You may have heard that Google owned YouTube is now muting unlicensed audio tracks in user uploaded videos (see an example here).  I can almost understand a static image with a song being broadcast in the background (ALMOST… but not really), what happens with this is taken a step further and the “backing tracks” are muted (thus muting the content of the video itself).  This would mean anyone using a song not in public domain would have a Charlie Chaplin film on their hands (minus the stellar story line narration frames), this will kill the creative exploits of a good 10 million or so videos.

This begs the question, how far will the music industry push to be compensated by digitally streaming content?… and more importantly, how long until all these users flee YouTube and move to Vimeo or any other free video hosting service?

So, the music industry is shutting down yet another vehicle of free promotion… One would think they had learned their lesson by now. The floodgates have opened and people will find a way to broadcast whatever content they choose.

Once I purchase the song, should I not have the right to manipulate it in whatever form I choose? If that manipulation includes using at the backing track to my family vacation, I somehow don’t see how I’m exploiting the artist, record company, or anyone else for that matter.

Just maybe I choose a song that no one I know has ever heard of, and they end up loving it and buying the album, or entire catalog… wouldn’t this be good for the industry as a whole?

Wouldn’t the better solution be to find ways to hook in to free marketing and utilize the technological vehicle than shut it down?

Discuss below…