The Step Forward
A couple of months ago, I wrote about Universal’s deal with YouTube.
Myself:
“Lucky for Universal. Not only do they get a cut of the revenue for their videos posted by fans, they also get a cut of the revenue from the videos created by fans. As for the fans, they’ll continue to create new revenue streams for the record label, while ironically, worrying about being sued by them. What do the fans get for their efforts?”
Saturday at the World Economic Forum in DAVOS, Switzerland, Chad Hurley, co-founder of YouTube answered this question by announcing that users would now be paid for some of the 70 million videos a day they submit!
“We are getting an audience large enough where we have an opportunity to support creativity, to foster creativity through sharing revenue with our users,” offered Hurley, “So in the coming months we are going to be opening that up.”
Details are still sketchy as to the mechanism and pay out plan, but something appears to be in the works.
The Step Backward
Riding the social media wave, Rogers Communications launches redpipe.ca in an effort to associate itself with the ever growing Canadian music scene.
On the surface, Redpipe seems like a great idea. The artists get a Canadian forum to showcase their music and connect with new fans. The fans themselves get access to great music, exclusive promotions, new releases and much more. Rogers has created a property that requires high-speed internet and exclusive wireless network access, both major products in the corporation’s offering.
the horse’s mouth:
“Redpipe – the space where artists and fans connect to experience and share music online and everywhere else. Create an environment that’s uniquely and musically your own. Then connect with artists and other fans online or through your Rogers Wireless or Fido phone. With redpipe you’ll discover new music and get closer to your favourite artists. redpipe is more than just an online community – it’s a mobile network that’s always on the move. New artists, new fans, top tens, gig updates, new track alerts… you never know what’s in store for you at redpipe. Joining is easy – and it’s free. Just plug in and play.”
But on closer inspection, it looks like the artist is getting the short end of the stick. Let’s roll up our sleeves and look at some of the hot points that are giving a radical shaft to any artist that would contribute their content to this site. Here’s a quick overview of the user Agreement:
Artist may be responsible for “reimbursing Rogers for any royalties payable to publishers of musical works, performers and makers of sound recordings, and their respective collecting societies, in connection with the public performance and/or communication by telecommunication to the public of musical compositions, performer’s performances, and sound recordings embodied in the Licensed Content and Licensed Materials (i.e. to SOCAN, the NRCC and similar organizations).”
Artist grants Rogers the right to sublicense their content “You hereby grant Rogers a worldwide, non-exclusive, sublicensable, royalty-free, license and right to use, reproduce, distribute, display, publicly perform and communicate to the public by telecommunication the Licensed Content and the Licensed Materials in connection with the redpipe Service. Rogers shall not pay any amounts to your or, if applicable, your Band with respect to the distribution and/or use of the Licensed Content and Licensed Materials pursuant to this Agreement.”
Artist grants Rogers rights to manipulate licensed content to redistribute to end users and/or to use for redpipe promotions. “Rogers may modify the Licensed Content and Licensed Materials as necessary to fit the format and the look-and-feel of the redpipe Service and to create “teaser content” (i.e., promotional excerpts directly associated with the Licensed Content and Licensed Materials) and promotions for Rogers.”
Artist agrees “that Rogers will be entitled to distribute the Licensed Content and the Licensed Materials with no digital rights management solution and there shall be no restrictions on what End Users may do with such materials. Rogers shall not be responsible for the use or misuse of the Licensed Content and the Licensed Materials by the End Users or any other third parties. You also hereby grant Rogers the right to grant each End User of the redpipe Service a non-exclusive license to access the Licensed Content and Licensed Materials through the redpipe Service, and to use, reproduce, display, distribute, publicly perform and share links to such Licensed Content.”
“Rogers has the sole right to sell any and all advertising and sponsorship rights with respect to the redpipe Service (including without limitation on all Internet pages of the redpipe Service that contain the Licensed Content and/or Licensed Materials and the streaming of the Licensed Content and, if applicable, the Licensed Materials), and Rogers will be entitled to retain any and all revenue generated from any sales of such advertising or sponsorships throughout the redpipe Service. ” So basically, Rogers can pimp any profile page associating artists and their content with what ever 3rd party advertiser Roger wants.
In a world where social networking is moving towards paying for user-generated content, Rogers has dropped the ball right on the toes of the group they should be embracing. The YouTube guys know that the sustainability of their business includes payment to the people who feed the content to their site. It appears that Rogers has some serious “catch up” thinking to do. For those keeping score:
YouTube: A radical do
Rogers’ Redpipe: A radical don’t
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12 Responses to “YouTube One Step Forward, Redpipe One Step Back.”
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January 31st, 2007 at 1:50 pm
YouTube One Step Forward, Rogers’ Redpipe One Step Back….
The YouTube guys know that the sustainability of their business includes a future payment plan for the people who feed the content to their site. It appears that Rogers Communications has some serious catch up thinking to do as their new property redpi…
February 1st, 2007 at 4:16 pm
youtube?????…
youtube???????????????????? …
February 7th, 2007 at 11:34 am
You’ve hit the nail on the head, and here’s another thing: with MP3 phones and iPhone on the horizon, we are moving inexorably toward cellular downloads being the primary distribution channel for music. Rogers and other telcos OWN those distribution channels. There is no way any other music distributor can get a chunk of satellite space, not without paying Rogers for the use. So Redpipe, as well as being blatant exploitation of artists, is also a preemptive land grab for the about-to-be-very-juicy field of cellular downloads. I am advising everyone I know to say NO to Redpipe.
