I love Youtube but the legal watchdogs hate it.
I can see where these people are coming from. The video-sharing website, Youtube forbids the uploading of copyrighted content and frequently removes uploaded infringing videos. However, infringed content continues to grow like an army of ants and beyond policing. Evidently, users abuse its infrastructure - just like the case of Kazaa, a peer-to-peer file-sharing website. But the brains behind these influenctial medium would have anticipated its legal implications, wouldn't they? Let's not forget that asides from TV clips and music videos, the non-represented content such as home-made videos are also copyrighted. For example, Tom sang his composition in an amateur video and he recorded it. Tom is therefore the copyright owner of that video and has the right to upload it to Youtube. However, If I fancy Tom's video and upload it to my site, I am infringing Tom's copyright. So tell me which online content are not copyrighted? It is a matter of who owns the copyright and if infringement is worth prosecution. Would Tom sue me for sharing his video? I doubt so; he will be more than happy about the publicity.
Anyway, this blog is not a missive about copyright. Rather, I am going to write about how an act of infringement walked me down the memory lane and brought joy to my heart. I was born in 1973 - the 80's is the period when Madonna, Rick Astley, Paula Abdul, New Kids on the Block, Jason Donovan and Kylie Minogue filled my childhood with music notes. Those were the cassette days when pirated albums titled 'Billboard 100' were sold rampantly at Bedok Interchange* at SGD2.00 each. They were thrown on the floor like pasa malam* sales and everyone searched among the pile to look for that perfect compilation. Raids were unheard of then. Those were the days you tuned in to the radio programme 'Say it with Music' and waited impatiently for the DJs to shut up before you punched the record button on your cassette recorder. When the DJ's interrupted the song before it ended, you couldn't stop cursing them for that
imperfect recording. Technically speaking, it is wrong to record songs from radio and tape record our favorite TV shows. No authority in Singapore talked about copyright infringement in the early 80's. Everyone loved music for what they were and programmes like 'Solid Gold' were our weekend favorites. Life was less complicated then and music were not exploited. Gone were the days.
You can see how much my memories are coming back. Thanks to Youtube and those who uploaded the hard-to-find music videos of the 80's stars whom I grow up with. Remember the suave Rick Astley who sang like a black man and kept your feets grooving to his UK's top hit 'Never Gonna Give You Up'? I could vaguely recall that music video I watched on TV when I was a little boy. Ronald Macdonald was then a new face to Singaporeans. I searched for 'Rick Astley' on Youtube and a list of videos appeared. I watched most of them. All of the sudden, I time-travelled 20 years back to my old apartment and I was watching Rick animated on my old television set that had 4 supporting legs. Now, both Rick and I have aged. I indulged in my nostalgia by searching for more videos of the 80's stars like Jason Donovan, Paula Abdul, New Kids on the Block and Tommy Page. To my excitement, Youtube have them all! Even the enchanting duet 'The Right Combination' by Seiko & Donnie Wahlberg appeared when I searched for it! Having a liking for classics too, I searched for clips of 'The Carpenters' and 'Gene Kelly'. I was not disappointed.
In Singapore, I can't buy most of these DVDs. Sometimes, an artiste may not have a demand here and hence no retailers will import them. I searched high and low for Gene Kelly's CD at HMV, Gramophones and Borders. There wasn't a single match in the computer system; the only stuff associated with Gene Kelly is the movie DVD 'Singing in the Rain' and everywhere had that. I don't even see Rick Astley's music videos collection at any of these stores. Although they have The Carpenters's music videos DVDs, every store is selling that same title. When I was in London's Virgin Megastore, there were an assorted CDs and DVDs of The Carpenters. Either Singaporean consumers only go for popular stuff that everyone is talking about in the town or the buyers at these record stores are practising the 'if-I-have-never-heard-of-them-they-can't-be-good' purchasing policy. Sometimes, it's hard to blame people for downloading music, TV series or music videos. The local market doesn't have them and buying them online can be a hassle. For me, I will buy the originals even after watching them on Youtube. I bought the Gene Kelly's 'S Wonderful CD when holidaying in HongKong. I am also planning to visit the record store this weekend to buy the greatest hit CDs of Rick Astley and Jason Donovan and transfer the songs to my iPod. If not for those fans who uploaded their music videos, I would have forgotton about Rick, Jason and many other stars.
