Taylor Swift joins other music industry names calling for DMCA reform in campaign against YouTube

At least major tech companies create jobs

As someone with a politically Conservative orientation, I am all for job creation, but as a former, Nashville singer-songwriter, I must remind you that people who obtain copyrighted material for free are KILLING jobs in the music industry.

You wouldn't expect any business to survive, if customers could go to some website and get the products of that business for free, so why shouldn't the music business be any different?

Of course, you don't HAVE to purchase the use of that song. You are free to write and produce your own!

I can't agree with this kind of logic. "people who obtain copyrighted material for free are KILLING jobs in the music industry.". The reason I can't agree with this logic is that in order to believe this, you have to act as if there is some way to put the cat back in the bag. You have to believe that there's somehow a way that we can all go back to buying albums like back in the good ole days. It flies in the face of all the advancements in technology and distribution that have been made in the last 20 years.

I think a lot of musicians need to face the music. The music industry is not what it used to be, and it will never again be what it used to be. The Taylor Swift's of the world are grasping at the relics of yesteryear. The music industry, despite it's best efforts will never go back to it's roots of selling albums. Technology won't let it happen. Society won't let it happen. People are more content with their Netflix and Spotify subscriptions. It's a damn hard sell to tell them to go back to buying individual albums and movies.

It's amazing how long the music industry has continued their kicking and screaming charade. So what if the jobs have dried up in Nashville. Jobs are opening up in people's bedrooms and basements. Kids are absolutely free to write and produce their own music... in fact, the barriers to entry are lower than they ever have been before. All you need is a laptop and some inspiration.

Personally, I don't feel sorry for the music industry at all. If they got their way, they would make everything about music sh*ttier. It would be harder to obtain, cost way more, and the experience of music would be way worse. Youtube and other distribution platforms, while they have their flaws at least have the user experience as a priority. All of these streaming platforms make consuming music easy and enjoyable and fluid. I understand that musicians want and deserve to get paid, I just don't think that they need to get paid off the media itself. The media isn't physical, it doesn't need to be stored, transported, shelved, and sold at a cash register. It's not worth $1 or more per song. I have so many entertainment options at my fingertips every second of the day, you can't convince me that I need to give you money to listen to a song. Not today. It's your job as a musician to find the new ways to get paid for your art. Tour. Sell merch. Sell your songs to advertisers. The artists who can innovate will succeed. The Taylor Swifts will fade away into obscurity as the world changes around them.
 
At least major tech companies create jobs

As someone with a politically Conservative orientation, I am all for job creation, but as a former, Nashville singer-songwriter, I must remind you that people who obtain copyrighted material for free are KILLING jobs in the music industry.

You wouldn't expect any business to survive, if customers could go to some website and get the products of that business for free, so why shouldn't the music business be any different?

Of course, you don't HAVE to purchase the use of that song. You are free to write and produce your own!

I can't agree with this kind of logic. "people who obtain copyrighted material for free are KILLING jobs in the music industry.". The reason I can't agree with this logic is that in order to believe this, you have to act as if there is some way to put the cat back in the bag. You have to believe that there's somehow a way that we can all go back to buying albums like back in the good ole days. It flies in the face of all the advancements in technology and distribution that have been made in the last 20 years.

I think a lot of musicians need to face the music. The music industry is not what it used to be, and it will never again be what it used to be. The Taylor Swift's of the world are grasping at the relics of yesteryear. The music industry, despite it's best efforts will never go back to it's roots of selling albums. Technology won't let it happen. Society won't let it happen. People are more content with their Netflix and Spotify subscriptions. It's a damn hard sell to tell them to go back to buying individual albums and movies.

It's amazing how long the music industry has continued their kicking and screaming charade. So what if the jobs have dried up in Nashville. Jobs are opening up in people's bedrooms and basements. Kids are absolutely free to write and produce their own music... in fact, the barriers to entry are lower than they ever have been before. All you need is a laptop and some inspiration.

