Threshold and YouTube

[LavagesOfTime]

I'd like to ask the band (and the forum members as well) a question regarding the upload of copyrighted material on Youtube (apart from what's on the official channel). The question is: do you think uploading Threshold songs is a copyright violation and they should be removed, or do you think it's a very good way to have the music spread quite a lot?

Of course, as a fan I agree with the second: I often share Youtube links to songs on facebook, either meaning "I'm listening to this right now" but also meaning "hey, listen to this song, it's great". And obviously, every time I share a Threshold song I hope to recruit some new devoted (but it's good to see the usual suspects click on "I like" as well ).

Some would complain that in this way you can have for free something you should paid since is the result of hard work, but I think that listening to a song on Youtube does much more "promo work" than "stealing". Downloads from peer-to-peer are, instead, a completely different thing - and a different topic!

 

[Richard West]

To be honest I'm happy for the label to make those decisions.

 

[Ayreonaut]

I can understand that, as both answers have their own benefis for you.

As a fan i too like option no 2, not that i ever uploaded a video/song.
Although i am working on a Maiden United slideshow at the moment, with sound... so that would be my first.

 

[BurningDownTheMiddle]

Some bands celebrate it but many bands rely on the CD sales to get themselves the live gigs they deserve - no sales (because everything was uploaded for free) means promoters won't touch them for gigs even though they technically have a huge following.

Just had a very interesting chat with someone in that very position

So I guess it depends.

My biggest concern is some of the very low quality audio that gets uploaded for bands from the very big to the very small, particularly live footage. This can be very damaging for smaller acts especially if it is the only exposure someone has to the music

 

[Ayreonaut]

I had a conversation about that this week with Fred (Unwritten Pages)
One of their songs on spottify is a very bad rip, which will make people think the cd version might be crap aswell...

 

[LavagesOfTime]

My biggest concern is some of the very low quality audio that gets uploaded for bands from the very big to the very small, particularly live footage. This can be very damaging for smaller acts especially if it is the only exposure someone has to the music

Well, some people upload live footage on youtube just because they've been at the gig, and want to share the magic they felt - ending up sharing just a terrible live recording that make the band sound worse than they could ever do.

Having some of your songs off the cd - promo videos or just fan-made - help potential fans to have an idea about the sound of the band.

Another thing: while peer-to-peer downloading is something you often do instead of buying cd's (but not necessarily), I think that listening to a song or two on Youtube is not the same thing. If I'm at work and want to listen to Threshold, and I don't have the cd's with me, it's good to know that there's plenty of songs to listen to, but it would be a pain in the neck to listen to whole albums this way!

 

[karl groom]

I am not sure this is even a relevant subject any longer. Musicians never had any control over this kind of thing and you could look at it in many different ways. The height of youtube and live clips came around the tour in 2007 and I think this is less of a novelty now.

Having individual tracks on youtube from an album is certainly useful during my production work. A band will give references to another recording and that track can be found very easily. It is completely different to taking music or film from peer to peer. However small the amount is (and without agreement of the artist of course), there are now royalties generated from youtube.

 

[LavagesOfTime]

there are now royalties generated from youtube.

Really? I didn't know that!

 

[Thudd]

The way I look at it, a person who is going to rely on youtube-quality audio (or is 16/44 available on YT? I could be wrong) is never going buy the CD anyway, so the band doesn't "lose" money from that form of piracy.