Justin Bieber Swears Off YouTube For FacebookOver the past weekend, Internet pop sensation Justin Bieber went to upload the music video of his new song called “Pray” to his personal YouTube site. He was in for a rude surprise: YouTube automatically blocked his video upload on “copyright grounds” that the video contained content from Universal Music Group (UMG), parent company to Bieber’s record label, Island Def Jam records.
“yo youtube…how u gonna block my own song?!?!?!” wrote an outraged Bieber on his Twitter account. In another Twitter update, he wrote, “dear youtube…we started this journey and now u r cheatin on me with this vevo chica…i see how it is…i will be over here with facebook [sic].” (Vevo is the music video website responsible for Bieber’s official YouTube syndication, and is a joint venture between music giants Sony Music Entertainment, UMG and Abu Dhabi Media.)
In response, YouTube wrote back to Bieber on its Twitter account, “sorry about the upload pain around ‘Pray’. That’s between you and your label but we love you [both] so let’s figure this out!”
But the damage was done. Frustrated with the Google-owned video site, Bieber instead uploaded his video using Facebook’s video app onto his Facebook page. “no one keeps my music from my fans. nobody,” he wrote on Twitter.
There’s a level of irony to the situation. Bieber got his start on YouTube, where home videos of him on his account singing covers of hip-hop songs from artists Usher and Chris Brown attracted the attention of a talent scout in 2007. After a meteoric rise to fame, Bieber is one of the biggest YouTube stars today, the second to reach 1 billion views on the Google-owned video site, behind Lady Gaga.
You would think if anyone deserved to be able to upload his own music videos to YouTube, it would be Bieber. So why couldn’t he? The answer lies in the complicated legalities behind copyright law and new media. It comes down to the question: who owns the video? In Bieber’s case, the answer depends on who you ask.
According to the YouTube website where Bieber’s upload was blocked, it appears that UMG has ownership. YouTube has a Content ID copyright protection system in place. Content ID automatically detects whether new content being uploaded to the website infringes on any copyrighted material in YouTube’s vast video database, using video and audio recognition techniques. The rights-holder can preselect what YouTube should do to the video in response: A) block it outright, B) monetize it by overlaying an ad on the video or C) do nothing, but be able to track the video’s viewership.
When Bieber tried to upload a copy of the “Pray” video, the Content ID system detected an already existing copy of the video from UMG in the database. UMG presumably set the default response to block infringing material, so Bieber’s upload was automatically blocked.
“We’re sorry to hear about the difficulty Justin Bieber had uploading his ‘Pray’ video to YouTube,” a YouTube spokesperson told Forbes. “What happened is really a matter between Justin and his label.”
YouTube, perhaps seeking to avoid copyright infringement issues that landed it in a lawsuit with Viacom (which Google ultimately won, though Viacom is seeking an appeal), makes it a point that it works with many different copyright holders from the media industry. Complicating matters is the fact that there may be multiple copyright owners on a single music video. The YouTube spokesperson says that the artists and labels need to be in constant communication in order to avoid issues like this.
I reached out UMG through email for comment earlier today, but have not heard back from the company yet.
And why was Bieber able to upload his video to Facebook with no problems? Facebook also says it has a copyright protection scheme in place. But if it has a similar Content ID system to YouTube, it doesn’t have the same amount of video content that YouTube does, meaning a given uploaded video to the social network is less likely to automatically ring warning bells.
In addition, Facebook spokesperson Jaime Schopflin says the social network has no plans right now to take down Bieber’s video upload. “He owns that content and we probably recognize that,” she said.
If ownership of copyrighted material is a tricky and complicated subject for big tech companies to talk about, it’s no easier for the common user. Last summer, the video JK Wedding Entrance Dance went viral, an amateur video featuring a bridal party dancing down the aisle to artist Chris Brown’s song “Forever.” The filmmakers probably weren’t thinking about copyright infringement, but Sony, which owned rights to the song in the video, had the option of taking the viral video down. Instead, Sony chose the monetize option, leaving the video up and putting an ad for the song pointing viewers to iTunes or Amazon where they could buy it.
In Bieber’s case, the story also appears to have a happy ending, at least for now. His “Pray” video has since been released on his official Vevo YouTube channel. And though the video is still blocked on his own personal YouTube account, the pop star seems to be at peace with YouTube.
He tweeted just recently, “@vevo and @youtube got me right now. I sing this one from the heart…”
FORBES MAGAZINE
WOW. WOW. WOW
so i wake up today to almost 15 million on facebook, Over a BILLION VIEWS on YOUTUBE, and….
6 MILLION OF THE GREATEST FANS ON EARTH ON TWITTER!!!! THANK U. This is crazy…My Hometown only has 30,000 people total! NUTS
Justin Bieber
Congrats JB. You seriously have the most devoted fans and we’re glad more and more people are catching the fever each day.
