YouTube and other video sharing sites are sprinkled liberally with teens using songs as the background to silly stunts, dances and even parodies of "official" videos. Recently, a skit by comedian Judson Laipply which caricatures dance routines and music since the 50s has been
watched over 18 million times. Many view this as free viral marketing, but others in the industry see it a a threat.
"At a May meeting of the Recording Industry Association of America, Universal Music Group pushed for an aggressive stance against amateur videos using commercial songs," the Wall Street Journal recently reported. Most of the sites like YouTube will pull a video if they get complaints from the label or publisher. But one has to wonder who benefits from this kind censorship and whether fan backlash will follow.
Resources: YouTube, WSJ, Washington Post, Digital Music News
