Youtube has infringed on my anger policy

Copyright laws & Youtube shutdowns seem to be the hot topics this week. We have seen Sebi/Monsterbazz's account suspended, and now we all wait in fear that Deach's may also be.

I'm not sure I quite understand why the record labels give a shit that I record a crappy version of a song by their artist in my living room & a few people watch it on the internet. I understand copyright infringement, and yes- it is... but why does the record label care?

A while back I covered a song written by the artist formerly known as Prince (and currently known as Douchenozzle) & it was pulled due to copyright infringement. After some research, I figured out that it was Prince- HE doesn't allow covers of his songs anywhere. In fact the song I covered was a song by The Bangles that he wrote but never even performed. Now, while I don't agree with it- I accept it. Fine. Prince is a douchenozzle. He has the right to be. He wrote the song. He can take his song & run home & not play with us anymore if that's the way he wants it.

But why does Warner Brothers care?

There is no way that a Youtube cover is going to cause a major record label to lose money. Do they think someone is going to take the time to sift through videos to find decent covers of an entire album & then download them all as opposed to just buying the CD by the original artist? If anything Youtube covers will stir interest & expose people to bands they might not otherwise have been.

I can completely understand pulling videos that include the original recording of a song, whether as placed background music or just accidentally recorded background noise. But covers? Why? Yes- it is copyright infringement... but geez don't you guys have bigger fish to fry? Aren't there a whole bunch of people illegally downloaded your actual product that you should worry about?

Record labels should have gotten in on this stuff a long time ago, and they could have helped put rules in place & everyone would be happy. But they didn't. They sat around & then said "Oh wait! Youtube is making money? We want some of that money!!" & started (what appears to be) randomly pulling videos & closing accounts. See I know I said a couple times just now I don't understand why they care, but I really do. It's about money.

On Tuesday I pulled up Youtube as an average Joe, not logged into my account- saw what the general public sees. And do you know what was featured at the top of the page? It was Music Tuesday & all the featured videos were covers of a song by Lady GaGa. This is where I get so confused. We can cover songs- we can't cover songs? Julia Nunes can have millions of hits on a cover but a few hundred on someone elses isn't okay? Youtube is sending mixed signals.

If they would just tell us what they want- what's acceptable & what isn't, I'm pretty sure that most of us would comply. If they gave us a list of what artists were off limits... maybe we'd stop covering them. Ever think of that, assholes? Because if you're featuring cover songs on Music Tuesdays- and it was entirely cover songs this week- then you're telling me it's okay to post cover songs. Stop pulling my videos without making the rules clear.

Everything else aside, I still see a silver lining to the situation that I haven't seen brought up yet... this is some serious motivation to write original material. Yes, it all sucks & it's all stupid & trust me, I could bitch about it for weeks... but it won't change anything. Instead of worrying, we should all post more things that we KNOW won't get us in trouble with the man. Our own stuff. Instead of saying "screw you record company I'm gonna play your song anyway" how about "screw you record company we don't need you at all".

Little 6ster Smokes Bessie Smith

Ok, it may not be as cool as the Starwars Tribuite from France - but somehow I think you lot will like it anyway.

You. Sub. Now.

this just in: YouTube Swallows

There will be a recap of Grumpfest Seattle coming up soon. It will take a little while for us three (Booze, Grump, Buss) to piece together the details and to form a complete story. a story that we'll stick to no matter how hard we're grilled by the authorities. One quick thing i can tell you though, it was fun! Also, we really missed our other UCBitches. Hope to do it again real soon.

Okay, now that i got that out of the way, I just heard that Sebi (monsterbazz) on Youtube, had his channel suspended because of copyright issues. That sucks major nards and i totally feel for homeboy. I hope he gets his channel back up because he's really good and stuff. I mean, reallllly good and he's a super nice guy too.

While I read on the forums that people are freaking out about the possibility of their videos being pulled or their channels shut down, I wondered what I would do if it were to happen to my channel. I'm not fearful that it will happen and to be honest, would be kind of relieved if it did. Since i started playing ukulele and posting videos on Youtube, I feel like it has consumed my life. I spend much more time posting and watching Youtube videos than with any other hobby I've had in my life (and that includes math, and as Booze and Grumpy know, I fuckin' love math!!). Youtube has swallowed up all my free time. Watching and commenting on subscriptions is like a full time job, but with no pay and the only fringe benefits being the occasional hate mail I receive. Between that and my job, I have very little time left to do the things I used to enjoy so much, like sit on the couch and rot.

So anyway, if Youtube wants to be a little bitch and take my channel, please give me a week's heads up so I can download all my videos and re-upload them to a more friendly medium, like Betamax tapes. Free time, here I come!

Apropos of Nothing....

This has nothing to do with ukulele. But it's cleansing, in a "wth?" way. And I didn't think they could make C-3PO any gayer than he already was....

Oh, no you din't!!

Oh yes, I did! MGM is now stocking the plastic ukuleles from Japan.


I ordered the green one. Peace out, y'all!

Cole Clark "Jack Tenor"

Ok, so I saw this interview at NAMM10 which ends with a fine demo of the double pick-up in the Cole Clark "Jack". Aside from the lack of a radiused fretboard (anther post to come on the MyaMoe radius I am in love with) the thing is loaded for Coyote hunting.

You lot ever play a Cole Clark? I may need a bigger house.

NAMM (North American Man Milk) update

Day 1 at Grumpfest Seattle was a success. We jammed for about 10 hours, had pizza, drank gin, cursed up a storm. This morning is for nursing slight hangovers and jamming some more. We may make it down to Pike Place Market for some tourist action later on but that relies heavily on our ability to get cleaned up and out of this cabin. (by the way, Grump keeps giving me shit about calling this house a cabin. but hell, i'm on vacation, this is a fuckin' cabin to me!)

