[LINK] So this is Christmas and Imagine all those

[stephen at melbpc.org.au]

> 
> Music was written to be heard.
> Videos were filmed to be seen. 


"YouTube acquires RightsFlow to help license music"

Associated Press | Saturday, December 10th, 2011 

LOS ANGELES – YouTube said Friday that it has acquired RightsFlow, a New 
York-based company that will help it identify the owners of music that 
people use in videos they post.

The deal should help YouTube, which is a unit of Google Inc., manage the 
complex relationship it has with content owners, who are rarely consulted 
when their work is put up on the Internet for free.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

RightsFlow has a database of more than 30 million songs that it says lets 
it account for royalties and ensure they are paid.

YouTube’s Content ID system already identifies songs when users upload 
them, but RightsFlow’s database will help find the businesses and people 
who hold rights to the work, including songwriters, publishers, 
performers and recording companies.

Content owners can choose to have the videos taken down or leave them up 
and collect a share of ad revenue.

“We’ve already invested tens of millions of dollars in content management 
technology such as Content ID,” said YouTube product manager David King 
in a blog post. “We want to keep pushing things forward.”

The company said it will mean that more music will be allowed on YouTube 
and become a greater launching pad for aspiring artists, as it was for 
teen sensation Justin Bieber.
--

Cheers,
Stephen