Well I was watching the Robert Frank Exile footage set to "Rocks Off" again recently on Youtube, and an ad appeared at the bottom of the player window...

Here's what might have been happening...

"YouTube Copyright Policy: Video Identification tool

What is YouTube's new Content Identification tool?
The Content Identification tool is the latest way YouTube offers copyright holders to easily identify and manage their content on YouTube. The tool creates ID files which are then run against user uploads and, if a match occurs, the copyright holders policy preferences are then applied to that video. Rights owners can choose to block, track or monetize their content."
(From Youtube Help)

Do the Rolling Stones and/or Robert Frank themselves see this "monetization"?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2009-11-16 18:47 by schillid.

"Monetization" is business lingo for making people pay for what they used to get for free.

What happens to the money that is collected as part of "monetization" from a digital performance does not necessarily fall under a record contract that was made before the type of media in question was invented, which in this is case is the youtube video.

I'm not a lawyer but I've read quite a bit about the music business so I know it's all in the fine print of deals that are being made. In retrospect, characters like Allen B Klein, Irving Azoff, Morris Levy and Saul Zaentz must be considered experts in "monetization", or at least in its precursor.

Basically, it's most likely that the money from this "monetization" goes into a pot and either the guy with the best lawyers gets it or the guys who put the pot there in the first place by threatening youtube with a copyright infringement lawsuit.

But remember, if no "monetization" takes place, youtube itself gets the ad revenue itself. Basically, the uploader of the content usually gets nothing and loses their copyright in the process. The latter is why I don't upload any content that I consider in any way valuable onto such sites.