We know that the Zimbabwe Music Rights Association (Zimura) receives royalties on behalf of music composers for airplay. They can even monitor radio and television stations to see which of their member artists are receiving this airplay. However, if someone is using his or her phone or computer to access music, how can Zimura monitor this and who pays for this play?
There has been strong representations in the past by some musicians who want the public to pay for ringing tones on their phones as these make use of their music. They also want to know how they benefit from having their music posted on social media platforms such as YouTube and Facebook.
This is where I begin to question the advantages and disadvantages of having one’s music on YouTube.
A lot of artists believe that having their music on YouTube, although there are no financial benefits to it, will give them plenty of publicity which they need. What they are not aware of is the fact that YouTube makes billions of dollars from these postings and only selected artists are paid for that.
I have asked several artists in Zimbabwe some of whom have boasted receiving more than a million views from their videos posted on YouTube, whether they are receiving any royalties from YouTube. So far from all the musicians I have spoken to, no one in Zimbabwe has received a penny from this organisation.
YouTube, with more than one billion users, is the most popular source for music streaming on the internet. But it has become a source of frustration for many artists. YouTube also hosts millions of unauthorised videos. The artist has no choice — their music is on YouTube even if they don’t want it there. Some artists have written letters to YouTube, asking to have their material removed from the internet site, but YouTube does not seem to have the ability to efficiently remove content from the site.
The music business has less bargaining power than ever — as album sales have fallen about 60% in the past decade, YouTube has become increasingly important — 98% of American internet users ages 18 to 24 visit the site and the company says its advertisement sales have delivered $3 billion to artists and content creators. Given the $3 billion YouTube makes, we are not sure why artists are not receiving royalties here in Zimbabwe.
“YouTube has become radio for kids,” says Ken Levitan, who manages Kings of Leon, Cheap Trick and many other pop groups in the United States.
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But unlike radio, YouTube is a bad business partner. It allows leaked material and poor-quality live music to stay online. And it pays far less on average than streaming services like Spotify and Apple Music. “YouTube revenue for a superstar artist is a joke,” says one musician who has over 100 videos posted on YouTube. “Their accountings are too complicated and opaque to give an accurate per-stream number. They’re acting like an old record company by making the accountings difficult so that the artist remains in the dark.”
Like any site, YouTube can stream material without the artistes’ permission thanks to 1998’s Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) which was promulgated in the United States. The law allows companies to post copyrighted content online if they agree to take it down upon request. But in the YouTube age, this means artists’ representatives need to monitor hundreds of millions of new videos every day. YouTube says it has addressed the issue, spending $60 million to build a “content ID” programme, which uses digital “fingerprints” to identify pirated material.
Despite this declaration a lot of uncensored videos, including pornographic material go on the site.
This system catches 99,5% of copyrighted material, says Robert Kyncl, YouTube’s chief business officer who was talking to African Business recently: “I challenge somebody to find a better system of copyright management anywhere,” says Kyncl. “It’s been nearly a decade of us investing in the system when no one else does anything.”
Azoff a prominent critic of YouTube says, “YouTube’s 99,5% claim isn’t good enough. The videos doesn’t catch account for 48 million unauthorised plays per day. That still requires an army to manually claim the remaining videos.”
George Sisimayi, a Zimbabwean artist, who recorded the song Ndapera NeChachacha Amai in the late 1960’s was surprised to find that song on iTunes and YouTube recently. The song is selling for 99 cents on iTunes and to listen to it on YouTube, one has to pay subscription service fees. Sisimayi says no one has ever contacted him about his song since the 1960’s and he has not received a single coin from iTunes or YouTube. So where is this money they are selling the record for going?
Steve Miller a well known artist based in the United States whose material including full albums like Greatest Hits 1974-1978, can be found on YouTube had this to say: “YouTube destroys my business and makes money by enabling theft worldwide.”
Some artists hire private services to manage the flood of content. Queen uses Believe Digital, a music-distribution company that employs a 40 people to issue takedown notices or monetise unofficial videos. “If we don’t want something, we block it,” says Denis Ladegaillerie, the company’s chief executive. “If we want it available, we make money. It’s a significant source of revenue that did not exist before.”
YouTube should allow artists to decide which of their songs should be available for free and which are part of a paid subscription. From what it charges, part of the money should go directly to the artists. Unfortunately, for Zimbabwean artists they cannot lobby the United States Congress to reform the DMCA. It looks like they have to put up with the terms and conditions of whatever is posted on YouTube as they are far removed from what takes place in the United States where YouTube and its parent company, Google, are based. However, some musicians who fail to get airplay in Zimbabwe feel that it is better to have YouTube on board, without which no one would ever get to know them.
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