Category: Google Antitrust Investigation

Written by Chris Castle

Is YouTube The Lyor Show?

While we can appreciate Lyor’s old school view of his role in the Google Nation, no one should be persuaded that his approach will change anything as long as one of the largest corporations in commercial history is allowed to weaponize the DMCA safe harbor.  

Written by Editor Charlie

@scleland: The Huge Hidden Public Costs (>$1.5T) of U.S. Internet Industrial Policy — Artist Rights Watch

[Editor Charlie sez: Scott Cleland takes an excellent deep dive into the “leechonomics” of the safe harbors afforded to the special people who are members of the Internet Association and the Digital Media Association. This corporate welfare was most recently replicated in the punitive Music Modernization Act retroactive safe harbor bolstering profits from copyright infringement […]

Written by Chris Castle

Will Congress Bring Songwriters a Lump of Coal or Justice?

It is axiomatic that as government expands, liberty contracts. Songwriters are among the most highly regulated workers in America, so on the continuum of liberty, guess where songwriters score? Most people are surprised by that unadulterated, and rather bleak, fact. After all, songwriters don’t make anything toxic or build in places they shouldn’t or dump chemicals in a waterway. Songwriters don’t have monopoly power. Songwriters don’t even get to set their own prices—the government largely does that in a very expensive and Kafka-esque process.

Written by Chris Castle

@hneidig: Yelp accuses Google of violating FTC settlement

Yelp is accusing Google of violating a 2012 settlement with the Federal Trade Commission in which the internet search giant agreed to stop passing off third-party content as its own. Luther Lowe, Yelp’s vice president of public policy, sent a letter to acting FTC Chairman Maureen Ohlhausen on Monday saying that Google has been scraping […]

Written by Editor Charlie

@davidclowery: Does Google Use Dominance in Search to Steer Traffic to “Unofficial” YouTube Videos? — The Trichordist — Artist Rights Watch

Admittedly this is an unscientific sampling. But it sure seems like Google search (especially in ex-USA markets) seems to return top search results for UGC (User “Generated” Content) videos instead of official videos. Often no royalties are paid on these UGC videos, and in the cases where royalties are paid, they are paid at a […] […]

Written by Chris Castle

YouTube Censors “YouTube Star” Who Google Invited to Interview European Commission President — Artist Rights Watch

Reuters reports that European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker gave a series of live interviews on YouTube last Thursday to young social media celebrities, including French vlogger Laetitia Birbes who said that “YouTube’s idea was to do in Europe what they’re already doing in the U.S. with President Barack Obama.” But Birbes got an hidden camera […]

Written by Editor Charlie

The MTP Podcast: Michelle Lewis and Kay Hanley of SONA and David Lowery on DOJ’s “Union Busting” Gambit Against Songwriters

In an explosive conversation, Michelle Lewis and Kay Hanley talk with David Lowery and Chris Castle about Songwriters of North America, their experiences with lawyers from the Department of Justice Antitrust Division in the lead-up to the DOJ’s decision on “100% licensing,” and disingenuous behavior by the government’s lawyers that crossed the line into “union busting.”