Idolator

The Wall Street Journal looks at the difficulties that labels and studios are having when it comes to policing YouTube's music videos: Not only do the entertainment companies have to locate and identify all of the various copyright-thwarting clips, but they have to work in coordination with the publishing companies who represent the songwriters. It's a big, bureaucratic nightmare, one that apparently requires countless hours of watching 14-year-old kids sing along to Akon:

A look at "Smack That" illustrates the complexities. Securing the online rights to the song by rappers Akon and Eminem — No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart — would involve permission from Akon's record label, Universal Motown. Most of the time, a label alone can grant a license for the use of a music video, but when it comes to videos involving YouTube users lip-syncing to the song, or any other use of it as background music, it also would take permission of publishers representing the four people listed as the song's writers: Akon (real name: Aliaune Thiam), Eminem (Marshall Mathers) and two colleagues of Eminem's from the Detroit rap scene, Swift (Luis Edgardo Resto) and Mike Strange.

Music publishing is a highly fragmented business, in which hundreds of tiny players have various kinds of relationships with larger publishers, who administer catalogs and collect royalties for them. Mr. Mathers's publishing is handled by Eight Mile Style LLC, run by a longtime business associate named Jeffrey Bass. Mr. Thiam's publishing is handled by a company called Byefall Productions Inc., and administered by Famous Music Publishing Cos., a division of Viacom. Mr. Resto's publishing is handled by an outfit called Swifty McVay Publishing, and administered by EMI Group PLC's EMI Music Publishing. Mr. Strange's publishing is controlled by an operation called Slick Jesus. Under common industry practice, each publisher needs to grant permission for "Smack That" to appear alongside any imagery other than the official music video.

Tee-hee! Music-publishing company names are so LOL! Anyway, we highly recommend reading the story, which lays out the complexities of reigning in the once-lawless YouTube, and of digital-age music headaches in general. We also recommend raiding the site as much as you can in the next few weeks, because the good times can't last much longer.

YouTube Finds Signing Rights Deals Complex, Frustrating [WSJ]
Earlier: Idolator's coverage of YouTube