Broadcast Yourself

Around the globe, YouTube has become a metaphor for the democratizing power of the Internet and information. YouTube gives unknown performers, filmmakers, and artists new ways to promote their work to a global audience and rise to worldwide fame; makes it possible for political candidates and elected officials to interact with the public in new ways; enables first-hand reporting from war zones and from inside repressive regimes; and lets students of all ages and backgrounds audit classes at leading universities.

Yet YouTube and sites like it will cease to exist in their current form if Viacom and others have their way in their lawsuits against YouTube.

In their opening briefs in the Viacom vs. YouTube lawsuit (which have been made public today), Viacom and plaintiffs claim that YouTube doesn't do enough to keep their copyrighted material off the site. We ask the judge to rule that the safe harbors in the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (the "DMCA") protect YouTube from the plaintiffs' claims. Congress enacted the DMCA to benefit the public by permitting open platforms like YouTube to flourish on the Web. It gives online services protection from copyright liability if they remove unauthorized content once they’re on notice of its existence on the site.

With some minor exceptions, all videos are automatically copyrighted from the moment they are created, regardless of who creates them. This means all videos on YouTube are copyrighted -- from Charlie Bit My Finger, to the video of your cat playing the piano and the video you took at your cousin’s wedding. The issue in this lawsuit is not whether a video is copyrighted, but whether it's authorized to be on the site. The DMCA (and common sense) recognizes that content owners, not service providers like YouTube, are in the best position to know whether a specific video is authorized to be on an Internet hosting service.

Because content owners large and small use YouTube in so many different ways, determining a particular copyright holder’s preference or a particular uploader’s authority over a given video on YouTube is difficult at best. And in this case, it was made even harder by Viacom’s own practices.

For years, Viacom continuously and secretly uploaded its content to YouTube, even while publicly complaining about its presence there. It hired no fewer than 18 different marketing agencies to upload its content to the site. It deliberately "roughed up" the videos to make them look stolen or leaked. It opened YouTube accounts using phony email addresses. It even sent employees to Kinko's to upload clips from computers that couldn't be traced to Viacom. And in an effort to promote its own shows, as a matter of company policy Viacom routinely left up clips from shows that had been uploaded to YouTube by ordinary users. Executives as high up as the president of Comedy Central and the head of MTV Networks felt "very strongly" that clips from shows like The Daily Show and The Colbert Report should remain on YouTube.

Viacom's efforts to disguise its promotional use of YouTube worked so well that even its own employees could not keep track of everything it was posting or leaving up on the site. As a result, on countless occasions Viacom demanded the removal of clips that it had uploaded to YouTube, only to return later to sheepishly ask for their reinstatement. In fact, some of the very clips that Viacom is suing us over were actually uploaded by Viacom itself.

Given Viacom’s own actions, there is no way YouTube could ever have known which Viacom content was and was not authorized to be on the site. But Viacom thinks YouTube should somehow have figured it out. The legal rule that Viacom seeks would require YouTube -- and every Web platform -- to investigate and police all content users upload, and would subject those web sites to crushing liability if they get it wrong.

Viacom’s brief misconstrues isolated lines from a handful of emails produced in this case to try to show that YouTube was founded with bad intentions, and asks the judge to believe that, even though Viacom tried repeatedly to buy YouTube, YouTube is like Napster or Grokster.

Nothing could be further from the truth. YouTube has long been a leader in providing media companies with 21st century tools to control, distribute, and make money from their content online. Working in cooperation with rights holders, our Content ID system scans over 100 years worth of video every day and lets rights holders choose whether to block, leave up, or monetize those videos. Over 1,000 media companies are now using Content ID -- including every major U.S. network broadcaster, movie studio, and record label -- and the majority of those companies choose to make money from user uploaded clips rather than block them. This is a true win-win that reflects our long-standing commitment to working with rights holders to give them the choices they want, while advancing YouTube as a platform for creativity.

We look forward to defending YouTube, and upholding the balance that Congress struck in the DMCA to protect the rights of copyright holders, the progress of technological innovation, and the public interest in free expression.

