Some of the most powerful people in the music industry hate YouTube.  Now, they have a way to destroy it — without destroying fan relationships or feeding piracy.
It’s not that YouTube can’t be stopped.  It’s that the music industry doesn’t have the balls to stop it.  Because if Taylor Swift can figure out how to remove her content from YouTube, then so can everyone else.
How?
It’s called Content ID, for starters.  And it’s a simple system for identifying, removing, or otherwise managing copyright content.  It’s how you get your videos off of YouTube, and get some control over their use.
But Content ID doesn’t work!
That’s a constant complaint, especially from smaller content owners.  And for the bigger content owners, there are the endless workarounds designed to sidestep Content ID.  Like slowing down a track to evade fingerprint detection.
But if major labels (like Universal Music Group) and high-profile managers like Irving Azoff are really serious about removing their content, then it’s time to declare war on the workarounds.  And put some serious heat on YouTube to clean every copyrighted version, period.
War is ugly.
I often wonder what the IFPI and RIAA are doing to really combat YouTube.  Maybe they’ve gotten too comfortable, too used to their lofty salaries and family dinners at 5:30 pm every night.  We get a lot of useless press releases from these organizations decrying the ‘value gap,’ screaming that YouTube isn’t being fair.  But YouTube clearly doesn’t give a shit.
So why doesn’t the music industry make them give a shit?
The reason is that YouTube has called the music industry’s bluff.  They’ve outsmarted the music industry at every turn.  And they pay a pittance on music videos because they can.  YouTube is not only the largest platform for consuming music, it’s a major defense wall against piracy.  Shut down YouTube tomorrow, and watch streaming and download piracy explode.  It’s really that simple.
