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So much for "don't be evil". Google is officially on my bad list now.
I received the below email. This is in regards to one of the first videos I made of Katelyn...the one of photos from the first month, with "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" in the background.
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Dear member,
This is to notify you that your video "katelyn_photostory1.wmv" from your
Google Video account has been disabled because it has been identified by
our Content Identification tools as potentially lacking the necessary
copyright authorization for use on the Google Video site. Content
Identification is a program that analyzes similarities in audio or video
between user videos and a library of reference content provided to us by
copyright owners. When a video matches a reference file, that video is
automatically disabled.
If you believe that this identification is a mistake, please click on the
following link to learn how you can dispute this
http://video.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?answer=82442
Please note: Repeat incidents of copyright infringement will result in the
deletion of your account and all videos uploaded to that account. In
order to avoid future strikes against your account, please delete any
videos to which you do not have all rights, and refrain from uploading
additional videos that infringe on the copyrights of others.
More information about Content Identification can be found at this link
http://video.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?answer=82734
Sincerely,
The Google Video Team
http://video.google.com/
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This is beyond ridiculous. Seriously? What ever happened to "fair use"? I'm not making any money off of it, and I'm certainly not claiming or implying that I created the song. If anything, I'm giving the artist free publicity. People who may not have ever heard that song are now hearing it. Being used in the background of a slideshow of baby pictures is not in any way harming the artist or taking any money from his pocket.
The real enemy here is the record company, but Google has enabled their moronic behavior by caving in to their demands. It's one thing to have posted a copy of an artist's music video (although I still think there should be nothing wrong with that, since you're helping promote the song and artist and still not making any money off it), but it's entirely different for it to be used in the background of a slideshow. Are they going to start cracking down at people's weddings and not letting them show slideshows with music in the background? That's a public performance, after all...
I respect the concept of a copyright within reason, but this is unreasonable and stupid.
Oh well, I guess I'll have to move the video to Youtube now. When they get around to disabling it (since they are also owned by Google), I'll have to move it to Facebook. I'm not caving in on this, even if Google has.