In Tarleton Gillespie’s chapter entitled “The Copyright Balance and the Weight of DRM” from the book Wired Shut: Copyright and the Shape of Digital Culture, he claims that modern technology opens many new doors for pirates to break the laws of copyright infringement. Simultaneously, it makes enforcing the rules of copyright exponentially tougher. As one remedy, Gillespie suggests programming controls into programs that are often used to play copyrighted content. He gives Windows Media Player as an example of an unsuccessful introduction of such program controls; however, many video streaming websites such as YouTube are beginning to successfully integrate copyright controls into their websites.
In the last year, YouTube's copyright protection efforts have developed greatly. In the last couple years, they began removing copyrighted content such as music videos, songs, and film and TV clips. Since YouTube songs cannot be reproduced or sold to begin with, this approach is rather pointless, and as Gillespie would agree, it inhibits expansion of the respective artists work. YouTube is an excellent way for an artist to get their name out there since anyone can access the videos. Thankfully, YouTube has come up with a solution to the problem of copyrighted music videos: Vevo. Vevo is a website that plays official music videos for no charge, and the only catch is a short 12 second advertisement every once in a while. Vevo videos are also hosted on YouTube and appear at the top of search results. This is one of the first steps toward a solution to the problem of copyright protection, as Vevo is able to provide music videos to viewers while still giving the artists credit and compensation
The history you gave about YouTube's copyright solution is very interesting. I knew that the site began taking down videos that were unauthorized, but I did not know about their incorporation on Vevo in order to continue transmitance of copyrighted works. I think that Vevo is a very effective approach because it satisfies the needs of both artist and consumer. Watching a short advertisement is only a small inconvenience compared to the benefits that artists may receive by having their videos shared on such a popular site as YouTube. I trust that the website will continue to work to develop further copyright solutions that provide the most benefits to all parties involved as Vevo has begun to do.
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