Taylor Swift attends the iHeartRadio Music Awards at The Forum on April 3, 2016 in Inglewood, California. (Photo : Getty Images/Frederick M. Brown)
Two years ago, Taylor Swift took on Spotify and now the "Bad Blood" singer has taken on the streaming giant, YouTube. Swift, Paul McCartney and Kings of Leon are among the 180-odd artists who have petitioned to Congress to reform the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.
In an open letter to Congress, signed by several music labels such as Sony and Universal, artists have complained that the existing online copyright law enabled YouTube and other sites to make huge profits by making it easier for consumers to carry nearly all recorded songs in history in their pocket via smartphones. As a result, the earnings of the songwriters and artists have been diminishing, BBC reported.
The timing of the letter is important for labels. Currently, the U.S. Copyright Office is currently reviewing the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (D.M.C.A.) safe harbors, while the House Judiciary Committee is appraising the copyright law.
In the recent months, artists, who usually do not speak much about controversial issues like copyright; are turning out to be more vocal. In fact, the music industry has apparently found an issue it can rally around. As a result many in the music industry are today vocal in criticizing YouTube.
In an interview with Billboard earlier this year, artist manager Irving Azoff alleged that has been rigging against the artists. Azoff said he has never seen such serious threat to artists in his several years as a manager.
Azoff as well as many others are displeased with the D.M.C.A., the copyright law that allegedly protects platforms such as YouTube from liability of copyright infringement. Precisely speaking, YouTube users can post copyrighted material, both songs and albums, and the platform has the right to host them on its website until it removes materials protected by copyright following requests from the rights holders.
Meanwhile, YouTube, which boasts of more than one billion users in 88 countries, issued a statement saying the "voices of the artists are being heard." The statement further said that the streaming giant is working through "details." Moreover, it claimed to have paid over $3 billion to the music industry.
Earlier, Swift also took on Apple. Watch below:
