<\/div>So last week I covered E3<\/a>. I’m sure you’ve noticed. I streamed four events and uploaded them to YouTube: Electronic Arts<\/a>, Microsoft<\/a>, Bethesda<\/a>, and Ubisoft<\/a>. Obviously these events featured a lot of trailers, and therefore those trailers wound up as part of my YouTube video. And predictably, Various Parties claimed copyright infringement as a result.<\/p>\n The EA show had no claims. The Microsoft show got 4 claims. Bethesda got zero. Ubisoft got two. <\/p>\n Namco Bandai and Capcom were responsible for three of the claims in the Microsoft show, but the fourth claim came from some outfit called “[Merlin] AWAL Digital Limited”. This claim mysteriously vanished later. Has YouTube FINALLY implemented a system to deal with the trolls who file mass bogus claims, or is this just yet another bug in their increasingly out-of-control system? You decide.<\/p>\n On the Ubisoft event I got another vanishing claim from Rooster Teeth. The other claim on the Ubi show was for music. One of the trailers had 32 seconds of a licensed song at half volume with Ross and I talking over it. This easily qualifies as fair use<\/a>, but I don’t have millions of dollars to take the jackasses at “UMG On behalf of: EMI” to court and assert my rights. Fine. Have it, you big babies.<\/p>\n For the record, none of these claims hurt me. Now that I have a Patreon<\/a>, I don’t put ads on my YouTube videosIf you see an ad on one of my videos, it means someone hit me with a claim and they’re getting the money.<\/span>. Even better, when one video gets multiple claims like this, there’s no good way to determine how the money should be divided up among the claimants. So YouTube just disables ads and nobody gets any money. Which means all of this furious automated legal activity came to nothing and the videos are running ad-free, which is all I wanted in the first place.<\/p>\n Anyway. I’m not here to complain about the malfunctioning Orwellian corporate machine that Google has built. And I’m not here to rage against all the copyright trolls that upload other people’s trailers, claim copyright, and then skim ad revenue from peasants like me who can’t fight back. Instead I’m here to complain about the legitimate<\/b> claims. As strange as it might sound, I think the valid claims are the most destructive of them all.<\/p>\n Going back to the concert-promotion analogy I started with: In my analogy, one person was trying to promote a concert and the other was trying to make money selling handbills. This is a pretty ridiculous situation, but it’s even more ridiculous in real life because they’re the same person.<\/p>\n Namco Bandai probably spent a lot of money making that trailerWhich trailer? I’m too lazy to look it up. More importantly, I don’t care.<\/span>. It costs a lot of money to push a trailer out there and get people to watch it. I know television isn’t the culture-dominating force it used to be<\/a>, but television time still ain’t cheap. You’ve paid to have the ads made, and now your #1 goal is to get as many people watching it as possible. <\/p>\n Which means having someone else upload your advertisement ought to represent a huge net gain for you. They are saturating YouTube. They’re getting that trailer out to their subscribers. And it doesn’t cost you a dime! Why would you want to interfere with this glorious windfall?<\/p>\nCharging People To Show Advertisements<\/h3>\n
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