Personally, I don't feel sorry for the music industry at all. If they got their way, they would make everything about music sh*ttier. It would be harder to obtain, cost way more, and the experience of music would be way worse. Youtube and other distribution platforms, while they have their flaws at least have the user experience as a priority. All of these streaming platforms make consuming music easy and enjoyable and fluid. I understand that musicians want and deserve to get paid, I just don't think that they need to get paid off the media itself. The media isn't physical, it doesn't need to be stored, transported, shelved, and sold at a cash register. It's not worth $1 or more per song. I have so many entertainment options at my fingertips every second of the day, you can't convince me that I need to give you money to listen to a song. Not today. It's your job as a musician to find the new ways to get paid for your art. Tour. Sell merch. Sell your songs to advertisers. The artists who can innovate will succeed. The Taylor Swifts will fade away into obscurity as the world changes around them.

This right here really some ups the issues with the Music industries and a lot of other industries. Musicians need to evolve to stay current. Some of my favorite artists of all time are the same ones who work their a** of doing a hundred shows year and selling the crap out of merch which they fund, producing music on their own label, and metaphorically breaking their backs because they love what they do not because it makes them rich. Though for some the money definitely helps :). One of my favorite artists has still not released an album that you have to pay for directly (though he just released one that could only be streamed from apple music, but it was only for the first 2 weeks it was out before being free again). This is where I hope music is heading.
 
This is such a bizarre story. Does Taylor Swift even know how stupid this makes her look putting her name to this? Or does she just sign anything that gets put in front of her? Every album she release goes multi platinum, almost every single she release has gone multi platinum, since 2006. Her sales have only gone up.
 
Last time I checked global video sharing sites were quite expensive to create, maintain, generate traffic, and dominate the market.

It's quite easy to upload videos to YouTube that can be seen quickly by the billions with internet and smartphone traffic.

You know Google BOUGHT YouTube, right? THey didn't create it.

Anyway it doesn't matter how much it cost them - if they are the ONLY way to distribute music videos and new songs that gives them the power to completely cheat artists. What are the artists going to do? Use the other YouTube?

This is such a bizarre story. Does Taylor Swift even know how stupid this makes her look putting her name to this? Or does she just sign anything that gets put in front of her? Every album she release goes multi platinum, almost every single she release has gone multi platinum, since 2006. Her sales have only gone up.

I'm going to go with - she knows more about the music industry than everyone in this forum put together.
 
Wow... this isn't about pirated music, everyone. Most of the comments above are about pirating - this isn't about pirating.

Sure, maybe Taylor Swift made $59 mil, but how much did Google make? The gripe that google pays them a pittance for their music, and they do.

For its part, YouTube has pointed out that, unlike pirate sites, it generates billions for the music industry
That's google's defense? We're fair because we didnt' steal it? And they generated billions of what? dollars or clicks?

They accepted those terms when they uploaded to YouTube just the same as the terms the artists accepted when they signed with their labels. If you are going to complain that YouTube is taking a large sum of your money shouldn't you look at the other, bigger leech? At least with YouTube you know you're getting something, a massive audience.
 
Just remove all videos from YouTube that contain Taylor Swift, it'll be like that very last scene in The Truman Show (1998).
 
Last time I checked global video sharing sites were quite expensive to create, maintain, generate traffic, and dominate the market.

It's quite easy to upload videos to YouTube that can be seen quickly by the billions with internet and smartphone traffic.

You know Google BOUGHT YouTube, right? THey didn't create it.

Anyway it doesn't matter how much it cost them - if they are the ONLY way to distribute music videos and new songs that gives them the power to completely cheat artists. What are the artists going to do? Use the other YouTube?

This is such a bizarre story. Does Taylor Swift even know how stupid this makes her look putting her name to this? Or does she just sign anything that gets put in front of her? Every album she release goes multi platinum, almost every single she release has gone multi platinum, since 2006. Her sales have only gone up.

I'm going to go with - she knows more about the music industry than everyone in this forum put together.
Mike advocating for INCREASED regulation????? The world is coming to an end!!
 
