So you’re mad that you stole someone’s music, made your own video and were told to take it down? Cry me a river, seriously. When I make videos for my dive trips, I find an artist that I get PERMISSION from and use/credit THEIR music. School of Rock? WTF is that crap? Ask permission, don’t bitch later when you get slapped for stealing. Are people really this stupid?
I’ve heard that - the high heels were not true, but the basketball skills were.
I’m not sure how to read this - I too would be upset if a band I paid to see showed up six hours late. 
I’m no fan of the modern version of copyright laws, but in this case, it sounds to me like no matter how stupid the laws are, Prince is playing within the framework of US copyright law at the moment, and he is not at fault for that. Should the copyright laws be changed? Hell yes. They aren’t an accurate reflection of the world we actually live in, and they seem to exist just to benefit people who aren’t actually involved in the creation of music a whole lot more than they benefit actual artists. That’s really a whole 'nother discussion, though.
But if Prince hadn’t written that particular music, they would have been standing up there picking their noses. It’s not like he wasn’t involved at any point. If you don’t like how Prince reacts to videos of his music being performed, don’t perform his music.
To be fair, SoR had permission to cover the songs and paid for the rights. It’s the uploading to YouTube that’s being blocked. I don’t think the OP is stealing anything.
What he is stealing is the right to control distribution of the work. Recording, posting said recordings, and selling said recordings are a different bundle of rights not included in the performance license.
At this point, I’m wondering if gaffa was even contracted by School of Rock or if he just makes these videos and uploads them on his own initiative. You’d think the lawyers for SoR would have worked out payments for internet videos while they were doing the other music licenses.
Most people dislike the copyright regime, some people dislike copyright altogether, and some people dislike Prince. Most people like Youtube and talented children. This thread should have been a slam dunk.
gaffa ya blew it.
Eh, I’d say he’s good enough for a poke.
Are you talking about the “artist formerly known as Godwin”?
Maybe he isn’t aware of the alternative responses. He may not be up to speed with Youtube and such like as he is now quite elderly.
OK, so can I ask why you haven’t done this?
Let’s see a music thread with **Gaffa **involved… how long until he posts about Kate Bush?
LOL, it’d be funny if it weren’t so predictably sad.
As I said before, there is no question of this happening without Prince’s knowledge. He hates YouTube and has publicly lashed out against it as far back as 2007.
He believes that YouTube should seek permission before allowing anything to be posted. He doesn’t like the fact that copyright holders have to police YouTube to find potential violations, but since that’s how things currently stand, he does so diligently and makes sure that a takedown notice is sent each and every time one of his songs appears in a video.
And that is his right.
If your reply is an attempt to equalize things for the purpose of supporting Prince, you’re mistaken. If we accept your premise, then both have equal rights to the video. Prince is ok with removing it and Gaffa should be equally empowered to put it back on Youtube or sell it as he wishes
Its not about whether or not he needs the help, its about whether or not it hurts him. It doesn’t, therefore Prince should not have the right to abuse our skewed copyright laws and have it removed
And if the kids didn’t perform the music, then Prince’s song, in that particular instance, would be floating in the ether. The video is about more than just the song, its about the performance. Why should someone who only contributed it partly get full rights to it? He wrote the song, but someone else came up with the words before him, someone else created the instrument he used, why should the intellectual property begin and end with solely the creation of the song?
And its absolutely honest and accurate to say Prince was not involved at ANY point. I’m referring to the video, which Prince did not direct, produce, shoot, perform, or edit. His only contribution was supplying the words and melody, and not even to Gaffa personally as part of the video, but to his audience decades ago.
Its the same issue I have with game companies trying to crack down on used games. Once the game is sold, that should be it for the developer. They should not get any extra revenue from used game selling. Creating a game does not grant one lifetime ownership over every monetary exchange of that item’s entire existence. Are you similarly against private selling of private property? Someone’s table they’re selling from Craiglist once belonged to Ikea, why shouldn’t they get a cut? If I open a garage sale and sell an old TV, why shouldn’t Best Buy get a cut? More importantly, why would anyone believe that the original companies that owned the items should get to dictate how that table or TV can or cannot be sold? Its my property. This is the major issue with intellectual property that large companies like the RIAA uses to unfairly label people thieves. They got to sell the music once, from a CD or record, and that’s it. That’s all they get. Same with Ikea, same with Best Buy. Once I’ve bought the item, it is mine to do with what I want
Again, I hate defending the asinine copyright laws we currently have, but this kind of made me snort out loud - for the songs in question, all Prince supplied was the words and the melody? That’s like saying for the dinner involved, all Prince supplied was the food. His contribution was of ultimate importance - without his words and melody, there wouldn’t have been a song.
I don’t like the copyright system in the US, but what exactly is the “right” that gaffa thinks he has that is being violated? Correct me if I’m wrong, but YouTube is still a commercial enterprise whose services are not an entitlement.
Yes, the obvious solution to this issue is for gaffa to write his own songs for the kids to perform. Then he can film the whole thing, and post it on Youtube, without having to worry about anyone else asserting their rights to the material. I’m assuming of course, that it would be no problem to whip up a few songs that would work; after all the contribution of words and music is a minor and relatively unimportant part of the whole production.
Well, first of all, the law disagrees. Secondly, it’s not just between Gaffa and Prince. Gaffa is asking YouTube to host his video. They value Prince more than Gaffa (with good reason) and so they no longer care to host the offending material. If Gaffa wants to start his on video sharing site he’s more than welcome to do so, but it seems he doesn’t feel like doing all that hard work.
Prince says it does. And he’s the one who gets to decide, being the artist and all. Not you.
As someone else said, Gaffa is free to write new copyright-free songs for the kids to play. Or, hell, have the kids write their own songs if they are so talented. That’s what real rock stars do, after all. Since it’s such a tiny contribution to the process, I’m sure it will be no trouble at all.
De Mimimis non Curat Princeps
Enjoy,
Steven
Sorry it took me a while to get back to this. I was hired by the Kansas City School of Rock to videotape their performance at the Outfield Experience at the Kaufman Stadium before a Royals game, and that’s how I spent my Sunday.
The part everyone seems to be deliberately avoiding is not whether or not Mr. Rogers has the right to assert his copyright. He does, which I mentioned in the OP. It’s that he chose the most obnoxious of the three options offered.
Actually, no. The YouTube content ID system automatically identifies most songs, asserts a level #1 copyright claim and automatically puts ads next to the video. There are a handful of artists, like Led Zeppelin, who use the automatic system to ID and mute. And in my experience he’s the ONLY one who actually issues Takedown notices. And it’s because he behaves like a 3 year old.