Very interesting article on CNET today. Never knew about safe harbour and how it relates to YouTube. Has to be particularly tough for streaming companies that are paying out royalties when YouTube is basically getting their content for free.
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Quote from CNET:
How does YouTube get away with not paying out royalties? “There’s an inequality in the marketplace where we have a piece of the legislative framework called safe harbour”, explained Mulligan. Safe harbour rules are designed to give legal protection to companies such as, for example, Internet service providers in case their users do something dodgy using the service they provide. YouTube claims it’s covered by this law because the service is only a conduit for people to post content. As a result, said Mulligan, “YouTube has got a far bigger catalogue than any other music service will ever have under the current framework, and it does so because it doesn’t have to license it on a work-by-work basis.”
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Jamie Bonk 