Super Stupid

Posted on 12/20/2008 at 5:34 pm by Bob Cesca

Following up on my earlier RIAA lawsuit post, Warner Bros. Records is just phenomenally stupid. They’re pulling all of their music videos off YouTube:

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Warner Music Group ordered YouTube on Saturday to remove all music videos by its artists from the popular online video-sharing site after contract negotiations broke down.

The order could affect hundreds of thousands of videos clips, as it covers Warner Music’s recorded artists as well as the rights for songs published by its Warner/Chappell unit, which includes many artists not signed to Warner Music record labels.

Up until today, the agreement allowed the labels to make money from YouTube videos. Just not enough…

The music companies typically get paid a share of any advertising revenue associated with the video and a per-play payment for every video viewed. The per-play fee is usually a fraction of a penny and with millions visiting YouTube everyday it was all expected to add up to a substantial amount.

But a source familiar with Warner Music’s talks said the amounts it has been receiving from YouTube were “staggeringly low”.

So effing what. YouTube is free advertising for recording artists, and WBR is viewing this through old linear paradigms and antiquated business models — they’re seeing YouTube as a destination rather than a gateway. For example, if I see a band or video I really like on YouTube, my next move is to open iTunes and buy the song — if not the whole album. And the labels are making money when I watch the video, too!

Idiots.

This is a huge example as to why old media is slowly falling apart. Simply put: they just don’t get it.

UPDATE: As of tonight, the Flaming Lips, one of my favorites and a WBR artist, are still alive on YouTube:

h/t Paddy via e-mail

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  • Mike H.

    Hi there RIAA, What’s up?

  • http://unrelatedcontent.com Travis D

    >>Hi there RIAA, What’s up?Lol nothin’ just wastin’ money.

  • thespacecowboy

    There goes the Lips videos you put up here from time to time (I enjoy those when they appear).

  • EL Mystico

    Wait…really? I’m just saying, music videos were created as commercials to sell an album, commercials which got free airplay on MTV and other venues. Alright, there’s definitely been some payola over the years, but still, they didn’t pay for the three and half minutes of airtime. The money to make the videos generally comes out of the artist’s advance, which also covers the recording. It’s an accounted for expense that gets paid back not from the overall sales but from the artist royalties. The advance gets paid back to the company before the artist sees a dime. So what I’m saying is… they had no fucking income from the videos before and they’re the first ones to get paid back, and now they’re mad they’re not making enough?The record labels are some of the worst of the media dinosaurs. One of the reasons people were slaves to the big studios in the past was that recording equipment cost insane amounts of money. Digital recording tech has become so ubiquitous that you can record music on your laptop (and many people do). But whatever, WB music, keep fighting the digital leviathan instead of adapting. Chumps.

  • http://jennydemilo.blogspot.com JennyDemilo

    yah well everyone knows the way to get your music out in front of people is to limit access to it. ugh.

  • http://www.twoeightnine.com twoeightnine

    Good for them. I know I hate finding new music and artists online.

  • http://www.sigzone.blogspot.com MG

    You wrote very well about this matter, Cesca.I must research it more before I conclude anything.I love WB– they have done some risky, unconventional things that have really paid off for them in the past, but they are quite possibly wrong.

  • josh

    So long as those episodes of THUNDARR THE BARBARIAN remain up at YouTube, I’ll be happy. Once someone gets those off, I think I will become radicalized on this topic.THUNDARR still holds up; I want to go back in time and congratulate kid-me on picking a winner for his favorite cartoon.It’s got D&D, Mad Max, Star Wars and Gamma World mixed up with Conan, and in ripping off all those things, accidentally creates a whole new thing.

  • http://unrelatedcontent.com Travis D

    Thundarr is number one and the best.

  • solrac2002

    there will be a compromise in time, trust me.

  • Teaflax

    The compromise will be YouTube or MiniNova buying WB as their value continues to tumble from mismanagement. If I was a stockholder, I would be seriously pissed about this decision.