How Lana Del Rey Lost Over 500,000 YouTube Hits Overnight

How Lana Del Rey Lost Over 500,000 YouTube Hits Overnight
With video-editing software becoming increasingly available, many musicians who wish to publicise themselves by creating ‘D.I.Y.’ home-music videos, are falling foul of copyright law. YouTube is undoubtedly a great way to market your music online and to reach new fans, with many musicians such as Lana Del Rey arguably owing their ‘discovery’ to the viral online popularity of a video. However, even these now established artists have often encountered legal difficulties along the way, so it is important to know where you stand in terms of the law.
Lana Del Rey’s YouTube video for the single ‘Video Games’ currently has some 6,000,000 views, although it started life very differently. While living in Manhattan, the singer reportedly decided to create her own ‘D.I.Y.” music video for one of her songs, which she would then upload to her YouTube account (http://www.mtv.co.uk/artists/lana-del-rey). “She recorded several performances of her singing it and gazing longingly into her MacBook camera”. Having then “trawled” the internet, she added to this film a range of “archive clips….from drunken celebs and orchestras, to skate slams and apocalyptic CGI landscapes” (http://www.socialstereotype.com/_/Features/Entries/2011/7/27_LANA_DEL_REY.html). She then edited this video footage together, and uploaded the finished music video, “Video Games”, to YouTube.
The video quickly achieved huge popularity, gaining over 500,000 views, until it was removed by YouTube (http://www.mtv.co.uk/artists/lana-del-rey). It is claimed the video was removed due to its failure to comply with YouTube’s user policy (http://www.youtube.com/t/terms), after various legal disputes arose in relation to its infringement of copyright laws (http://www.socialstereotype.com).
According to the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, in the UK, the duration of copyright in films extends 70s years from the end of the calendar year in which the last principal director, author, or composer dies (13B sub-section 2); or if the work is of unknown authorship, 70 years from the end of the calendar year in which the film was made, or 70 years from the end of the calendar year in which it is first made available to the public (13B sub-section 4).
Section 16 states that the acts restricted by the copyright include:
(a) Copying the work (see section 17)
(b) To issue copies of the work to the public (see section 18), including to rent or lend the work to the public.
(c) To perform, show or play the work in public (see section 19)
(d) To communicate the work to the public (see section 20)
(e) To make an adaptation of the work, or do any of the above in relation to an adaptation. (see section 21)
A person who without the permission or license of the copyright owner, does any of these acts is said to be in infringement of the copyright (16 sub-section 2). Therefore, according to section 17, if you use footage in a D.I.Y. video (for example by copying footage found on the internet), without first obtaining permission or license from the owner of the copyright of the work, you could be infringing that persons copyright.
Uploading work which contains an infringement of copyright is against YouTube’s user policy, in which it states that such works may be subject to removal and “Repeat infringer’s accounts will be closed”. Section 96 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 states that infringement of copyright is actionable by the copyright owner, and that this may result in relief being granted including damages and injunction. It is also possible for an injunction against the service provider to be invoked, where “that service provider has actual knowledge of another person using their service to infringe copyright” (section 97A, sub-section 1).
Although Lana Del Rey’s original video has been removed, it has since been replaced with a new edit featuring replacement footage. It seems that the easiest way to avoid content removal is to ensure that work uploaded is, as advised in YouTube’s user terms, “to use your skills and imagination to create something completely original” (http://www.youtube.com/t/terms).