Kings Of Leon Management Issuing Questionable DMCA Takedowns To Stop Clips Of On-Stage Problems?

from the copyright-as-censorship dept

John Obeidin points us to the news that YouTube videos of a problematic Dallas concert by the band Kings of Leon are disappearing from YouTube under claims from Vector Management, who apparently represent the band.

Apparently Caleb Followhill from the band complained a bunch about feeling sick and saying that his voice was shot. At some point, he announced that he was going backstage to vomit and that he’d be back later — which didn’t happen. The rest of the band apologized (profusely) and later hinted at “bigger” problems with the band. Lots of folks in the audience were upset about all of this. Either way, a bunch of videos sprung up on YouTube. But as quickly as they go up, Vector Management appears to be pulling them down. Now it’s possible that some of the videos include clips of copyrighted songs, but the whole thing certainly seems pretty questionable, and looks like an attempt to stifle the video of what happened. Assuming that most of the videos only included a bit of music, but focused on Caleb’s statements, it seems like there would also be strong fair use claims.

Now, I did just find the following video, which does not appear to include any music, but merely clips out the statements made by Caleb and then other members of the band. It’s still up as I’m posting this. If it remains up, then perhaps the takedowns are only directed at clips with actual music in them. Even so, the whole thing feels sketchy and, of course, is only drawing more attention to the whole story.

Filed Under: , , , ,
Companies: vector management

Rate this comment as insightful
Rate this comment as funny
You have rated this comment as insightful
You have rated this comment as funny
Flag this comment as abusive/trolling/spam
You have flagged this comment
The first word has already been claimed
The last word has already been claimed
Insightful Lightbulb icon Funny Laughing icon Abusive/trolling/spam Flag icon Insightful badge Lightbulb icon Funny badge Laughing icon Comments icon

Comments on “Kings Of Leon Management Issuing Questionable DMCA Takedowns To Stop Clips Of On-Stage Problems?”

Subscribe: RSS Leave a comment
37 Comments
Matt says:

"copyright" claim on KOL rant video

I posted a video that was subsequently removed like all the others. It contained no music and only showed Calebs speech. Same as the other videos. The one you have on this page was taken down as well but put back up with all the “property of trodmac” stuff. I was a little curious as to why my video was removed.

Matt

Mike Masnick (profile) says:

Re: "copyright" claim on KOL rant video

I posted a video that was subsequently removed like all the others. It contained no music and only showed Calebs speech. Same as the other videos. The one you have on this page was taken down as well but put back up with all the “property of trodmac” stuff. I was a little curious as to why my video was removed.

Are you filing a counternotice?

Anonymous Coward says:

Re: Re: "copyright" claim on KOL rant video

Mike Masnick is “Captain Privacy” in all situations unless it involves publicly embarrassing musicians.

Y’know, people that actually possess talent, unlike himself and his douche brigade here.

The terms of going to a concert are listed very clearly on the ticket. Just because musicians are generally chill and let you record/film their show does not mean they can’t choose to invoke their rights about their performance.

Is there a bigger hypocritical slimeball on the web than Mike Masnick?

Nope.

Mike Masnick (profile) says:

Re: Re: Re: "copyright" claim on KOL rant video

Mike Masnick is “Captain Privacy” in all situations unless it involves publicly embarrassing musicians.

Um. Dude did what he did in front of thousands of people. There’s no “privacy” issues at all. How can you not see that?

Y’know, people that actually possess talent, unlike himself and his douche brigade here.

Moving on…

The terms of going to a concert are listed very clearly on the ticket.

Makes no difference. This is abuse of copyright. Nothing on the back of a ticket legally gives the band’s mgmt copyright over videos taken by others.

Just because musicians are generally chill and let you record/film their show does not mean they can’t choose to invoke their rights about their performance.

You don’t understand a thing about copyright law, do you?

Is there a bigger hypocritical slimeball on the web than Mike Masnick?

Nope

When you have to answer your own rhetorical, people might wonder if it’s because no one actually agrees with your answer. Just saying…

In the meantime, when are you going to stop with the ad hom attacks and actually pay attention to what we *actually* say? I mean it’s fun and all to watch you make up shit all the time, but it’s not very productive.

So can we have a productive discussion?

Mike Masnick (profile) says:

Re: Re: Re:3 "copyright" claim on KOL rant video

It’s not about copyright you idiot- you’re not allowed to record/film a show without permission. Period

I’m the idiot? Fascinating.

FYI, while a venue may set policy barring video without permission, that only leads to a cause of action between the venue and the individual. It *does not* allow for a takedown to be issued on the video.

Separately, there are additional questions about the legality of any such policy. At *best* it would allow the venue to remove the patron. It almost certainly would not allow for legal action as no actual contract was ever signed.

And, even you admitting that “its not about copyright” proves my point: this is an illegal abuse of the DMCA.

Period.

Mike Masnick (profile) says:

Re: Re: Re:5 "copyright" claim on KOL rant video

Read the back of a concert ticket some time.

