being right back on the table -- creating massive complaints from just about everyone not associated with the RIAA or MPAA. Mandelson has tried to defend the idea, but his reasoning came up short, and demonstrated that he got his talking points direct from Hollywood and that he hasn't actually spent much time actually understanding the issue at all.

But, it's not just Mandelson in the gov't pushing this now. The UK's Intellectual Property Minister, David Lammy, got to hang around with the MPAA and gave a speech "defending" kicking people off of the internet. Now doesn't that seem strange? It's the MPAA that's among those pushing for such a plan in the first place. So, Lammy is preaching to the choir. Why not "defend" the plan in front of actual consumers or ISPs or musicians who are up in arms about this idea? You don't "defend" the idea to the people who already want it and who were already wining and dining you to get it back on the table after you'd taken it off.

And, yes, I said musicians who are up in arms about this -- and not just small indie musicians either. Michael Geist notes that folks like Paul McCartney and Elton John have come out against the proposal as well. So, ISPs think it's terrible. Music fans think it's terrible. Musicians think it's terrible. Who's left? Oh, just some dying industries who have done everything possible not to innovate for a decade. But they sure do spend money on lobbyists.

Filed Under: david lammy, elton john, paul mccartney, peter mandelson, three strikes, uk
Companies: mpaa

Spoof Elton John Diary Not Libelous

from the get-a-sense-of-humor dept

The UK has much stricter libel laws than in the US, but at least there are some reasonable limitations. Elton John has lost a libel case against the Guardian newspaper for publishing a spoof diary from John that mocked his White Tie and Tiara Ball fundraiser. The whole thing was clearly a spoof -- and it's a feature that the Guardian does on a regular basis. Yet, John still was apparently offended and felt that it was libelous. The judge, though, pointed out that no reasonable person would take the obviously fake diary entry as serious news. Who knew we now needed judges to tell people they need to get a better sense of humor.

Filed Under: elton john, libel, spoof, uk

Elton John Wants The Internet Shut Down For Five Years... For The Sake Of The Music

from the sir-rocket-man-should-get-out-more dept

It's always fun when someone famous decides to spout off on a topic in a bizarre manner. Witness Elton John's tirade against the internet (found via News.com). Apparently, he believes that the 70s were a great time in music (no, seriously, he means it) and that today's music sucks -- and it's all the internet's fault. It's got nothing to do with downloading (though it doesn't sound like he's a fan of that either), but because he somehow thinks that the internet means that people don't communicate with each other any more -- and musicians are all producing music by themselves in their basements. I guess no one has clued him into the fact that the internet is a communications medium, and it's generally used more to connect people than to isolate them. He also is apparently unaware of a growing number of tools that actually let musicians collaborate online, such as eJamming. He admits he's a Luddite and unfamiliar with the technology -- and his quotes confirm that. Try these on for size:

• "We're talking about things that are going to change the world and change the way people listen to music and that's not going to happen with people blogging on the internet."
• "I mean, get out there -- communicate."
• "Hopefully the next movement in music will tear down the internet."
• "Let's get out in the streets and march and protest instead of sitting at home and blogging."
• "I do think it would be an incredible experiment to shut down the whole internet for five years and see what sort of art is produced over that span."
• "There's too much technology available."

It would be easy to refute each of these somewhat laughable points, but, honestly, why bother? Since Sir Elton John apparently doesn't recognize that most people use the internet to communicate, it's unlikely that news of how uninformed he is will ever get back to him. Either he's completely out of touch, or he's decided that trolling is about the only way to get anyone to pay attention to him any more.

Filed Under: elton john