Google / Youtube And Copyright Claims – Could You POSSIBLY Fail Harder?

I was bouncing around on Facebook today when I saw a post by my favorite classical pianist and subject of much musical lust, Valentina Lisitsa. Yes, I listen to classical music, yes I love it. Chopin’s nocturnes make my heart run through a field of daisies and if you have anything to say about it, I’ll slap you in the forehead with a tack-hammer.

Valentina mentioned that she has been hit with a copyright claim from Sony Music Entertainment regarding a recording she made, playing a piece by Mozart.

WHAT?!

Warning – Harsh language ahead.

Who in the hell thought THAT was a good idea? She got hit with a copyright claim for a piece that was written by fucking MOZART?!

Wait wait wait. I’ll be back…I think I just HAD A DAMNED STROKE OR SOMETHING!!!

Here’s an except from what Ms. Lisitsa posted;

SME , also known as Sony Music Entertainment has claimed that my video clip of Mozart Concerto actually belongs to their artist, somebody named Martin Stadtfeld.

OK, wait wait wait wait wait. You’re telling me that a video clip of Valentina Lisitsa, playing a concerto written by Mozart, somehow magically belongs to some third-party hack named Martin Stadtfeld?

Really?

No, seriously…Take a minute. Try to get your head around that.

I’ll break down the facts for you.

Valentina Lisitsa, a classical pianist, sits down with an orchestra and plays a concerto, which was written by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.

This performance is recorded live and is then uploaded to Ms. Lisitsa’s youtube channel, by Ms. Lisitsa herself, 4 weeks ago.

Sony Music Entertainment files a copyright claim with youtube, asserting that the person you see at the performance is NOT, in fact, Valentina Lisitsa but is, instead, Martin Stadtfeld.

Wait, what?

Ok, I don’t know about you but they don’t even look slightly similar to me. I mean…She’s an attractive blonde woman and he…well, let’s be honest, he looks like a bit of a douchebag.

Now, I can’t necessarily say that I blame Sony Music Entertainment for the original filing of the claim. They’re almost certainly using a third-party bot which scours Youtube and checks for copyright violations based on a number of algorithms BUT…SME should immediately retract the claim upon realizing that it is spurious and is based on the fact that their software couldn’t tell the difference between Skrillex and a wet fart. They didn’t, which means fuck them.

Furthermore, WHAT IN THE SHIT IS YOUTUBE THINKING?!

Valentina even went so far as to dispute the claim, as well she should, and here’s what happened:

This is a dead solid perfect example of Google and Youtube’s propensity to completely and utterly ignore the facts of a case and side with the companies who are making them tons of money. They did the same thing to US when we were set upon by a botnet attack and they terminated our adsense and youtube partner accounts for alleged “abuse” of their systems. We appealed and even asked them for help with stopping the botnet traffic and they just told us to get bent.

GOOD JOB GOOGLE!!!

You idiots can plan to put mining robots on asteroids but you can’t tell the difference between a man and a woman.

Now what I want to know is this; Why is it illegal to steal copyrighted material but it’s perfectly legal to accuse someone of doing so when it is false? Sounds a bit like the Inquisition to me.

Oh and if you need to see proof that it was a blonde woman playing that concerto, here ya go…Here it is in its entirety. Hope you don’t mind, Valentina! If you DO, however, we will gladly remove it because we respect artists and their work.