February 7th, 2007 at 1:59 pm
That is a huge point Allison. Thank you for the comment. I noticed that both Fido and Rogers wireless are included on this redpipe thing.
Run away!
collin
February 10th, 2007 at 3:29 pm
I think you are all being a tad too negative about this new site and your preconceived biases against wireless providers is clouding your vision as to the opportunity this site is giving emerging artists. Redpipe hasn’t even properly launched yet! You don’t know what they will be offering the musicians in the near future for their participation on the site, nor do you know what they have planned for the next year – so why are you telling artists to run away? Rogers is very much hooked into music community and has a multitude of platforms in which they could potentially launch some of these performers careers. I know Rogers is viewed as the big bad red corporate machine, but I know for a fact that with this site, it isn’t all about a cash grab. Wait and you shall see..
February 10th, 2007 at 7:49 pm
Dear “redpipe fan”
By your tone and “inside scoop” I assume you represent Rogers directly or indirectly. I urge you to change your user agreement to reflect your supposed commitment to musicians. Or make clear the “potential” you say you offer. I have no bias, what I have is a totally one sided user agreement that puts rogers on top and leaves the artist with nothing.
February 11th, 2007 at 8:21 pm
redpipe fan, it’s ironic how your own analysis is littered with pre-conceived notions. did you even read collin’s post?
no one is talking about “big bad rogers”… or anything anti-wireless provider. in fact, anyone in the know understands that rogers has been a big supporter of canadian music forever – they are nxne sposnors afterall. that’s partially why this whole fiasco is a huge disappointment and frankly, very baffling.
no artist should be asked to agree to terms like that. they’re unfair. period. if rogers is commited to music in a way that’s about music and not covering their asses – they’ll change the agreement and give their future content-providers a fair shake. as an artist i would never place my music with a service that asks for me to give up that much control.
February 18th, 2007 at 11:54 pm
[...] Unfortunately, the “con” arguments often read as “what were they thinking” stories. Some companies are diving in without a keen understanding of what they’re doing, how they’re doing it and why they need to do it in the first place. All the while, marketers are offering Web 2.0 services without truly understanding what the term actually means. [...]
March 21st, 2007 at 11:13 pm
“rogers has been a big supporter of canadian music forever – they are nxne sposnors afterall”
You say this like NXNE is a big supporter of Canadian Music. The way I see it, NXNE is a business like any other, and ONLY concerned with the bottom line.
April 3rd, 2007 at 10:35 am
What a cry baby.
Maybe you don’t realize the goal of this service, or the goals of the artists who will contribute to the service. Redpipe is not a career for musicians, it’s a launch pad to a career. It’s for artists who are still happy to play shows for free, produce CDs knowing they won’t make their money back, or go on tours making barely enough to cover food and gas. The idea is to give you as much exposure as possible. And the idea that Rogers should pay you to “let” them do that is ridiculous.
Now the next part I know you don’t understand. Let’s go through those terms one paragraph at a time, and I’ll try to translate them with simpler words you can understand.
1. If you rip off someone else’s music, and Rogers has to pay royalties when they distribute it, you have to pay Rogers back. Easy solution: don’t rip off other people’s music.
2. You agree to let Rogers showcase your music in as many ways and as many places as possible. Ummm… thanks?
3. They shouldn’t have used the word “manipulate” here, because it obviously scares some people. It just means Rogers can play clips of your song, for instance on the landing page of their website, promos, etc., without having to play the whole thing. It gives them more flexibility to give you more exposure.
4. Your fans can listen to your music as often as they want. Do you really consider this to be a bad thing?
5. Rogers will use the advertising money to pay for the cost of sustaining this stage for new artists.
Redpipe does two things: it lets young bands distibute their music to people who want to hear it, and it provides a place for those people to hear young bands. Those are both good things; and the fact that it’s free on both ends makes it even better.
Hitting the top ten of Redpipe is certainly going to be better than hitting the top ten of your college radio station. Now if cry babies like you would shut up and let it build up the recognition it deserves, record labels are certainly going to be keeping an eye on that top ten list. And for all the aspiring artists who are struggling to get their work noticed, THAT is the real point of Redpipe.
April 3rd, 2007 at 12:21 pm
Dear Anonymous
Thank you for your feedback. Your anonymous view clearly champions the perceived benefits that Redpipe offers the artists. I am not sure you have addressed the risks to the artist all that well.
I expect that you are an employee or agent of Rogers, I would be happy to arrange an official interview with you or somebody in your organization to clarify “on the record” some of these points.
I look forward to a transparent discussion regarding Redpipe at your convenience.
I can be reached by email at collin@radicaltrust.ca to arrange an interview.
All the best
Collin
March 13th, 2009 at 8:37 am
2 years later, the representative from RedPipe never called.
Redpipe is now officially closed. The “service” has been shut down indefinitely.