This right here really some ups the issues with the Music industries and a lot of other industries. Musicians need to evolve to stay current. Some of my favorite artists of all time are the same ones who work their a** of doing a hundred shows year and selling the crap out of merch which they fund, producing music on their own label, and metaphorically breaking their backs because they love what they do not because it makes them rich. Though for some the money definitely helps :). One of my favorite artists has still not released an album that you have to pay for directly (though he just released one that could only be streamed from apple music, but it was only for the first 2 weeks it was out before being free again). This is where I hope music is heading.
Absolutely. All these high-end "musician" earners could take a lesson in humility from the true greats in music like David Gilmour (who railed against the music industry as part of Pink Floyd), or new and extremely talented, IMO, artists like Solar Fields and numerous others.

Perhaps I should not say anything, but Swift reminds me of a spoiled brat. From this, it sounds like she just does not understand how good she has it. She should read what @ShObiT posted. Maybe then she would realize just how good she has it.
 
You know Google BOUGHT YouTube, right? THey didn't create it.
I'm not sure where you were going with this. Google owns YouTube. Taylor's label owns her music. Attacking YouTube because it's successful and it only paid her label $59 million last year is a little crazy. The same level of exposure would cost more than the 1.65 billion Google Paid for YouTube in 2006.
 
Mike advocating for INCREASED regulation????? The world is coming to an end!!

Lol, I'm glad I have a reputation, but no... exactly the opposite. The problem isn't lack of regulation, the problem is YouTube is so big there's no reason for them to pay the artists reasonably. The answer would be more competition, not more govt.

But I don't think that'll happen... we're not going to get another YouTube anymore than MySpace is going to come back and threaten Facebook.
 
Swift and Co. Once again proving how greedy the music industry really is on the popular music scale. How about the labels give the artists more of a cut instead of a paltry amount. Taylor swift has her head so far up her own butt that she can't see what she is trying to do will ultimately net her and everyone else in the industry a LOT less money.

Piracy can be a problem sure, but it's not for someone like swift nor is it for many "top recording artists" who already make money hand over fist, live in huge mansions, and make a **** ton of money off these people/companies they keep trying to sue. We do need DMCA reform, but only in the form of making it harder for people that don't actually own the copyright to file. There needs to be a burden of proof on the person filing that they own the copyright and that they actually created something that can validly be copyrightable in the first place.

Swift makes so much money and just wants more and more. She isn't fighting for the little guys. The little guys have a better chance with places like youtube etc. If you are worried about your music being pirated on youtube actually PUT your music up there officially and make money off of it. Stop expecting a freaking free handout from google/youtube and tons of other services just because you think your **** don't stink and you are somehow god's gift to our earholes. Taylor is becoming nastier and nastier with this **** and the music industry has always been sort of stuck.

Taylor you made tens of millions of dollars from youtube and you other artists too in all likelihood. Enough is enough, stop trying to hurt people that just like music. Remember many of us have much less money, so if it comes down to listening to your music on youtube (where you could again be posting it officially and making a fair amount of money (there is no reason you need to make more than you do PERIOD off of youtube etc) and not listening at all to your music, many of us will take the latter or actually go down to full on piracy.

You cannot run around suing just because you feel you deserve more and the DMCA already gives these *****s way too much leeway.
 
Absolutely. All these high-end "musician" earners could take a lesson in humility from the true greats in music like David Gilmour (who railed against the music industry as part of Pink Floyd), or new and extremely talented, IMO, artists like Solar Fields and numerous others.

Perhaps I should not say anything, but Swift reminds me of a spoiled brat. From this, it sounds like she just does not understand how good she has it. She should read what @ShObiT posted. Maybe then she would realize just how good she has it.

I didnt want to say it myself but honestly it's true. She's complaining about you tube stealing music but when you post almost 60 mil in revenue it's hard to feel bad. Even more if she is running a lot of her operations in house (merchandising, tour management, and producing), she would still be doing well even without youtube money, since her 1989 album sold almost 17 million copies (which I read somewhere she receives like 1.50 per album so about 25 million in sales went back to her) and her last tour grossed 250 million (which doesn't account for DVD and streaming sales of said tour), I don't know how much she took home from that but I'm guessing a nice chunk since her company ran it. At the end of the day she's still sitting on a very pretty penny and paying her people very well. She could stop making music or touring and just disappear and still be set for life. Most artists who even get signed are still just trying to make sure they keep food on the table year to year.
 