Posted by Zahavah Levine, YouTube Chief Counsel

Submit questions for YouTube user's interview with James Cameron

If you've got a question for the director of Avatar, now's your chance to ask it. The famous director is opening himself up to the YouTube community, allowing our own DaveyBoyz to interview him based on the questions you submit via the Official Avatar Channel on YouTube.

Questions will be organized into the following categories — the environment, technology, the military-industrial complex, vision of the future, and imagining a society — and you'll have until 11:59 p.m. ET on March 21 to submit and vote on them. DaveyBoyz, who already has experience talking to the cast at the film's London premiere, will pose the 10 most popular questions to the director in an exclusive interview in L.A. on March 23. The interview will be uploaded to YouTube during the week of April 19, so stay tuned to see how it went.

Nate Weinstein, Entertainment Marketing Associate, just watched "Acting for the Camera."

Oops Pow Surprise...24 hours of video all up in your eyes!

In May of last year, we announced 20 hours of video were uploaded to YouTube every minute. We then challenged you to keep the uploads coming to see whether or not we could get a day’s worth of video – 24 hours – uploaded in the same brief time span.

Today, we’re announcing that you’ve done it! In just 60 quick ticks of the second hand, more than a full, action-packed day in Jack Bauer’s life is now uploaded to YouTube. To put this into context, imagine how much stuff happens in 24 hours:

• The earth rotates 360 degrees as it orbits the sun
• The second hand on your bedside clock ticks 86,400 times
• The most skilled climber reaches Mount Everest’s summit
• 2.5 days go by on Jupiter

A day’s worth of content uploaded to YouTube every minute is a big achievement for our community and speaks to the role video plays in connecting and changing the world one upload at a time. So what’s next? 30 hours? 36 hours? Tell us in the comments below what you think the next big YouTube upload milestone should be.

Hunter Walk, Director, Product Management, recently favorited “The LXD: In the Internet age, dance evolves...”

Your interview with Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper

[Cross-posted from the Google Public Policy Blog]

It’s not every day that you get to ask your country’s leader questions about issues you care about. But that’s exactly what Canadians did this afternoon when Prime Minister Stephen Harper sat down with YouTube.

Roughly 170,000 votes were cast through Google Moderator for nearly 1,800 questions -- giving voice to thousands of Canadians. And don’t think that these were softball questions. Canadians asked their Prime Minister questions on a wide variety of important topics: from the deficit to Canada’s role in Afgahistan, from child care to protecting pensions. We tried to select questions that represented the most popular topics and would solicit conversation. (We also minimized duplicate questions so we could cover a range of issues.) Neither the Prime Minister nor his office knew in advance which questions he’d be asked.

You can see the Prime Minister respond to your questions in this video:



Prime Minister Harper is the second world leader to answer your questions in a YouTube Interview. It’s your appetite for political discussion on YouTube that creates these opportunities to access public leaders in this format, and we look forward to conducting more YouTube Interviews soon.

Posted by Jacob Glick, Google Canada Policy Counsel

OK Go, BBQ and Musicians Wanted at SXSW

Right up there with our love of award-winning Texas BBQ is our love of independent music and the people who create it. That’s why the indie-centric SXSW Music Conference in Austin is the perfect place to launch the YouTube Partner Program (YPP) for musicians, aka Musicians Wanted. It's just the latest step in the YPP's continual expansion.

This time, we’re inviting thousands of artists who made the trek to Texas -- and the rest of you accomplished musicians at home -- to apply today. If accepted, you'll join stars like ukulele songstress Julia Nunes, singer-songwriter David Choi and many others who, as partners, are able to make some money from their YouTube videos. Here's multi-instrumentalist and YouTube musician extraordinaire Jack Conte and songstress Nataly Dawn (aka Pomplamoose) to tell you more:

We've also got a few words from our most recent YPP Music partner. You may have heard of them – they're a little band with a viral hit or two and recently made headlines by starting their own indie label. As OK Go's Damian Kulash puts it "YouTube has always been a great match for OK Go - creativity flourishes and we can connect directly with our fans. So when we heard about Musicians Wanted, it was a no-brainer: it sounds great for us. We're honored and excited to be the first applicants. We can't wait to get new videos up on our channel."

So whether you make hip-hop, folk, noise-rock, jazz or a genre of your own invention, we are looking for all types of original music video content. One thing to keep in mind is that right now this program only supports video content by U.S.-based artists, though there are plans to roll out the program more widely in the future.

