Queen’s Brian May reacts brilliantly to fans getting Copyright Strikes for sharing videos
Queen fans are being penalized for posting concert videos of the well-loved band, and guitarist Brian May had something to say about it.
by Timothy Geigner from Tech Dirt
Copyright strikes on hosted video content happens all the time. There are tons of strikes issued in error, plenty that are purely fraud and abuse, and a bunch that may have been done in good faith but completely fail to recognize if and when specific content would be protected by fair use. What doesn’t happen nearly often enough when these strikes occur is to have the content producer, on who’s behalf the strike was issued, get directly involved in the defense of those receiving the strike.
And so it’s worth pointing out when such things happen. And it’s especially worthwhile to point out when the artist doing this isn’t some member of the internet generation that grew up with a different view on content, copyright, and the like. Enter Brian May, famed guitarist of the band Queen, who has apparently been paying attention to several videos of Queen getting copyright flagged and isn’t happy about it.
On Monday, the guitarist shared a screenshot of a fan’s post, claiming she received a strike from Universal and YouTube over videos she posted from a Queen concert on the platform.
“Hi guys, it looks like Universal and YouTube are now coming for everyone who posts concert videos of Queen and Adam [Lambert]. I got a strike and deleted most of my concert videos. If you get multiple strikes you may lose your channel. Be careful!,” she wrote, according to May’s screenshot.
May responded within his Instagram post and pointed a couple of things out. First, that this wasn’t the only instance he’s seen a story like this. Second, that it sure as hell wasn’t done at the behest of anyone in the band. And, finally, that he isn’t happy about it and is at least going to try to do something about it.
It’s great to see an artist come out and actually rail against this sort of extreme copyright enforcement. The kind of sharing of videos from live events that we’re talking about here are simply not some kind of threat to the band, their labels, or any licensing societies either might be working with. In fact, historically bootleg tapes and videos have been seen by more forward-thinking folks as an absolute boon to these bands in terms of generating more interest in their concerts and recorded music. It sure sounds like May gets that.
But the other side of this is that May is taking the time to actually pay attention to his own fans and treating them in a human and awesome way. It would be quite easy for him to ignore all of this, or even go out of his way to make sure he doesn’t come across these issues. He appears to be doing the exact opposite by going and actively looking for this sort of thing, or at least not trying to hide it from his view. That shows a level of care by the artist for his fans that isn’t nearly as prevalent as we’d like.
So cheers and Merry Christmas to Brian May.
