Should Lip-Syncing Videos Be Illegal?

One of the things that non-musicians love to do is make videos where they lip-synch to their favorite song. And it's not just kids either; there may be as many 30 year olds as 8 year olds doing it. While this all may seem innocent enough, it's actually a copyright violation, and the new U.S. Senate bill 978 would toughen the copyright laws and make it illegal to upload lip-synced videos.

Just as an example, this kid has over 40 million views for his lip-sync of Katy Perry's "Teenage Dream."

Up until now most record labels would let a lip-sync like this one slide or at worst issue a take-down notice where YouTube or the posting service would delete it. However, the new bill would take the penalty a new level, like up to five years in prison, even if you're not making any money!

There are several schools of thought on this:

   * From the record label: "This is a copyright violation. They're illegally using our song without paying us."

  * From the Music 3.0 artist: "This is great promotion. Fans like my song enough to make like they're singing it."

  * From the fan: "I'm just having a little fun. I'm not making any money on this and I'm not hurting anybody."

Which one do you agree with?

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5 Viral Video Rules

I read an interesting article today called "How To Break All The Rules Of Viral Video - And Still Go Viral." The premise of the article is that what really makes something go viral is to break the rules. But you can't break the rules until you know what they are, so here's what the article spelled out.

• Rule #1 - Keep It Short. It seems pretty obvious, but videos have a much better chance of going viral if they're short, mostly because that's what our attention span demands these days.

• Rule #2 - Speak Clearly. Once again, it's pretty obvious. If you have any narration, you increase your chances of virility if your viewers can understand it.

• Rule #3 - Avoid Copyrighted Material. Copyrighted material can make a video stop in its tracks just as it gets some viral momentum due to a take-down notice from the content owners attorneys. You might get away with it; then again, you might not.

• Rule #4 - Reinvent Yourself. According to the article, try a different approach for each video. I'm not so sure I agree with this. If you have a style that works, you might be better off to brand yourself with that style.

• Rule #5 - Be Timely. You have a greater chance to go viral if your content is about something currently popular, although there are perennials like cats and babies that never seem to go out of style.

Ok, these are the rules. Now shoot a video that's nothing like them (except for #3, keep doing that) and you'll have a good chance to go viral.

Check out this link for the entire post.

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Check out my Big Picture blog for discussion on common music, engineering and production tips and tricks.

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