Hard rock band Sixx:A.M. has started a campaign, likely to be swiftly echoed by other star musicians, urging
The band is urging the technology giant to remember its former corporate slogan “Don’t Be Evil” and stick to the current motto of “Do The Right Thing.”
Sixx:A.M. is releasing its fourth album (Prayers For The Damned Volume I, due out on April 29), trailed by the single “Rise” and following immediately with an international tour going on sale, starting with U.S. dates, so it says it can use the promoters’ marketing money to create a larger platform to get the message out. Having a record company that generates publicity helps it to speak about issues - specifically what it calls “the crisis with the music business and YouTube.”
The comments are the first big push by artists in person and may well open up a new phase of the long-running debate over the amount of compensation by YouTube. Some record labels have for months said that YouTube payments are a fraction of those by Apple Music and Spotify. It is argued that money of about a sixth of others is putting the whole industry at risk.
The trio said in a statement: “We are the lucky ones, like so many veteran artists, who came up in an era where there was much more income from record sales. Today, streaming is a fraction of income from that time. This is not about us.” Nikki Sixx came to fame as bass guitarist and main songwriter for Mötley Crüe; DJ Ashba played guitar in Guns N’ Roses and singer James Michael was a successful writer and producer.
James Michael adds in an interview: “It would be very easy for us to kind of keep quiet and go on about our lives and we would be just fine. But as lovers of music who have benefited greatly from this amazing industry, we look at the potential for really frightening things to happen to the future of music. That does not sit well with us.”
While YouTube has been insistent that it has paid out billions of dollars, documentaries on the subject are continuing. An artist-led awareness campaign (watch this space, they say) may prove to be a powerful mover of public opinion.
“First, we want to say that we are huge fans of YouTube and Google and we use both of them all the time to the point where it is actually quite humorous,” Sixx says in the same interview. Michael adds that Google’s market capitalization exceeds $500 billion, the second highest in the world, while the entire music industry is worth about $15 billion; Google is the top search engine and top place to look for music; music is the top subscribed channel on YouTube with 93 million subscribers - figures that came, of course, from Google, he says. The company is busy with ambitious projects such as building driverless cars while not paying artists fully, he said.
Some relevant laws were passed “when we were barely out of the dial-up state” and long before YouTube was even thought of, the musicians argue. They recognize that YouTube is different to other platforms, with its open access. If unlicensed content is uploaded, it is protected by the Safe Harbor provision in the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). An unlicensed use needs a claim to be taken down, or YouTube can check each upload using fingerprint technology (not always foolproof). Artists are faced with a choice: either license content for a fraction of what others might pay and get limited protection from YouTube’s content ID systems, or issue many take-down notices, they say. If material is licensed for well below what it is worth, this drives down its entire value.
Sixx said: “Google, don’t be evil, do the right thing, take care of the artists - because we take care of you.”
The band has always been vocal about artists’ rights. Sixx stood with Taylor Swift when she spoke up about royalties to artists by Apple Music. He also wants to give opportunities to new artists, and features them heavily on his radio show, Sixx Sense, and on his social media.
That this campaign should originate from him therefore is not so surprising. Sixx notes: “We have been a very proactive band in many areas, not being a political band but one that has a heart. And this is important to our heart. We are not going to stand alone.”
He adds: “I have a friend’s son who is extremely talented as a DJ. The parents told the kid, ‘you need to give up your dream, because there is no money in the music industry, you’re not going to be able to take care of the family and have a home in the future or anything.’” Maybe that next kid is the new Blondie or Springsteen, he says . Or Prince. “He was a huge advocate of protecting artists and that’s another reason why we are motivated to speaking about this.” Any exploitation of artists may make some people rich while potentially fatally damaging the entertainment business.
Forbes approached YouTube for a comment and a spokesman had the following statement: “Google has paid out billions to the music industry and we’re engaged in productive conversations with the labels and publishers around increasing transparency on payouts. We believe that by providing artists and songwriters greater visibility around revenue earned on YouTube, we can solve many of these issues. We’re also working hard to bring more revenue to the music industry through our subscription service, as well as continuing to grow our ad supported business, which allows artists and labels to monetize the 80% music listeners who historically have never paid for music.”
The spokesman cited Google’s filing to the U.S. copyright office which also sets out the company’s position. “As an initial matter, it is important to understand that YouTube has had license agreements in place with both major and independent record labels for many years; it is simply incorrect to say that YouTube relies on the DMCA instead of licensing works.”
YouTube says it supports the music industry, for example by showcasing artists at SXSW, Coachella and elsewhere; by its YouTube Red Subscription (U.S. only currently); YouTube Spaces, Vevo for premium content and more. YouTube also says that thanks to Content ID, record labels do not have to rely solely on the DMCA’s notice-and-takedown process - they can remove any or all user-uploads of their works from the platform on an automated basis. Although business partners can be expected to disagree from time to time about the price of a license, any claim that the DMCA safe harbors are responsible for a “value gap” for music on YouTube is false, it says.
The current critics are hopeful their voices, and those of other acts, may influence Google to move, but as James Michel puts it: “If there is some resistance then we don’t stop here. We would encourage everyone to keep on talking about this, not to let this subject die because it is extremely important.” Their voices may become a much louder chorus soon.
