Dennis beat me to it but I would confidently say 99% of feature films on youtube are illegal. There are literally whole youtube "chanels" made up of pirate material. It is technically true that youtube will "take down" something if a rights holder fills out a form but guess what it usually goes back up under another name an hour later and rights holder can never win this game of whack a mole and most gave up trying. In this case I will personally guarantee RAISIN IN THE SUN is not legal. It is freaking nightmare to clear that kind of production for DVD (which has not been released on) let alone legal streaming. The amount of individuals you would need to clear on a 25 year old American Playhouse production based on a major literary work would take a team of lawyers and a HUGE amount of money.
You can't compare musicians agreeing to a cut of their own music to clearing and posting a feature film on youtube. I can tell you that every single film I have worked on in the last five years or more has been posted illegally on youtube often many, many times and most of them actually did have ads. I would add that just to add insult to injury when you do get the film pulled down youtube posts a note that it was pulled down because a rights holder objected and makes you sound like a bad guy. These guys did not spent 200 million dollars in one year lobbying against penalties for links to pirate sites for nothing. On Tue, Aug 18, 2015 at 6:47 PM, Dennis Doros <[email protected]> wrote: > I'm sorry Michael, but *many* YouTube videos with ads on it can often be > another form of copyright theft. There are many "companies" that scan > YouTube for popular sites and if these videos are not officially claimed by > ID, they claim ownership and have the ad money go to them. > > Here are some articles: > > http://www.wired.com/2011/11/youtube-filter-profiting/ > > http://damnlag.com/threads/watch-out-for-copyright-scams.33337/ > > And I can promise this is happening because our Milestone trailer with > Martin Scorsese talking about Polish Cinema was scammed twice by > individuals and the youtube started having ads appear. We also have this > done to some of our trailers. It takes a while to get these rights back to > our own videos. > > Unless you see something like PBS.ORG, WGBH, WNET, KCET, SCETV (the > people behind American Playhouse) or the original producer as the official > owner of the site, then it's not legal. And here's another clue -- almost > all of the American Playhouse films were done with SAG and other union > approvals and you would have to work out clearances for all the > performances, music, etc. Electronic distribution (streaming, downloading) > didn't exist then so the owners of the copyright would definitely have to > have these cleared again. It's not that easy or cheap. So if the clearances > were done for any of the films, you would bet your ass they would be on > Netflix, DVD or Blu-ray -- not free Youtube. (Yes, I looked into the rights > for a couple of these.) > > > Best regards, > Dennis Doros > Milestone Film & Video > PO Box 128 / Harrington Park, NJ 07640 > Phone: 201-767-3117 / Fax: 201-767-3035 / Email: [email protected] > > Visit our main website! www.milestonefilms.com > Visit our new websites! www.mspresents.com, www.portraitofjason.com, > www.shirleyclarkefilms.com, > To see or download our 2014 Video Catalog, click here > <https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0150/7896/files/2015MilestoneVideoCatalog.pdf?2223081985127089573> > ! > > > Support "Milestone Film" on Facebook > <http://www.facebook.com/pages/Milestone-Film/22348485426> and Twitter > <https://twitter.com/#!/MilestoneFilms>! > > > On Tue, Aug 18, 2015 at 6:09 PM, Brewer, Michael M - (brewerm) < > [email protected]> wrote: > >> While I am sure there is a lot on Youtube that is posted without >> copyright permission, they also seem to do a lot of licensing behind the >> scenes with copyright holders, so it isn’t always clear what is legal and >> what is not. Much of the music that is posted by individuals (not artists) >> is still preceded by advertising. This leads me to believe that Youtube has >> made a deal with the copyright holders for at least some of the content in >> the video to keep it up if they give them a cut of the profit. This >> Rolling Stone article describes how that works: >> http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/seven-ways-musicians-make-money-off-youtube-20130919 >> >> >> >> “YouTube isn't Napster -- if somebody owns the copyright to a song within >> a video, and demands that the service take it down, it comes down. But >> first, YouTube offers a different approach: "Content ID." That means if >> your wacky wedding video is set to Chris Brown's "Forever," Brown and his >> record label can agree to cover the thing with ads and take a cut of the >> royalties. This happened with Baauer's "Harlem Shake" when it broke in >> February, with 400 million overall cover versions generating cash for the >> dance-music DJ's indie label Mad Decent Records (and, presumably, Baauer >> himself).” >> >> >> >> I don’t know if this is the case with Raisin in the Sun or not, but at >> least one of the videos I clicked on was preceded by an ad. This makes me >> think that it may be and that having students watch it would actually send >> money to the copyright owners through Youtube. >> >> >> >> mb >> >> >> >> Michael Brewer | Librarian | Head, Research & Learning | >> [email protected] >> >> >> >> *From:* [email protected] [mailto: >> [email protected]] *On Behalf Of *Bergman, Barbara J >> *Sent:* Tuesday, August 18, 2015 2:07 PM >> *To:* [email protected] >> *Subject:* Re: [Videolib] Copyright question: American Playhouse Films >> >> >> >> Hi Lowell, >> >> You're mixing a bunch of different things here. >> >> 1. Is it legally posted on YouTube by the copyright holder? I'm guessing >> no, and therefore should not be recommended to the faculty member. >> >> 2. Public performance rights are for screening outside of a classroom and >> are irrelevant here. >> >> 3. The TEACH Act theoretically helps us decide whether it's okay to make >> a film available via course management system. It’s not very helpful >> though, and you’re usually better off going back to Fair Use. >> >> Do they want the entire film or just a scene? >> >> Is this a face-to-face class where it would simple be more convenient to >> have film available online? Or a distance ed class? >> >> >> >> Barb Bergman | Media Services & Interlibrary Loan Librarian | Minnesota >> State University, Mankato | 507-389-5945 | [email protected] >> >> >> ------------------------------ >> >> *From:* [email protected] < >> [email protected]> on behalf of Lowell Lybarger < >> [email protected]> >> *Sent:* Tuesday, August 18, 2015 3:40 PM >> *To:* [email protected] >> *Subject:* [Videolib] Copyright question: American Playhouse Films >> >> >> >> My apologies in advance if this topic was already covered at length. >> >> >> >> We have instructors at my university who would like to have their >> distance-education students watch the American Playhouse version of *A >> Raisin in the Sun* (1989) that is currently available through YouTube. >> This version was directed by Bill Duke and features Danny Glover and Esther >> Rolle. Do American Playhouse films require public performance rights? The >> URL would be posted on a web course through Blackboard. >> >> >> >> Lowell Lybarger >> >> >> >> VIDEOLIB is intended to encourage the broad and lively discussion of >> issues relating to the selection, evaluation, acquisition,bibliographic >> control, preservation, and use of current and evolving video formats in >> libraries and related institutions. It is hoped that the list will serve as >> an effective working tool for video librarians, as well as a channel of >> communication between libraries,educational institutions, and video >> producers and distributors. >> >> > > VIDEOLIB is intended to encourage the broad and lively discussion of > issues relating to the selection, evaluation, acquisition,bibliographic > control, preservation, and use of current and evolving video formats in > libraries and related institutions. It is hoped that the list will serve as > an effective working tool for video librarians, as well as a channel of > communication between libraries,educational institutions, and video > producers and distributors. > >
VIDEOLIB is intended to encourage the broad and lively discussion of issues relating to the selection, evaluation, acquisition,bibliographic control, preservation, and use of current and evolving video formats in libraries and related institutions. It is hoped that the list will serve as an effective working tool for video librarians, as well as a channel of communication between libraries,educational institutions, and video producers and distributors.