Seattle was/is rainy and dreary but we powered through the muck with some songs from the 60's, an era when Boozelele was still a young man with a promising future in oil. Not the petroleum type, but the massage kine.

Okay, I don't know why I'm typing this when I should be getting ready. I'll be twittering (yeah, i'm lame now too) throughout the day so tune into http://www.twitter.com/ImportantDouche for updates on our adventures in Seattle.

NAMMit! I want!!!!!

NAMM is going full tilt now this weekend in L.A. and the U.U. guys are there, as well as our friends from Ohana (Ken Middleton), Mainland (Mike aka hoosierhiver) and Lanikai (Matt aka thejumpingflea). And they're starting to upload the photos, videos and product descriptions of all the new and exciting ukuleles.

And it makes me ache. Some examples:

The "baroque-ulele" (photo thejumpingflea)

The Kala "Pocket Uke " Koa sopranino

Ohana tenor resonator (with spokes-model Ken Middleton)

Oh, and don't forget Blackbird's new beauty, the tenor carbon fiber uke:

And yes, the rumors are true. There IS a "sitar-lele"! (also, by the look of it, a balalaika-lele!).


Yes. WANT!

New uke!!! (pics!!!!)

I understand the excitement of a new uke especially if it's your first decent uke. I understand wanting to show everyone your new baby. But seriously, how many more pics of Mainland ukes can there possibly be? Don't get me wrong, I love the Mainland uke, the company, the owners etc but if you've seen one, you've pretty much seen them all. And FU Mr. OohYouGotAMainlandPleaseShowUsPics guy.

Click me once & click me twice & click me once again...

If I were to have to estimate how many times I hit refresh while Youtube "processes" my video... I would lie to you. Cause it's a lot. More than is probably healthy. Not every time though- no, not every time. Sometimes I'll go make a cup of coffee, or fold some laundry, or work on my JN rice crispy treat sculpture... but it's in the back of my head the whole time & when I get back to the computer, it's bad. I refuse to accept that it has reloaded the page the first 2 or 3 times I click it... then after that it's just obsession.

I don't trust Youtube... it's done me wrong too many times. Videos uploading with mysterious problems- no audio, glitches & freezes, total blackouts of sections. Sometimes you'll think you've posted something private but when you check "my videos" it's listed as public. Youtube is a moody little kid that only plays along when it feels like it.

I'll also admit that for the first few hours a video is up, I'm a bit obsessed with checking my comments. I don't think it matters how many subscribers you have, or how many videos you've posted- it's always a bit scary letting it go out there into the big wide interwebz. I think we're all waiting for that Carrie moment. I *need* those first few comments- that reassurance... even if it is a comment from my mom. After that, I can let it go... put down the "Youtube crack pipe" as it were.

And in my defense- if processing didn't take so farking long I wouldn't have time to click that many times.

Still waiting for my first Youtube marriage proposal.

You guys have bitched/bragged about hate comments. Well I'm so full of hate- I even hate nice comments sometimes!

I got a comment the other day that simply said "I love you". Well, I loved it! Made me smile. It was someone who doesn't subscribe to me, so I thought I'd go check out their channel. In their recent activity box... there I am smiling away in my video & their comment "I love you" is displayed next to it. And underneath that? A Miley Cyrus video. Underneath that? Another Miley Cyrus video. And yes- underneath that was another freaking Miley Cyrus video. Next to each of them... the comment "I love Miley Cyrus".

::sigh::

I don't want to say that negates the comment on my video.... but I just did.

UKISOCIETY as a child

Here's the reason I suffer from UAS. I didn't stand a chance, did I? I bet you didn't know I grew up Belgian!

The Cure for UAS? Buy an Ukulele!!!

I didn't intend to, but I just stumbled upon the cure for UAS (Ukulele Acquisition Syndrome)! And the cure is...to buy a uke!!

Not just any ukulele, though. You see, I saw on UkuleleUnderground that Pete Howlett was selling a couple of his creations on Ebay. So, I bid. And I won. And now I owe him a lot of money. So I'm selling some ukes to pay for it. I'll probably end up selling 5 -6 ukuleles to pay for the 1 by Howlett.

And that's the answer - Buy an expensive uke and then sell several of your cheaper ones to pay for it. Ta-da!

Oh, and I blame Ken Middleton for my purchase of the new uke. His orgasmic description of his new Howlett ukulele made me want one.

Hip Hop Happy

It’s college bowl season, and as I’m sure you are all aware, the University of Oregon football team just lost to Ohio State in the Rose Bowl. I know you are asking yourself what the hell this has to do with the ukulele….the answer? Well, nothing…but hear me out. It seems that whenever a team makes it to the big game, whether it’s the Superbowl, the World Series, the NBA Championship game etc, some wanna-be-snoop-dog has to record a lame-ass rap song about how great the team is. It all started in 1985 when the Chicago Bears recorded one of the worst rap tunes in history called the SuperBowl Shuffle. The Oregon Ducks have an equally annoying rap tune on youtube, by a suburban white-bread dufuss named “C3” called Rose Up. Now here is my bitch. Why is it always a rap tune? Why not a country song? Or Speed Metal? Or a Sea Chantey for that matter? And why do rappers always have to have some gangsta nickname? You never hear of a rapper named Billy Parker, or Danny Noonan, or Joey Vinetti, or Ethan Goldberg.

Ok, I’m done. These are just some things I’ve been thinking about. K-Mac out.