Music Is International

The reason for this post is the fact I was on Youtube and wanted to watch the great and classic Chemical Brothers track - "Hey Boy, Hey Girl". Typed it in, first result was from EMI, the music publisher of said track, with the official video. Clicked it and the little message came up saying:

"The user has blocked the content in your country."

No, I don't live in Outer Mongolia. No I don't live in a country like China with high Internet censorship. I live in the U.S. And EMI didn't bother blocking it from MTV in the U.S. And one result down was the official Chemical Brothers channel which did allow the track to be played.

Youtube is possibly the biggest video sharing site on the Internet. It is used for a whole host of reasons. But music videos on Youtube are put there by record companies, or the artists themselves, purely as a promotion; in the hope that people seeing the video will go and buy the CD or follow the Youtube link to iTunes and download the official MP3.

So why the fuck do some companies (read as businesses) feel the need to block something on Youtube which is a marketing opportunity to sell something? And let us be honest here just because someone lives in one part of the world does not mean they only listen to music from that part of the world. I hate Country music - something the U.S. id famous for holding on to.

And what are Youtube, who are owned by Google, doing about this? Absolutely nothing. Google keeps going on about being open and global in all their services and products. So why don't they say if someone wants to make content area specific only it will not be allowed on Youtube as their 'Openess ethos' does not allow geographic censorship unless enforced by a country's government.

Since acquiring Youtube Google has given us VEVO, which censors music videos all the time, which may indeed be against the 1st Amendment rights of the U.S. Constitution, seems Google is based in the U.s. And in an attempt to get broadcasters backing behind other Google products they allow these promotional videos, which have already been plastered on U.S. TV to be blocked.

Music is international. Time and time again artists that are known all around the world have proven this. Youtube/Google not only do a great dishonor to the millions of Internet users that have made it what it is; but hey have also done a great disservice to the artists around the world that have been blocked in certain areas.

But it doesn't just rest with Youtube. It rests with the artists as well. Artists can go to their publishers and say "Hey fuckers why can't a fan in Russia see my video. Remember you work for us. Without artists your publishing company would be nothing. Sort it out now!"

If you get a video blocked, email the artists website and let them know that as a fan of their music you feel it unfair. Because if enough people complain eventually something will be done.