Viral Video Causes Copyright rules changes on YouTube

I’ve been having an interesting conversation with school instructor Dylan Bennett over a blog post I made on Monday about a viral video on YouTube.

The video is a well choreographed piece by film students in Montreal using a popular song.

Mr. Bennett was commenting about how, as a video production instructor, he strives to teach his students not only the video producing skills and techniques but also the rules and ethics that go along with being a video producer.

We often write in Videomaker about how legally and ethically one shouldn’t use copyright music without permission,  and how, even recently, YouTube has taken down people’s fun videos because they used 10-seconds of a song without permission from the copyright holder.  But, apparently, the rules are changing.

Mr. Bennett sent me this blog post that Google put up this week, saying it’s OK to use copyright music, TV shows, or other approved media on YouTube… “if”… and it’s a big IF.  If the record company/TV network/copyright holder sees a financial benefit to them.

The Google blog sites the very viral YouTube example: the JK Wedding Entrance Dance as one reason why they are bending the rules, so to speak. This video was so popular, many other nuptials are trying to imitate it, and the song “Forever” has received a lot of new attention to a Chris Brown tune.
And all this was probably started off by Brian & Katie’s Evolution of Wedding Dance done way back in 2007, (ancient history for the YouTube era).

So what does this all say to we video producers? Well, if we do weddings, we hope the bride and groom or SOMEONE in the bridal party informs us that there will be a “staged production” so we don’t miss it, (more on that in a minute*). And for those making other videos who are trying to sneak a copyright song into and hoping it might go viral, good luck. Very few of these are planned… viral means “relating to or caused by a viru.s..” in other words, you don’t see it coming, you just wait until the bug catches you.

(Want more wedding music video ideas? Here’s a link to another viral wedding video, the wedding party dancing to Michael Jackson’s “Thriller”. )

I sure don’t remember having so much fun at my wedding, or any of the weddings I’ve attended over the years. Those were mostly filled with dipsy-tipsy bridesmaids, obnoxiously drunk groomsmen, feuding step-parents, and extremely hot locales.

*MISSED OPPURTUNITY: I assisted at a wedding for a fellow videographer recently where the bridal party danced down the aisle AFTER the bride and groom had already made their exit. The videographer at the end of the aisle left the church following the bride and groom out the door, and missed the shot of the dancing couples. I was stuck behind the altar, tethered to the mics, and got only the backs of two of the couples. Had we been alerted ahead of time, you might be seeing MY footage going viral.

Well, darn! I guess there’s always next time.