I'm so furious right now - and I know I have no real justification - but it just seems so unfair.
I decided to learn a song for halloween, so picked 'Bark at the Moon' by Ozzy - it took me about two weeks of solid wood-shedding to get it to a decent level. I then decided to record myself: after seven bodged takes of what wass previously flawless I have a rough approximation. I decide to match it up to the actual song and realise that I'm missing a bar here and there - and my takes aren't even aligned so I can switch between them - so that's another few hours of audio editing.
I realise I forgot to turn my camera on, so I do another two takes with some video up. My camera refuses to allow me to copy the video files, so I decide to call it a night and just upload to Soundcloud.
A few hours later I find the video files have copied - so another few hours of video editing, splicing, then an hour or two of doing spooky effects then 30 minutes of rendering, and Photoshop for half an hour to make a nice thumbnail. Another 30 minutes to upload the file - and by 11:30pm last night all is well.
Wake up this morning to "Your video has been blocked for all countries due to a copyright claim by Sony Music Entertainment". I KNOW that it's within their legal right, but it just seems so punitive - there are dozens if not hundreds of other cover videos out there - and somehow my head was over the parapet.
At this point, I can't even listen to the song again - let alone finding fan-made backing tracks and splicing my guitar lines into it. I'm just bloody done with it.
On the bright side, I have learned a few things:-
- Have a clapper to align video and audio
- Run the audio through takes in Reaper (instead of separate tracks) so you can switch between them
- Crowd-source the backing track instead of relying on the official tune.
Gosh, I'm so angry.
Comments
But, congrats on learning the song properly . It's little consolation , but that is what matters
“Theory is something that is written down after the music has been made so we can explain it to others”– Levi Clay
It is automated and they pick it up from the title of your vid too.
You sure there is not a bit that says if you allow us to monetize it you don't need to do anything?
In truth, the tech companies just want to redefine copyright to be whatever suits them. Especially in the states it's pretty amazing how boldly Google for example have infiltrated the gov't to be able to write the laws to suit themselves.
Bandcamp
Spotify, Apple et al
If an un-authorised version stays up it's either because there is something in the track that makes the software miss it, or that the copyright holder has a policy of not removing obviously educational / obviously amateur versions.
That isn't a grey area, that is indulgence by the owner.
I’m so bored I might as well be listening to Pink Floyd
At this point I can't even face listening to the bloody song so I'm in no danger of putting it back up, though...