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Wow... this isn't about pirated music, everyone. Most of the comments above are about pirating - this isn't about pirating.

Sure, maybe Taylor Swift made $59 mil, but how much did Google make? The gripe that google pays them a pittance for their music, and they do.

For its part, YouTube has pointed out that, unlike pirate sites, it generates billions for the music industry
That's google's defense? We're fair because we didnt' steal it? And they generated billions of what? dollars or clicks?

The problem with this is taylor etc need to pull back. Anything involving DMCA is about using a copyright without permission which google responds to how it is SUPPOSED to. Pushing for reform on that on top of the other **** is BS. Also consider that Youtube is LOSING google money, the storage, the bandwidth etc. What makes them money is advertising, but it's costing them hundreds of millions of dollars per year, they pay out a ton of money to people that get a lot of hits and have ads on their page. Taylor alone got her label 59 million, you start multiplying that by multiple artists and google is paying these labels out the *** in reality.
 
The problem with this is taylor etc need to pull back. Anything involving DMCA is about using a copyright without permission which google responds to how it is SUPPOSED to. Pushing for reform on that on top of the other **** is BS. Also consider that Youtube is LOSING google money, the storage, the bandwidth etc. What makes them money is advertising, but it's costing them hundreds of millions of dollars per year, they pay out a ton of money to people that get a lot of hits and have ads on their page. Taylor alone got her label 59 million, you start multiplying that by multiple artists and google is paying these labels out the *** in reality.
Those are some good points. The issue at hand as I see it is that artists are conflating the idea that people who listen/watch their music for free are stealing that music/video. People who watch the video on YouTube are at least as likely as not to ever pay a cent directly to watch that video. The same can be said for Pandora and Spotify (free users). Putting all content behind a paywall would not only lose the YouTube/Pandora/Spotify income it will limit their exposure to people who might listen then spend money directly putting them back in the hands of the radio or MTV2 to get their music to new listeners.
 
Well, Taylor Swift used to be such a nice girl. As a young lady, she penned the saddest tales of how rotten men were to her, and we believed her, her and her acoustic guitar. "Life sucks, and then you become Taylor Swift in a relationship". Poor Taylor.

Fast forward to now. Well, Ms Swift is all grown up. (?) She has a red Les Paul, she knows the same 3 or 4 chords, has had some dance lessons, and now "co-writes" her songs with a renowned pop hit penman, and has a backup band of the finest musicians Nashville has to offer. They can drown out her guitar playing. But none-the-"Les", the red electric still looks good on her as a "bold fashion statement".. (y) (She does hang out with the Victoria's Secret Models).

In any case, I have Swift's "Red" album, which I paid all of 99 cents for at an Amazon Christmas sale. I played it once, wasting a CD blank in the process.

If you had a billion or so 13 year old girls propping up your ego, you'd be pretty adamant about whether or not you got paid for your music.

On a side note, she can't even play Bryan Adam's, "Summer of '69", in D, without a capo. Plus , she skipped the bridge.

Here's Tay-Tay butchering "Summer of 69" at a concert in Canada:
To be fair, her rhythm playing in this video kicks a**!:)(y)

OK, here's my question, "did Taylor get Bryan Adam's permission to use this song, and does she realize it's about the sex act, not the year '69"?

OK, so for reference here's Mr Adams doing the same, (his) track live, (Be forewarned neither Swift's nor Adam's audience can sing worth a crap)
(Song is performed as an encore, begins @ 0:56)

And finally, Here's Taylor Swift performing "Blank Space" ostensibly on the sanctioned official video, upped by "Vevo". (This has 1.6 Billion with a "B" hits). It features Swift challenging someone to date her so she can write a breakup song about him. Tsk, tsk, tsk, she used to be such a nice girl....:(

 
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