I have. I addressed that in my post. It is not enforceable despite your claims, and the only thing they can do with it is kick you out. They cannot make a faulty DMCA claim.

Oh wait, that would involve “paying” to be entertained…

Are you really that much of an asshole? I pay to be entertained all the time. I go to lots of concerts and movies and I buy CDs and music from Amazon on a near weekly basis. I’ve told you this. Why do you insist on pretending I don’t.

In the meantime, learn something about copyright law before looking even more stupid.

JMT says:

Re: Re: Re: "copyright" claim on KOL rant video

“Y’know, people that actually possess talent, unlike himself and his douche brigade here.”

So tell us who you are and what your talents are so we can make a call on who’s talented and who’s not, and who’s a douche and who’s not. Or are you too chicken?

“Is there a bigger hypocritical slimeball on the web than Mike Masnick?”

The irony is strong with this one…

Matt says:

"copyright" claim on KOL rant video

I posted a video that was subsequently removed like all the others. It contained no music and only showed Calebs speech. Same as the other videos. The one you have on this page was taken down as well but put back up with all the “property of trodmac” stuff. I was a little curious as to why my video was removed.

Matt

Matt says:

"copyright" claim on KOL rant video

I posted a video that was subsequently removed like all the others. It contained no music and only showed Calebs speech. Same as the other videos. The one you have on this page was taken down as well but put back up with all the “property of trodmac” stuff. I was a little curious as to why my video was removed.

Matt

Matt says:

"copyright" claim on KOL rant video

I posted a video that was subsequently removed like all the others. It contained no music and only showed Calebs speech. Same as the other videos. The one you have on this page was taken down as well but put back up with all the “property of trodmac” stuff. I was a little curious as to why my video was removed.

Matt

hmm (profile) says:

simply because

Someone at the groups management has grabbed the idea that “there’s no such thing as bad publicity” and has been reading techdirt it seems:

step1. have the band “cancel” halfway through a performance, drawing SOME media attention
step2. Issue massive takedown notices of any video about this to try to take advantage of the Streisand Effect
step3. ?????
step4. Profit when the “Surprise” new album/tour comes out……

Anonymous Coward says:

Filing DMCA complaints against people you don’t like/videos you don’t approve of on Youtube is an old, old tactic. Youtube will axe pretty much any video on one or two DMCA notices or enough flaggings without as much as verifying that the person filing it is actually a verified source or that the person filing it is actually a legitimate rights holder and not some butthurt little kid trying to settle an internet argument. It might as well just be an automatic takedown, as it’s nigh-impossible to ever actually get your account back once it has happened. And it only takes one little dickweed with enough patience to completely ruin your account.

chris says:

Re: Re:

It would be nearly impossible for YouTube to determine if every person who sent a notice was the copyright holder for that work. They have no choice but to assume it is legit. A random kid has the same authority to enforce a copyright as some mega-corp, and is no more likely to file a false claim.

I say that because I’m worried that people think materials produced by large businesses are somehow more copyrighted then say a personal blog, and should have more access to enforcement measures.

Take a three strikes system for example, a copyright holder sends a claim of infringement to an ISP and the ISP takes action. Since the actually question of infringement can only be answered by a court, the ISP should not treat a claim from the RIAA any differently then some individual. If they do, then that undermines the legitimacy of copyright law because everyone is supposed to be equal under the rule of law.

The reason there are little/no penalties for a false claim is because it would not benefit those who lobbied for the DMCA, and most people don’t have the resources to fight for such a penalty using the court system.

Anonymous Coward says:

Re: consequence or lack thereof

None, they can’t go after every person who files a false claim. And some of the people who file false claims are legitimate rightsholders that would be perfectly willing in fighting a long, drawn out legal battle over who can and can’t file a DMCA notice.

So youtube finds it safer to just axe every video, regardless if any sort of infringing takes place or even if the person claiming infringement actually owns the content in the first place. Anyone can do it because anyone can be considered a legal rights holder on the internet.

Anonymous Coward says:

Re: Re: consequence or lack thereof

Then be prepared to go balls up at some point. Someday, someone out there will get tired of the nonsense, and start something entirely new, and all of the lawyers, copyfreaks, and DCMASwingers will be standing at the side of the road with their broken business model in one hand and a bottle of jack in the other.

Leave a Reply to Mike Masnick Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Have a Techdirt Account? Sign in now. Want one? Register here

Comment Options:

Make this the or (get credits or sign in to see balance) what's this?

What's this?

Techdirt community members with Techdirt Credits can spotlight a comment as either the "First Word" or "Last Word" on a particular comment thread. Credits can be purchased at the Techdirt Insider Shop »

Follow Techdirt

Techdirt Daily Newsletter

Ctrl-Alt-Speech

A weekly news podcast from
Mike Masnick & Ben Whitelaw

Subscribe now to Ctrl-Alt-Speech »
Techdirt Deals
Techdirt Insider Discord
The latest chatter on the Techdirt Insider Discord channel...
Loading...