Lady Gaga and Justin Bieber are both approaching a major milestone of the new music industry: one billion all-time YouTube views.
Lady Gaga should pass one billion views around October 20 if she continues on her current pace, according to David Birch, communications director at TubeMogul. During September, she averaged almost 1.8 million views per day.
Birch says Bieber will surpass the 1 billion views milestone around November 1 if he keeps up his current pace. During September, Bieber’s videos were viewed about 3.7 million times per day.
After Lady Gaga and Bieber, the next closest artist is Michael Jackson at around 600 million views, says Birch.
Even though Lady Gaga will be the first to the one billion mark, TubeMogul data shows that lately Bieber has been the hotter of the two and has been YouTube’s most-viewed music artist. From July 1 to September 28, according to TubeMogul data supplied to Billboard, Bieber averaged 3.98 million daily views to Lady Gaga’s 2.04 million views per day.
Bieber has been hot since winter. Since February 28, Bieber has averaged 3.83 million daily views while Lady Gaga has averaged 2.53 million. To put their numbers in perspective, Kanye West has averaged 271,000 daily views in that time period.
But what really stands out is the consistent performance of Bieber’s videos. In April, TubeMogul began “Most Viral Videos of the Month” to highlight the most-viewed videos — including unofficial versions — in a given month. Nearly 9 in 10 of all videos to make the list have been music videos, and Justin Bieber has been the one constant month after month. He had four of the top 10 videos of the month from April through August.
Both artists have many of YouTube’s all-time most-viewed videos. Bieber’s “Baby” is YouTube’s most-watched video of all time with 345 million views. His “Never Let You Go” is No. 22 with 92 million views while “Never Say Never” is No. 28 with 86 million views.
With nearly 750,000,000 upload views in less than one year, JustinBieberVEVO has become one of YouTube’s most viewed and controversial channels. Tween and teen girls have fallen head over heels for the teenage heartthrob and have helped Bieber establish a big presence in pop music despite limited radio airplay.
His fans have also helped him earn YouTube’s most viewed video. After surpassing Lady Gaga’s “Bad Romance” video in July, Justin Bieber has recently surpassed 300,000,000 views with his video “Baby.” Having been out approximately six months, “Baby” has accumulated an average of 50,000,000 views each month, over 1.5 million daily views
Justin Bieber’s views can’t be entirely credited to his fans. Currently, “Baby” has a ratio of 268,329 likes to 211,900 dislikes. Baby has a sizable advantage as YouTube’s most viewed video, but it’s entirely possible that the dislikes on the video could surpass the likes within the upcoming months. The comments section of “Baby” and other Justin Bieber videos are also bombarded with negative feedback from critics.
Justin Bieber hasn’t been the most successful artist in terms of airplay and popularity. However, add up all the support he gets from his fans, the verbal hatred he receives from critics who loathe what he has contributed to the music industry, and the lack of indifference, Justin Bieber has become one of America’s most controversial and recognized stars.
With 245,336,730 views, BABY is now officially theMOST VIEWED VIDEO OF ALL TIME
Honors for this video (6)
#4 – Most Discussed (All Time))
#1 – Most Discussed (All Time)) – Music
#1 – Most Viewed (All Time))
#1 – Most Viewed (All Time)) – Music
#13 – Top Favorited (All Time))
#6 – Top Favorited (All Time)) – Music
Let’s see:
1) Most Searched on the Internet: Lady Gaga Justin Drew Bieber
2) Most Viewed Video of All Time on Youtube: Lady Gaga Justin Drew Bieber
3) Most Followed Person on Twitter: Britney Spears (5,339,640 and JB has 3,711,562)
2 down and 1 more to go before Justin can officially be proclaimed as the undisputed KING OF THE INTERNET.
Congratulations to JB for all your success. We’ll be there with you every step of the way.
Earlier today Justin Bieber’s “Baby” music video featuring Ludacris overtook Lady GaGa’s “Bad Romance” to become the all time most viewed video on Youtube. Before long, Lady GaGa fans went on the offensive and pushed her back into the number one position. GaGa’s little monsters have also defaced the comments section on Justin Bieber’s video. You’ll have to go there to see it for yourself, many of the comments are too explicit to repeat here. The general theme seems to be that Justin Bieber is a talentless homosexual.
At the time of writing, Lady GaGa’s video had 245,092,155 views. Bieber’s “Baby” video had a pathetic 245,074,968 views. If you want to participate in the battle for #1, then watch the videos below. One helpful Lady GaGa fan suggests “if you ever get tired of watching just mute it and keep refreshing while you do other things :)”
