I just want everyone to hear my Nickelback covers.

October 10, 2009 1:50 AM

Why are there so many covers songs on youtube?

I've searched for "acoustic covers" on youtube, and read youtube's policy and I can't reconcile the two.

Obviously, performing a cover on youtube is copyright infringement. Do the majority of these youtube users get away with it 'cos the rights holders don't care, or would they all have got permission?

posted by robotot to media & arts (13 comments total)

I can't imagine many, if any of the amateur covers that turn up in a search like this were authorized ahead of time by the copyright holders. The linked Youtube policy only covers its own rear by mentioning that uploading a cover is "not necessarily" within one's rights. I'll defer to Fair Use experts on whether it applies or not, because I have no idea (guessing not really).

Also, as far as I know, most infringing material is removed by Youtube because it is flagged by automated "fingerprinting" systems. Such things aren't generally flexible enough to catch an acoustic version of "Hey Ya" (Mat Weddle's is excellent, btw).

If (1) Fair Use doesn't apply to covers on Youtube, and (2) the copyright holders are sufficiently motivated, they could probably have these videos pulled, but they probably don't bother because there are so many exact reproductions of movies, tv shows, songs, etc. being uploaded every minute of every day, i.e., more "important" matters to attend to.
posted by Ryon at 2:38 AM on October 10

YouTube is too big to be policed efficiently. When an infringing video gets popular enough to appear on the radar of a label or musician, it tends to get shut down. Generally, this kind of user-generated content isn't being approved by the copyright holder. In some cases, the use of the material is considered "fair use" under existing US copyright laws and is thus kind of immune, but mostly the deal is that the interested parties just haven't seen it yet.
posted by girlstyle at 2:41 AM on October 10 [1 favorite has favorites]

Everytime i see something like this i am just glad there wasn't youtube when i was young or i would have been somewhere between a nerotic vlogger and that weird kid that claims he's 14 looks like he's the 7 year old from Jerry McGuire and lip syncs to disney starlet songs (a friend sent a link, i don't know his name if you aren't familiar).

I would assume that there are so many covers because (and i mean this in all earnestness without any bit of judgement) playing a cover is a good way to learn a song and feel accomplished that doesn't require any skill at writing. I've heard that they are good at helping you write your own song, but having played guitar for about 15 years and written a lot less then i have covered, i have yet to see that as true. So people learn a song, and play a song and perform it, putting it up for everyone to see. They get the ego boost of having something they did or "created" in the public eye with little effort and, because it's not an original piece of their soul, little emotional risk.

Also i think that people are more and more thinking of youtube as a lottery where if the right person sees your video of you singing "You were meant for me" and thinks that maybe you really have something that you will be the next Colbie Callait or something. And who would blame them? I heard a year or two a go a three second clip from someones vlog that i wasn't impressed with and then they said that the girl got a job as a creative consultant for ABC or something. Mefi fav Autotune the news is a sensation and they have already done profesional work for comedy central. I think there is a disconnect between some people where they see things like that and think "me to" not realizing that there was a lot of work and talent put into something like autotune the news, while their cover of "This is how you remind me" probably won't make them the next freddy krueger (that's the guy from nickel back right?).

In the odd chance that the people aren't trying to get famous, they are the digital version of the guy in quad playing hootie and the blowfish between rounds of hacky sack in the midnineties. You and me, we come from different worlds indeed.
posted by djduckie at 7:08 AM on October 10

djduckie has it it right. I'll add that there's never only one method of interpreting a song, everyone brings something different, and in the end it is more publicity for the original; usually the performer references the band/singer/songwriter.
posted by variella at 7:46 AM on October 10

yeah djduckie, I think there is something pretty great about learning music you love and doing a good job performing it. It's not like everyone has to write new music or new songs. There are quite a few deserving songs out there.

The annoying thing to me is that the video is so bad for these things. Like, get a tripod, and a mic, people.
posted by sully75 at 9:43 AM on October 10

I think, djduckie, you may be a little cynical about why people do it. People play cover songs because playing music is fun. Sharing it with your friends is fun. Putting it in public for everyone to see is fun. Not everyone who plays cover songs is trying to become a pro or get "discovered".

That's probably one reason (secondary to the "the rights holders' lawyers haven't noticed it") why they stay there. It's just some people having fun, man. Nothing sinister.
posted by ctmf at 1:44 PM on October 10

One reason people do this is to demonstrate how to play the song. While it's fun to watch a video of a Van Halen song, it rarely focuses on Eddie's fretboard long enough for me to learn the chords and techniques. Joe Schmo might not play it as well, but with the camera focused on him it's useful for learning.

And yes, the rights holders haven't noticed it. I've watched tons of cover videos while learning guitar and I've only seen a couple removed due to copyright violations.

[And my theory is that Youtube wouldn't be half as popular if copyright policing was perfectly done, but that's another story.]
posted by mmoncur at 3:58 PM on October 10

People are more likely to watch Joe Shmoe cover a song they already know than they are to watch him play a song they don't know. So, if you're Joe and you want people to check out your stuff, you'll post covers.
posted by 2oh1 at 11:00 PM on October 10

P.S. Your headline to this question actually sums it up nicely. "I just want everyone to hear my Nickelback covers."

I'd remove the word 'just', but otherwise, you nailed it.

Your friends know who you are.
Everybody knows who Nickelback is.
Covers are an easy way to get your name out there. And, hey... we all know that most of them are crap, but every now and then, a cover is absolutely brilliant.
posted by 2oh1 at 11:10 PM on October 10

Er... this question isn't about what drives people to record covers, it's about how, legally, the covers are allowed to stay up. (Honestly, the question was really short and half the responders don't seem to have bothered to read it.)

Anyway, I'm going with "the rights holders haven't noticed yet or otherwise don't care." If you look around there's a handful of shows that are constantly having clips pulled from YouTube once they notice them -- Futurama comes to mind -- but you'll still see those from time to time, and still other shows never bother. The same with music (non-covers) from the original artist. Some people have unauthorized versions pulled constantly, most don't.

I have seen covers taken down in the past for copyright infringement, but I've only noticed this once or twice in the years YouTube has been up.
posted by Nattie at 12:20 AM on October 11

Things are a bit muddier now that most of the major labels have revenue sharing agreements with Youtube. Now the music labels are fine with letting the covers stay up, because they get paid for them. Here's one example of a lipdub video, where they have a link to buy the correct album from amazon.
posted by nomisxid at 2:27 AM on October 11

IANAL, but it seems pretty clear that putting up a cover on YouTube qualifies as Fair Use.
posted by timdicator at 8:24 AM on October 12

IANAL, but it seems pretty clear that putting up a cover on YouTube qualifies as Fair Use.

It's pretty clear that cover songs do not fall under fair use.
posted by 6550 at 8:17 AM on October 13