UK Music Lobbyist Says Rethinking Fair Use Is 'Intellectual Masturbation'

from the who-needs-fair-use? dept

We've talked a few times about how the UK is going through yet another copyright rethink with a key focus (among others) on whether or not the country needs more expansive fair use rules within copyright. While we've seen similar discussions happen (and be ignored) in the UK, the good news is that the panel investigating this issue seems to include some really knowledgeable folks on the subject. Of course, it appears that some of the established interests aren't so thrilled about all of this.

Andrew Dubber kindly sent over an article from Music Week, which is locked up behind a paywall, or I'd point you to it, in which various music industry folks fret about this awful concept of fair use. The article seems to be based on the ridiculous premise that "fair use" is something that only harms creative folks, and is only designed to help tech firms. Of course, nothing could be further from the truth, and it's troubling that these supposed "music industry" experts don't realize just how important fair use is in content creation itself. The article quotes a person from PPL insisting that supporting fair use is a straight up choice between "helping Google or helping our creative industries." That someone in the content creation business is against fair use is a travesty, and it suggests that they know very little about content creation. Furthermore, the idea that this is an "us against them" sort of thing is equally troubling. The point of fair use is to make content creation itself better and to provide more value to the world.

But the most ridiculous comments of all come from UK Music chief Feargal Sharkey, who has a way with saying silly things. According Sharkey, rethinking fair use is "a distraction at best" and really just an "exercise in intellectual masturbation." I'm sorry, but if Sharkey thinks fair use is just about "intellectual masturbation," he should not be leading an organization representing musicians. Fair use is incredibly important to all sorts of content creators, and it's a shame that the guy who's supposed to be representing them is now forcefully arguing against fair use. It should make the members of UK Music seriously consider who they've picked to speak for them.

Filed Under: copyright, fair use, feargal sharkey, music, uk

UK Music Pretends That Musicians Aren't Against Kicking People Off The Internet

from the oh-really? dept

Recently, we noted that a bunch of big name musicians had come out against Peter Mandelson's sudden decision that it was ok to kick music fans off the internet for file sharing, despite earlier promises that such a proposal was off the table. Having these musicians speak out against such a "three strikes" plan looked really bad for the various collections societies and industry groups that want such a plan -- leading some to publicly complain that these musicians were doing something "destructive" in standing up for consumer rights (how dare they!).

There were rumors that following this little dustup, that the UK music industry would drop its support for three strikes. Instead, Feargal Sharkey, the head of the UK Music lobbying group, has come out with a totally meaningless statement that basically says that the industry supports the government's plan and there's nothing to see here in terms of a rift in the views of the UK music industry.

That's not very believable. More and more musicians have realized that a proposal to kick people off the internet does nothing to promote better business models and does a lot to create significantly more ill will with fans. The only people who seem to be supporting it are those who are looking to protect old business models, and seem to think that kicking people offline will magically bring back paying customers. Sharkey has claimed in the past that the industry needs to stop fighting against music fans. Too bad he's aligning himself with a plan that is entirely about fighting music fans.

Filed Under: feargal sharkey, music, musicians, three strikes, uk
Companies: uk music

UK Recording Industry: Investigate Google For Not Giving Us Money

from the logic-is-not-sharkey's-strong-suit dept

Back at Midem, Feargal Sharkey, former singer for the Undertones, and now the head of a lobbying group called UK Music, trashed outsider "utopians" who spout "wild rhetoric and innuendo," when all he really wanted was for others (such as ISPs) to be forced to cough up money to simply hand over to the music industry. That plan has been falling apart, so now he's looking for other targets, to force them to pay -- and it seems like Google is in his sights. Responding to the ongoing fight between PRS and Google/YouTube over paying for music videos, Sharkey has gone on the attack, blaming Google for everything and suggesting that Google needs to be investigated for wielding too much power.

Of course, what he really means is that he's finally realizing that Google actually has the leverage in this fight. They have the value that musicians want: a platform to gain tremendous amounts of attention, that many musicians are using to successfully build an audience. That's the value. Google doesn't need those music videos to make money, so it's fine without them. But, musicians sure could use the boost that YouTube gives them.

But, honestly, Sharkey's response shows how hypocritical he and many in the industry are over these issues. First they scream about how YouTube is copyright infringement and stealing form them... and so now that YouTube takes down their videos... they scream again? Shouldn't that be exactly what they want? If they're not getting paid a reasonable amount for the use of the videos, shouldn't they be thrilled that YouTube took the videos down? After all, we're told over and over again a rather simple mantra by pro-copyright folks: if you don't like the price, don't download the music. Google is living by that exactly. It didn't like the price offered by PRS, so it's blocking the music.

Done deal. What's to be upset about?

At some point, perhaps, it will dawn on Sharkey, Billy Bragg and others in the UK music business that, in their demand to get "paid" tons of money for everything, they've forgotten that the music is only one part of the value proposition -- and the community and platform that YouTube provides is another big part of it. The very fact that they want their videos back up shows they recognize this fact implicitly, even if they're going through massive cognitive dissonance in somehow lashing out at Google for making that point clear.

Sharkey is once again confused. Google isn't abusing any power. It got offered a bad deal by PRS, and it turned it down and blocked all of the videos. If Sharkey really believes what he claims about music business models, this should be exactly what he wants. Rather than allowing such "theft" to continue, it's cleared the playing field so that Sharkey, UK Music and PRS can take those videos to some other site. Or put up their own damn site. The very fact that they're not doing that, and are focusing on YouTube instead, shows they know in their hearts (if not their brains) that Google and YouTube are providing significant value.

Filed Under: feargal sharkey, licensing, uk, uk music, videos
Companies: google, prs, uk music, youtube