My previous post was a lovely slide show of my sons’ tball team. I can usually bang ’em out pretty quick on my iMovie and then have them on line unless than a weekend.
This past one, however, had me in a bit of a pickle. Y’see, I had been saving John Fogerty’s “Centerfield” for this particular defensive showpiece. And after a day of choosing pictures and getting it all how I wanted it, I sent it off to YouTube. Imagine my surprise when I went to link it to the Blahg and discovered that my masterpiece had been blocked for copyright infringement. Sonofab*tch!
Before you jump down my throat about artist’s rights I will tell you as someone who hopes to earn royalties herself someday, that I totally agree artists should get paid for use of their work. If I was slapping it into an episode of “Grey’s Anatomy” I should pay the guy. If I am acquiring a song for the first time, I download it legally and pay my buck twenty five. But the fact that John Fogerty’s label/lawyers spend life’s precious moments trolling YouTube making sure a middle aged mom doesn’t use it as ambience for a tball movie seems a little ridiculous. I don’t post the slideshows for profit, and I can guarantee that Mr. Fogerty’s net worth outstrips mine. What’s the harm?
Back in the day you could take advantage of something called “fair use”. This basically said that you could use your CDs to make mix tapes to your hearts content.
Things have changed because audio tape sounded like crap, and no one would want to buy your lousy tape. However, someone can use nifty software to pull “Centerfield” off my YouTube video and viola, they have acquired an almost studio grade quality copy of the song without paying a dime.
So I decided to compromise and found a live version of the song, chopping off the first few bars so that even if someone wanted a copy it wouldn’t be pirate worthy. So far (fingers crossed) they don’t seem to mind.
I’ve been taking out my frustration on Mr. Fogerty, even though he most certainly doesn’t have a clue that someone is stalking me on his behalf. And I guess I can’t begrudge a guy trying to make a living. If they let me slide they might as well let everyone use it for free.
But from now on he will always be grumble grumble John Fogerty to me.
The Blahg 