“Break the law”? First, go fuck yourself. And, second, learn learn how to spell copyright.
The definition of a bad law is one that is applied unevenly. And that is exactly the situation. I upload videos, and AS I SAID IN THE FUCKING OP 99.99% of the time, a claim is made and the claimant is fine with the material being up on YouTube. 99.99% of the time, the owner of the copyrighted material is happy with the tradeoff of placing ads for the original recording next to my recording of the performance of the cover.
This is not, and never been about the validity of copyright. This is about Prince being a fuckwad and choosing the most vicious and obnoxious of all possible responses available to him, the one that nobody else in my experience chose.
No, this is about you whining about being a useless fucking leech stealing copyrighted material for profit. Prince owes you nothing. You have no right to use his work in the way you admit using it.
The law is applied evenly. When copyright is violated on youtube, the holders of said copyright each have the same three choices as to how to proceed against the violator.
It’s pretty common to let the people whose rights have been violated (in this case, Prince) decide how to proceed with a case. As the guy who violated Prince’s rights, why would you get to determine which of youtube’s three options he chooses?
I can understand their position very well. After all: from its very inception, as I understand it, YouTube was under fire for posting copyrighted material. They do their best to keep their own business alive (hosting videos and placing ads next to them) while avoiding unnecessary litigation against them due to a third party’s actions.
You got me. I’m a poor typist and I can’t spell copyright. Also, as I said, I agree that Prince may be a jerk and shortsighted for choosing the most restrictive option offered by youtube. That does not change the fact that you are breaking the rules and youtube has the right to ban you if you break their rules. Prince has a legal right to prevent you from using his songs in your videos if he chooses and you have the right to pay to use them if you choose. Let’s try another example. Let’s say you decide to show up at church and rob the churchgoers. All but one agree to drop the matter and not press charges if you return the money. One decides that he wants to press charges. Now he may be a jerk for not forgiving you like everybody else but he is within his legal rights to press charges and does not need to drop them just because nobody else is pressing charges. Even if you return his money, he has the right to have you charged.