Potential risks of uploading original songs to YouTube and MySpace?

[seattleswiss]

I recently posted in the Songwriting forum about the potential risks of e-mailing your songs to friends, but I wanted to also address the inherent risks of posting the performance of an original song to YouTube and MySpace. The YouTube terms and conditions make it pretty clear that YouTube owns the video and can do whatever they want with it, while you still own the song itself. Does anyone have any thoughts on why one medium might be safer than the other, or why one should be avoided altogether? I'm also interested in people's thoughts on putting your real name on YouTube and MySpace versus using a pseudonym.

[Poker99]

What are you afraid of?

[Dthraco]

+1

 

Putting music anywhere in digital format has a risk of being stolen. If you can hear it on a computer, you can copy it. Doesn't matter where it is.

 

The odds of you getting eaten by a shark are better than someone stealing your songs and making any sizeable amount of money from them.

 

So do you surf those glorious waves, or sit at home? I say surf!

 

As far as your real name? Depends on who you are and what you sing about. If you work for a bank and sing about smoking weed all day long, probably not a good diea. If you give out your social security number in your video's, probably not a good idea.

[petermichael]

My knee jerk reaction is to say you are being silly, but I understand your concerns. It is an unknown to a lot of people. What you should do with any "potential risk" in any area is to separate the potential advantages from the potential risks and make an informed decision.

 

Advantages of youtube? I don't know where to begin.

Feedback/Appraisal

Exposure/Marketing

Community/Networking

 

And all on a global scale. I would not suggest youtube is important to a musician who wants to really make their impact, rather it is essential. I even know a channel on youtube where you can post your song, and if it's selected, someone will distribute it for you at no charge(not mentioning anything specifically, as that would violate the forum rules) just know if you have the "stuff" it will rise to the top quickly on youtube. And I do mean quickly. The better your song / ability, the quicker you will rise.

 

Potential risks? Is your concern piracy? Piracy is assumed, and is proportional to your success/visibility. I would only tell you to assume that anything on youtube can be freely converted to mp3, so either put only part of the song up, like a preview, or put a lower quality mp3 into your video (like never higher than 128kbps if using a full song, and make mention to the fact that your "real song" is available (here) and it is in high quality.

 

Youtube gets more videos than our mind can really comprehend, so they really don't want to do anything more than claim ownership so they can play the thing, and you can't try to charge them for it down the road. They also need to cover themselves if your uploaded video for some reason corrupts or disappears, so you can't hold them liable for that either. Just legal covering of youtube backside.

 

At the conclusion, i would hope you would see that there is really no downside to using youtube to your benefit.

 

As far as your name question, I appreciate that more. I would not use your full name as a minimum rule. I use Peter Michael, which is my first and middle name. I do not use my last name. If I have your first and last name, and know your basic geography, I can in 15 minutes run a credit report, and see your last 5 addresses, etc, all without your knowledge. No thanks. You are wise to avoid that. Use a nickname, or a different first name, or you could come up with a wild combination of letters and number, wear a funny costume and take over the industry altogether. (deadmau5) but in the end, if you succeed, people will still find out your name, where you live, and whether or not you paint your toenails.