We'll leave you with a final call to apply now to join our Musicians Wanted campaign and perhaps you, too, will find yourself autographing CDs, reporting from the road and collaborating with other amazing musicians on the site.

Michele Flannery, Music Manager, recently watched "Bulldozer."

You and the FCC Chairman discuss the Future of the Internet

Earlier today, the Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Julius Genachowski sat down for an exclusive YouTube Interview, right on the heels of the FCC’s announcement of a National Broadband Plan -- the agency’s strategy to deliver high-speed Internet to more Americans across the country. You might be surprised to learn that -- even though the Interent was invented in the U.S. -- broadband penetration in the states is considerably lower than many other developed nations. Chairman Genachowski’s YouTube Interview is part of a series of conversations we’re having with public figures in which citizens submit and vote on their favorite video and text questions on CitizenTube. Earlier this year we spoke with President Obama in the White House, and engaged with leaders of Congress after the bipartisan health care summit.

You can see the entire interview posted below. Chairman Genachowski answered Brooklyn-ite Elizabeth Stark’s question on cost by saying the FCC needs to eliminate all barriers to competition so more Interent providers can compete and drive down prices. When Evslin in Vermont asked about rural broadband access, the Chairman said the FCC will take funding currently allotted for rural phone lines and instead use it to provide broadband to rural communities. And when Michael Tapp asked if broadband should be considered government infrastructure or a commercial service, the Chairman shied away from calling the Internet a fundmental right -- but he did say that all Americans “need to have access to this critical infrastructure.”

All in all, the Chairman took 17 questions, including two lightning rounds of “F-C-Caesar,” in which the Chairman gave a thumbs up or thumbs down to more straightforward “yes” or “no” questions posed by users. 

You can submit your feedback to the National Broadband Plan on Broadband.gov, or feel free to leave a comment about the interview on the YouTube video itself.

More and more world leaders are coming to YouTube to speak directly with citizens about important events, so stay tuned for more interviews in the future. We’d love to know you who’d like to hear from next.

Steve Grove, head of News and Politics, recently watched, “Announcing the National Broadband Plan.”

BBQ and Movies

Today marks the last day of the SXSW Film Festival (stay tuned for a "BBQ and Music" blog as the music portion of SXSW kicks off tomorrow), where we continued to roll out our Filmmakers Wanted campaign, launched back at Sundance, to educate filmmakers about opportunities to distribute and make money from their work on YouTube, especially through YouTube's new Rentals program.

Here's a shot of some of our handiwork for those of you who couldn't make it to Austin this year...

But for any filmmakers out there who want more than just my amateur photo of a poster, visit our Filmmakers Wanted channel for information on Rentals and how to become a partner.

As much as we've enjoyed our stay here in Austin, it's never a party unless we get to celebrate with all of you. So we've put together a kickin' collection of music documentaries to transport you to that artistic otherworld where music and film coexist in beautiful harmony (and if this virtual otherworld doesn't do it for you, try to get to Austin next year -- the BBQ's really good, too).

Below are descriptions of the films, which are available for rent, and trailers to help you decide what to watch.

The Socalled Movie

Socalled is a Canadian klezmer/hip hop artist and part-time magician with millions of views on YouTube (and he also happens to be performing at tonight's SXSW Film Closing Party if you're here in Austin!). Find out what drives this eccentric rapper as he blasts through the boundaries that separate music from different cultures, eras and generations in "The Socalled Movie."

loudQUIETloud

In the late 80's and early 90's, The Pixies took the indie rock world by storm until internal strife tore them apart. This rockumentary takes you behind the scenes of their 2004 reunion tour and explores some of the band's darker demons.

DiG!

Winner of the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance, "DiG!" recounts the friendship and rivalry between the American rock bands The Brian Jonestown Massacre and The Dandy Warhols.

Air Guitar Nation

In "Air Guitar Nation," a cadre of the nation's greatest would-be guitar heroes - including C-Diddy, Jam Toast and The Shred - converge on the first-ever U.S. Air Guitar Championships, before moving onto the world finals in Finland.

Sara Pollack, Entertainment Marketing Manager, recently watched "Socalled - (Rock the) Belz"