Universal Music Is Ripping Down Facebook Cover Videos
Last year, Universal Music Publishing Group, the largest publisher in the world, started ripping down Facebook cover videos. Facebook and UMPG couldn’t agree on a royalty agreement for the songs being covered. So they pointed their guns at everyday Facebook fans singing songs from their favorite artists.
Now, those same guns are getting even bigger, with UMPG waging an all out war against Facebook cover videos. And, the accounts that contain them.
So why can’t Facebook and Universal work it out, instead of terrorizing confused fans? That’s a good question, though for now, you might want to stick to YouTube (which does have licenses).
Artist vs. publisher vs. fan…
Basically, a ‘cover video’ refers to any performance of a song already written and copyrighted. So, if you pick up an acoustic guitar and perform ‘Thinking Out Loud’ by Ed Sheeran, that’s a cover. The only issue is that UMPG owns the copyrights to that underlying song (which consists of the notes and lyrics). So they can legally rip it down if they’re not receiving payment for it.
