Immediately following an address by Newscorp’s Peter Chernin that focused squarely on MySpace and YouTube, Morris began his speech by enumerating some of ways in which UMG has leveraged its assets to create new avenues of income, including the formation of IMF and Fontana Distribution, and the deal with MTV for mobile content announced earlier this week. He then offered a history lesson for the assembled media mavens.
“What doesn’t work for us,” he said, “are companies trying to build businesses using our content without our getting a fair share. The poster child for this was MTV. Twenty-five years ago, they built a multibillion dollar company on our software. They received the software for virtually nothing. We learned a hard lesson.
“Recently, companies like Yahoo and
Having completed the setup, Morris got to his point. “Now we have social networking sites and user-generated sites,” he said. “The poster child[ren] for these sites are MySpace and YouTube. We believe these new businesses are copyright infringers and owe us tens of millions of dollars.”
And the punch line, delivered to a suddenly hushed room: “How we deal with these companies will be revealed shortly. We need to get a fair share from all of the new users of our content.”
Morris’ warning shot was strategically timed, coming when many believe YouTube’s ownership is in the early stages of talks with various bankers, the aim being either an IPO or an outright sale. Getting into an extended legal battle with the world’s most powerful music company—one that has shown no hesitation to push hard for what it wants—would make either of those scenarios far more difficult. According to insiders, there’s a very strong likelihood that UMG will file suit against YouTube in the near future.
Morris’ coda was just as ominous. “Fool us once, shame on you,” he said. “Fool us twice, shame on us.”
THE MUSIC OF CLIVE COMES ALIVE AT CARNEGIE HALL
That's what friends are for. (5/1a)
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THE NEW UMG
Gosh, we hope there are more press releases.
TIKTOK BANNED!
Unless the Senate manages to make this whole thing go away, that is.
THE NEW HUGE COUNTRY ACT
No, not that one.
TRUMP'S CAMPAIGN PLAYLIST
Now 100% unlicensed!
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