Google Inc.’s YouTube online video service, and Rumblefish are reportedly set to hold a joint press conference on June 29. The pair are likely to announce a new deal over the use of licensed music on YouTube videos uploaded by users.
An e-mail pitch seen by CNET indicates that Rumblefish chief executive Paul Anthony and a YouTube executive will hold the conference.
Rumblefish is a music-licensing firm that arranges deals with music companies and artists for the use of their music in marketing campaigns or products offered by third parties. YouTube enlisted Rumblefish’ services back in 2008 to give video uploaders a legal option for using music in their content.
We hope the press conference means something good for the millions-strong YouTube community.
Result for: youtube o
Google Inc.’s YouTube online video service announced on Wednesday that it will offer five films from the Sundance Film Festival (2009 and 2010) for rental from this Friday until January 31st to U.S. users. In addition to the titles offered in partnership with the Sundance Film Festival, the site will offer a small collection of rental videos from other U.S. partners across different industries, including health and education, in the weeks after.
“These are early days and in the coming weeks we’ll also invite a small group of partners across other industries, in addition to independent film, to participate in this new option. Anything that brings more content to the YouTube community is a good thing,” the YouTube blog reads. “And making content available for rent will give our partners unprecedented control over the distribution of their work.”
The announcement states that owners can decide the price of their videos and the rental duration, when and where their content is available and will keep 100 percent of the rights. The site will be seeking more Independent filmmakers to participate in the rental program as part of its “Filmmakers Wanted” campaign at the festival.
Result for: youtube o
The French independent labels collecting society SPPF has this week filed a lawsuit against giant video sharing site YouTube, alleging copyright infringement.
The SPPF says that over 100 music videos from its artist catalog are available via the service in some form, and the group wants €10 million in damages.
YouTube refuted the charges however, adding that the “SPPF has not signed up to its Content ID technical measures to identify any infringement.”
“We can’t discuss a pending case but bear in mind that YouTube offers professional content creators and producers powerful and free tools to protect, promote and monetize their content by using Content ID,” says Google. “Many indies as well as major music companies are using these tools to protect their content in France. The protection of copyrights is best achieved by joint efforts between creators and online platforms, not by lengthy and costly lawsuits. SPPF have not used Content ID to protect their content on the platform so far, although several independent labels do.”
