The Youtube Download War

[Whizbang]

Not to be unexpected, the music industry is trying to put the clamps on Youtube because of downloading.  Most Youtube videos uploads are personal, and many times waaay too personal.  However, many of the videos are uploaded by very good music artists who are simply not well known because they have not been swallowed up by the big music moguls.  Muriel Anderson, probably the best female guitarist in the world, and arguably one of the best  even without gender reference, period, has uploaded many of her guitar videos and seems to be quite thrilled at the interest they have drawn.  On one video, she gives lessons on how to mimic a banjo, string bass, and violin/fiddle all at the same time.  It is causing a big upsurge in interest for CD purchases, musical instrument purchases, and the desire to learn to play.  Jake Shimabukuro is making Kamaka Ukeleles rich.  Tommy Emmanuel was little known outside Australia until people started uploading his videos.  He also is encouraging uploading by refering to his version of the Guitar Boogie, as the "Youtube Boogie."  Now, the Maton guitar is on an increasing number of "must have" lists.  One could easily argue that the effort to draw attention to personal achievement is a good alternative to cellphone addiction and general mischief making.  Recently, I tried downloading some videos in recorded open-air situations at music festivals.  Some of the performances are one-of-a-kind that will never be seen or duplicated by the music industry.  I simply used Free Download Manager to do it and convert the videos to avi, but no more.  The restrictions are being tightened, even though there are many sites on line that still offer the video opportunities for free from Youtube.  The problem is that there are very many people that want the videos to be downloaded so that their fame, to whatever degree, can be expanded, but recording industry interests are attempting to put the squeeze on the effort.  I believe the music industry is going to lose on this one, whether they win or lose the lawsuits, because they are restricting the opportunities of non-aligned artists.