MySpace: Be Afraid

[Cubby]

Since we know that MySpace has non-exclusive ownership of everything that is posted on their site, what will you be afraid to put up. I mean, Keith's standup is now owned by Newscorp, Spooky's art, Voodoolulu songs, etc. If KATG blows up to the level of Howard Stern, for example, MySpace is gonna rip everyone off big time and publish a KATG coffee table book/CD two-pack of MySpace-acquired contents. Thoughts?

[Vudell]

youtube is now doing the same thing. coming soon: worlds stupidest people, starring YOU!
http://www.zefrank.com/theshow/archi...7/0721006.html

[spooky]

i really dont care what people want to steal in the way of intellectual property from me. so i dont care much one way or the other, though the HUAR stuff is owned by keith, i just made it.

that said, the agreement they make doesnt mean its ironclad. and i dont see how it would be profitable to get a reputation for stealing intellectual property, myspace isnt podshow. id love to see them say they own superman, or jesus, or any other stuff.

in short, youre reading too far into what they can and cant do. likely the most you might see is a TV commercial flashing stuff from peoples myspace to promote it. anything past that i doubt is legal.

and seriously, what the fuck would myspace do with all the random snippets of bullshit?

[perclissigi]

I looked through the terms and conditions when I put my music up on there, having heard about this, and couldn't find anything about it, although I'm not the best when it comes to reading legal documents. However, I do know that if they were to add the ownership to the T&C at a later date, they are legally obligated to advise you of the changes.

Another thing, you can only have 4 songs at a time, and these are low-quality MP3's, not really release quality. The same goes for any artwork or photos, 72dpi JPEG files are not print quality, so there could be no "coffee table book" from those, if there was it would be horrible quality.

Oh, one other thought, with the amount of major recording artists to be found on myspace, do you really think their labels (who in the majority of cases own the recordings) would let them upload songs if there was a chance of the ownership being transferred?

We had a similar rumour when i was at music college, which was that as long as you are a student there, the college owns copyright on any music you write and/or record. Which was bullshit, they sent out letters to everyone just to clarify this.
</rant>

[Cubby]

Originally Posted by perclissigi

I looked through the terms and conditions when I put my music up on there, having heard about this, and couldn't find anything about it, although I'm not the best when it comes to reading legal documents. However, I do know that if they were to add the ownership to the T&C at a later date, they are legally obligated to advise you of the changes.

I was listening to some older shows and I heard them talking about this, I think Patrice was on the show, and the thing was that MySpace just has the right to use material again, but not exclusively. It just seems weird that if you put a song up, for instance, MySpace could use it in a commercial without any kind of permission needed. The internet is getting creepy acquiring all sorts of licenses from anyone willing to post things. I just think it's gonna blow up sometime in the future (like 5 years or so from now when people realize that podshow/myspace/youtube/etc. can use their material without consent).

[deznice]

Originally Posted by Cubby

I was listening to some older shows and I heard them talking about this, I think Patrice was on the show, and the thing was that MySpace just has the right to use material again, but not exclusively. It just seems weird that if you put a song up, for instance, MySpace could use it in a commercial without any kind of permission needed. The internet is getting creepy acquiring all sorts of licenses from anyone willing to post things. I just think it's gonna blow up sometime in the future (like 5 years or so from now when people realize that podshow/myspace/youtube/etc. can use their material without consent).

quick Keet, put that in the terms of service!

[MichaelG]

Youtube can use your stuff as long as you have it posted. once you remove it, they are not allowed

Boing Boing left that out of the article.

[perclissigi]

Originally Posted by Cubby

I just think it's gonna blow up sometime in the future (like 5 years or so from now when people realize that podshow/myspace/youtube/etc. can use their material without consent).

We are the people you talk about, and we are realising now.
I can't help but feel like it's something of a non-issue.
Now they've got the backing of News Corp. they have the cash to pay for advertising space, so what is stopping them throwing up an ad with
music from "myspace.com/u2" or "myspace.com/othergenericsuperband"?

[lickmyballssuckmy]

If I had anything to say to the world, I would (do) have my own website(s). Then maybe use myspace as a marketing tool to drive traffic to my site. I don't think I would post anything I didn't want myspace to use on that space just for the simple fact that they (Newscorp, not Tom) have more lawyers than me.

Either way, let's say I put it on my website. Unless I am taking every step to secure it (watermarks or encrypted pictures, an application that notifies me every time it is installed on a server, etc.) so it can't be stolen somebody could do it anyway, myspace or not.

Myspace has blown up and provides quite a bit for free and it makes sense that the price is that they can use what you post. Knowing that, you can decide what to post and what to simply link to in a more controlled environment.

[the big lebowski]

my question is: how do people like myspace and youtube make any money? it can't be off of those stupid banner ads that no one clicks on. does anyone else get the feeling that we're in another "dot com" boom that's going to fade w/in the next couple of years?