Just remember what was yours is everyone's from now on

Today, I read this article about the guy who wrote "Never Gonna Give You Up" getting all pissy because he doesn't make money every time someone gets rickrolled. Instead of making the millions he feels he deserves since so many people heard the song getting rickrolled (which the article states was a fad about a year ago--n00b), he only made $16 USD. Now, I'm all for every one getting their share, but really? The only reason you made even $16 is because your song sucks so bad.

The internet has brought up all kinds of content ownership issues like these. I myself have a YouTube video that has been silenced because of my copyright infringement on Warner Music Group.

Then, I happen to find out yesterday that one of my favorite YouTube videos, the barackroll, has been muted for it's "illegal" use of said Rick Astley song. My immediate reaction to this is still on the second or third page of the comments section of the video, as of the time of this writing. Now the only ones who profit from content like this is YouTube/Google. Neither the creators of the old content (Rick Astley, his writer(s), his record label, etc.), or the creator of the new content (in this case, a gentleman with the user name hmatkin) profit from this video, assuming hmatkin didn't buy the Rick Astley CD (who would?). Not to mention the issue of Barack Obama, the Ellen Degeneres Show (from which many of the clips come from), etc.

Now, it appears to me that the ones who profit from this are the people involved the least creatively--the host of the content. Google loads YouTube with tons of ads in the hopes of turning a profit. Now in my happy little ideal artist world, such things wouldn't matter. It should just be there for all the world to see. Google makes its ad money, hmatkin gets his creative video seen, and maybe if the original content is good enough, the record label and every one else makes money too (so not Rick Astley, but in other cases people might be tempted to buy the music if it is good). Unfortunately, this is not how it works.

I understand Google doesn't want the pants sued off of them by all the major record labels. They've had their panties in a wad ever since the internet was made readily available to the public. Maybe if they didn't try to peddle such valueless shit down our throats we might buy more music, but that's another debate.

Valueless shit peddled down our throats.

So Google mutes and removes our videos, and (according to that same article) already refuses to host music/music videos in some foreign countries. People stop going to YouTube because there's nothing to see, Google stops making money, people stop buying music because they have no means of discovering music, and the labels, artists, managers, etc. also stop making money, further tightening their unwavering grip on the internets. And people wonder why any one isn't making good music anymore.