The Day I Infringed My Own Copyright

What you see in the window above depends on what country you're in. If you're in Europe, you probably see the standard YouTube player containing an introduction to the video tour diary I will be doing with my band on our upcoming U.S. tour. If, however, you live in the United States or Australia, you probably see an error message saying that the video can't be viewed in your current territory because of a copyright infringement claim from the Warner Music Group. So what gives? Did I use a copyrighted piece of music by another artist without permission? Nope. I used one of my own songs. I'll let that sink in for a second.

The intro of the video is just me explaining some of the ways we'll be posting on various social media sites during the tour to help fans keep on top of what's going on. The final bit is a montage of footage shot on our recent European tour set to a track off my last album. Why it got pulled is still not entirely clear to me. Warner did indeed act as a distributor to Metropolis Records, the label I am currently signed to for the U.S., but that relationship ended at the end of last year. Even so, Warner was merely the distributor, not the actual copyright holder.

I understand a company wanting to protect its intellectual property. But this is an example of one of the dozens of completely tone-deaf actions the record industry has taken in an attempt to combat piracy that actually ends up hurting the same artists they claim to want to protect. The music industry is more competitive than ever. I thought doing an 'almost real time' tour diary of our U.S. tour would be a great promotional tool and something fans would find interesting too. But now I'm being held hostage by a company I have absolutely no business relationship with whatsoever. And what's the sense of blocking music on YouTube anyway? Does Warner think people are pirating music on YouTube? Yes, there are unofficial postings of songs and fan videos but these are FREE PROMOTION. No one is going to take files with YouTube's terrible audio quality and think it's an acceptable replacement for the real thing. Fans aside, the idea that an artist can't post their own damn song in an attempt to promote themselves (and thus garner more sales for the label) is so ass-backwards it defies comprehension. This is why you're losing the battle, Record Labels. Oh, and if you want to watch the video in the U.S., Australia, or other countries where the video is blocked, I've uploaded it to MySpace Video where you can watch it hassle free.

UPDATE: Well, I don't know if this is a case of the squeaky wheel getting the grease or what, but it appears the YouTube video works in the U.S again. Guess I'll have to be more cautious about using my own music in the future. *snork*