Friday, February 09, 2007

NBC Universal Sucks The High Wind

...And so does YouTube for cowtowing to such an inept and arbitrary megalomaniacal corporation. Oh, and NBC is pretty stupid too.

Two days after I post up the clip of Alison Krauss and John Waite performing Missing You on YouTube, I get a notice that the video has been taken down due to a copyright complaint from NBC Universal. Ok, fine, if NBC doesn't want any Tonight Show clips up there, that's their right. Thanks for the notice, and have a nice day. It still doesn't make any sense from a marketing standpoint, though. You'd think they would want the show getting to as many people as possible. But ok, if there's a part of it that isn't being shown with commercials so that they make money, they can take it down even though it is incredibly short sighted.

However, here's where the stupid and inept comes in. There are all kinds of Jay Leno clips up on YouTube - interviews, performances, clips, etc. Why did mine get tagged? If mine was a problem for NBC, wouldn't they all be? I'm guessing my mistake was using the word "Leno" in the description. An autobot probably flagged it, 'cause here's the real kicker. Someone else also uploaded the same clip, but didn't use any reference to Leno or the Tonight Show. That clip is still playing strong and has cracked 900 views. So I took my vid down, and subbed the HTML for the other one. We'll see how long it lasts. That's the last time I give proper recognition to the source of the vid (as long as its NBC we're talking about :)

You know, if I was a singer/performer, and had enough money, I'd hire someone to just surf the web all day looking for any references, clips, etc of me. Then, if I found out about some corporation pulling a stunt like this, I'd be all over it. As a singer, you'd think they would want this out there. I haven't seen the music video on CMT (CMT are a bunch of idiots too), I think I heard the tail end of the song once on the radio, and so this was the only way that I knew this song even existed and that it's on John Waite's new album. I then found a couple more vids on YouTube of Alison Krauss videos - some I've never seen - and has me thinking of picking up her album "Lonely Runs Both Ways." Now that, folks, is good marketing, and it didn't even cost them a cent.

When will the stuffed suits learn that fighting this technology in idiotic and inept ways like this is only purely counterproductive? The world is changing. It's time the bean counters get with the program, or the 'net savvy crowd will just keep finding ways around it and there won't be beans left to count.

Comments on "NBC Universal Sucks The High Wind"

 

Blogger Eaglewing said ... (February 11, 2007 6:57 AM) : 

Good points, but the problem is John Q Public. The masses don't seem to care, and to start any kind of a change, it needs to be done en masse. Those in the know of the lawsuit thinking and clamp down on your own stuff are actually a small minority, I'll bet.

For example, Vista will be forced down the throats of people who don't even realize the DRM crap behind it. YouTube will eventually be rendered useless due to overzealous lawyers. FOX audasciously rips off North America customers on the X-Men 3 DVD release (info thats easily available on the web), and yet it hits the biggest selling October DVD ever.

Trying to clue in the masses is a losing battle. They won't know whats hit them until a CD they just bought won't play on their own computer. Still, I'm one of a few starting to look at alternatives. (Hello Linux :)

 

Anonymous Anonymous said ... (February 12, 2007 3:05 PM) : 

Sad but true. Sad indeed.

 

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