Sentimental values do help to sell CDs. I'm sure if I can find more rare music videos or TV series on Youtube, it will trigger me to buy them. Already I am hooked to the Brtish gay TV series 'Hollyoaks' on Youtube. What made it frustrating is that the uploaded clips are not complete episodes and making sense of the story is thus difficult. Maybe, I will ask my boyfriend from the US to buy it for me. Very likely.
*Bedok Interchange - a bus terminal located at one of the oldest housing estate in Singapore.
*Pasa malam- a Malay word meaning bazaar market.
Anyway, this blog is not a missive about copyright. Rather, I am going to write about how an act of infringement walked me down the memory lane and brought joy to my heart. I was born in 1973 - the 80's is the period when Madonna, Rick Astley, Paula Abdul, New Kids on the Block, Jason Donovan and Kylie Minogue filled my childhood with music notes. Those were the cassette days when pirated albums titled 'Billboard 100' were sold rampantly at Bedok Interchange* at SGD2.00 each. They were thrown on the floor like pasa malam* sales and everyone searched among the pile to look for that perfect compilation. Raids were unheard of then. Those were the days you tuned in to the radio programme 'Say it with Music' and waited impatiently for the DJs to shut up before you punched the record button on your cassette recorder. When the DJ's interrupted the song before it ended, you couldn't stop cursing them for that
imperfect recording. Technically speaking, it is wrong to record songs from radio and tape record our favorite TV shows. No authority in Singapore talked about copyright infringement in the early 80's. Everyone loved music for what they were and programmes like 'Solid Gold' were our weekend favorites. Life was less complicated then and music were not exploited. Gone were the days.You can see how much my memories are coming back. Thanks to Youtube and those who uploaded the hard-to-find music videos of the 80's stars whom I grow up with. Remember the suave Rick Astley who sang like a black man and kept your feets grooving to his UK's top hit 'Never Gonna Give You Up'? I could vaguely recall that music video I watched on TV when I was a little boy. Ronald Macdonald was then a new face to Singaporeans. I searched for 'Rick Astley' on Youtube and a list of videos appeared. I watched most of them. All of the sudden, I time-travelled 20 years back to my old apartment and I was watching Rick animated on my old television set that had 4 supporting legs. Now, both Rick and I have aged. I indulged in my nostalgia by searching for more videos of the 80's stars like Jason Donovan, Paula Abdul, New Kids on the Block and Tommy Page. To my excitement, Youtube have them all! Even the enchanting duet 'The Right Combination' by Seiko & Donnie Wahlberg appeared when I searched for it! Having a liking for classics too, I searched for clips of 'The Carpenters' and 'Gene Kelly'. I was not disappointed.
In Singapore, I can't buy most of these DVDs. Sometimes, an artiste may not have a demand here and hence no retailers will import them. I searched high and low for Gene Kelly's CD at HMV, Gramophones and Borders. There wasn't a single match in the computer system; the only stuff associated with Gene Kelly is the movie DVD 'Singing in the Rain' and everywhere had that. I don't even see Rick Astley's music videos collection at any of these stores. Although they have The Carpenters's music videos DVDs, every store is selling that same title. When I was in London's Virgin Megastore, there were an assorted CDs and DVDs of The Carpenters. Either Singaporean consumers only go for popular stuff that everyone is talking about in the town or the buyers at these record stores are practising the 'if-I-have-never-heard-of-them-they-can't-be-good' purchasing policy. Sometimes, it's hard to blame people for downloading music, TV series or music videos. The local market doesn't have them and buying them online can be a hassle. For me, I will buy the originals even after watching them on Youtube. I bought the Gene Kelly's 'S Wonderful CD when holidaying in HongKong. I am also planning to visit the record store this weekend to buy the greatest hit CDs of Rick Astley and Jason Donovan and transfer the songs to my iPod. If not for those fans who uploaded their music videos, I would have forgotton about Rick, Jason and many other stars.
Sentimental values do help to sell CDs. I'm sure if I can find more rare music videos or TV series on Youtube, it will trigger me to buy them. Already I am hooked to the Brtish gay TV series 'Hollyoaks' on Youtube. What made it frustrating is that the uploaded clips are not complete episodes and making sense of the story is thus difficult. Maybe, I will ask my boyfriend from the US to buy it for me. Very likely.
*Bedok Interchange - a bus terminal located at one of the oldest housing estate in Singapore.
*Pasa malam- a Malay word meaning bazaar market.
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