Posts tagged as:

uk

YouTube blocks UK users from watching music videos

by Admin on March 10, 2009

Welcome back!

Google Buzz

Google Inc. said Monday it will block U.K. users from watching music videos on its popular video-sharing site YouTube after negotiations with Britain’s music royalty-collecting body broke down.

Google said it would begin blocking British users starting Monday night. The Internet titan said it knew the move would cause “significant disappointment.”

But it said its hand was forced by PRS for Music, which it said is asking for royalties that would cause Google to lose money every time a video was played on YouTube.

“Our previous license from PRS for Music has expired, and we’ve been unable so far to come to an agreement to renew it on terms that are economically sustainable for us,” Google said in a statement. Until a solution is found, it added, “we will be blocking premium music videos in the UK that have been supplied or claimed by record labels.”

PRS for Music, which collects money on behalf of writers and publishers worldwide, said it was outraged by Google’s move.

“Google has told us they are taking this step because they wish to pay significantly less than at present to the writers of the music on which their service relies, despite the massive increase in YouTube viewing,” the group said in a statement.

Neither group revealed how much money is at stake in their negotiations.

YouTube has become an increasingly popular destination for record labels squeezed by declining sales for compact discs. The Web site has deals with three of the four major record labels but some rights-holders have balked at their cut of the advertising revenue.

In December, Warner Music pulled all of its music from YouTube, saying the payments it received did not fairly compensate the label or its artists and songwriters.

It was not clear how long the music videos would stay blocked. Both PRS for Music and Google said they hoped their dispute could be resolved quickly.

The video Leona Lewis’s “Bleeding Love,” licensed by Sony BMG Music Entertainment U.K. Ltd., which has garnered more than 83 million hits, was still visible from the U.K. late Monday.

{ 0 comments }

UK Bans Apple iPhone 3G Advertisement

by Admin on November 27, 2008

Google Buzz

The U.K.’s advertising regulator banned a video advertisement for Apple’s 3G iPhone, saying Wednesday that the ad exaggerates the phone’s speed and is misleading.

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) received 17 complaints about the advertisement, which shows a person whizzing through tasks such as opening a news page in a browser, using Google Maps and downloading a file.

All of the tasks “had waiting times of only a fraction of a second,” the ASA said in a statement. A voice over says no less than five times that the 3G iPhone is “really fast.”

In response, Apple told the ASA that the claim is a comparison between the 3G and 2G iPhone models, and that users would understand that performance could vary. The ad did include a text disclaimer that read “Network performance will vary by location.”

However, the ASA found that the snappy visuals combined with the repetition of “really fast” would “lead viewers to conclude that the device actually operated at or near to the speeds shown in the ad.”

Also, not all mobile phone users may be aware of the differences between 2G and 3G technology, ASA said.

Apple did not have an immediate comment on the ruling.

{ 0 comments }

</