back to article Dotcom says German authors' society canned Mega launch vid

Another day, another controversy: storage locker launcher Kim Dotcom says a video of the all-singing, all-dancing party at which the ON switch was flicked for his new Mega service was taken down from YouTube on suspicion of copyright naughtiness after a request from German authors' society GEMA. Dotcom made his allegation in …

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  1. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Views vs Thumbs Up

    I believe that the Views count isn't updated in real time but the Thumbs Up are. You may find it rises considerably in a while.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Views vs Thumbs Up

      This. As for the veracity of Mr. Dotcom's story - well, I haven't got a lot of time for either of the involved parties, but I suppose given a choice I'll go for the asshole who wants to reform copyright rather than the assholes who are trying to keep it the same.

    2. Stephen 2

      Re: Views vs Thumbs Up

      Correct. Views often stall at around 300 and then update sometime later. So this really is normal. Thumbs are near realtime.

    3. LarsG
      Meh

      Re: Views vs Thumbs Up

      Who do you think you are kidding Mr Dotcom?

      If you think we're on the run,

      We are the boys who will stop your little game.

      We are the boys who will make you think again.

      'Cus who do you think you are kidding Mr Dotcom?

      If you think your infringement is done?

      Mr. Yank goes off to town

      On the 8:21.

      But he comes home each evening

      And he's ready with his gun.

      So watch out Mr Dotcom,

      You have met your match in us.

      If you think you can push us

      We're afraid you've missed the bus.

      so who do you think you are kidding Mr Dotcom?

      If you think this Yank is done.

  2. Bruce Hoult

    only Germany?

    It's entirely possible to make a video unavailable in only one country while others elsewhere continue to watch and comment on it.

  3. Khaptain Silver badge
    Unhappy

    Not easy to like this guy

    There is something really disagreeable about this guy, although it is not so easy to pinpoint.

    He has become too public, is too agressive and appears to want to play the martyr. I agree with what he is fighting for but at the end of the day he is a businessman hoping to make a few more dollars.

    This is not quite the same fight as the none-profit making entities.

    1. Ole Juul

      Re: Not easy to like this guy

      he is a businessman hoping to make a few more dollars.

      That is incorrect. He is hoping to make a lot of dollars.

      This is not quite the same fight as the none-profit making entities.

      I agree with you there. The whole Dotcom story carries this duality. He is a greedy businessman with a sometimes distasteful image who is making money by leverageing this fight. It's a funny kind of win-win situation that makes some people uncomfortable. I've decided I can live with it because I'm less concerned about him than I am about the bigger effect of what he is doing.

    2. ratfox
      Devil

      Re: Not easy to like this guy

      not so easy to pinpoint.

      I don't find it so hard to pinpoint… He became very very rich, mostly by skirting the rules closer than most would be comfortable with. And the fact that he renamed himself "Dotcom" is not doing him any favors!

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Not easy to like this guy

        " Re: Not easy to like this guy

        not so easy to pinpoint.

        I don't find it so hard to pinpoint… He became very very rich"

        THE BASTARD

      2. Jaykaykay
        Mushroom

        Re: Not easy to like this guy

        It's one dotcom bubble we certainly don't want to see burst

    3. NomNomNom

      Re: Not easy to like this guy

      he's quite fat

    4. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Not easy to like this guy

      "There is something really disagreeable about this guy, although it is not so easy to pinpoint."

      Well, I can pinpoint something, having talked business with him back in his Schmitz days. My company makes relatively expensive simulation gear - think 'price of a 5-series'. Mostly it's used for commercial purposes: Event marketing, promotion, etc, but there are a few people who buy them for personal use. Mr. Dotcom's "fan forum" started hitting our web site, and it turned out someone had posted about our stuff. So I registered and posted to clear up some information and answer a couple of questions.

      Lo and behold did the Kimble himself show up, and proceed to loudly exclaim how he was going to buy one of them - to much acclaim from his gathered acolytes. I even exchanged a couple of emails with him answering questions and so forth. But after that, nada.

      After a while I checked back on the forum out of curiosity; in the meantime he'd posted that he had indeed ordered one and was figuring out where to put it, etc... and, of course, The Crowd Roared. Basically he was pumping himself up by bragging about buying this expensive thing, which, of course, he had strung us along about but presumably never had any intention of following through.

      So, while I wasn't terribly surprised - and honestly I wasn't sure if I wanted to do business with him anyway, given what I'd seen of the rest of his web sites, particularly 'Kimvestor', which had "pyramid scheme" written all over it - he hardly left a good impression. I get the feeling that this is a fairly common behavior for him, and while I am not a psychologist, I have a strong suspicion that his sense of self-worth is almost entirely derived from how successful and powerful he thinks other people think he is.

      Which makes me think he must be enjoying this whole thing immensely.

    5. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Not easy to like this guy

      "I agree with what he is fighting for"

      Which is what exactly? Abolishing copyright because you've been told its big and evil? Letting Dotcom profit from other peoples' content without paying anything to the artist?

      Morons, the lot of you.

    6. Anonymous Coward
      Thumb Up

      Re: Not easy to like this guy

      he is a businessman hoping to make a few more dollars

      Exactly. Had it been otherwise he'd have called himself Kim DotOrg.

    7. Kevin Fields

      Re: Not easy to like this guy

      "He has become too public, is too agressive and appears to want to play the martyr."

      When a foreign nation can compel your own country to send a SWAT team into your home and treat you like a terrorist over some stupid music files, you have every right to play the martyr card to the hilt.

  4. 142
    Facepalm

    rights collections agencies are right

    If you, as an artist sign up with a rights organisation, you're askng them the right to collect all income for your songs, and paying them by givng them a cut of the statutory royalties due. You no longer have the power to waive royalties except by agreement with your collection agency....

    1. 142
      Headmaster

      Re: rights collections agencies are right

      Apologies for the garbled edit on the first line! "Asking them to collect"..

  5. weebs

    Youtube stops the view count at 312 or something and checks to make sure all the views are legitimate before further updating #themoreyouknow

  6. xanadu42
    FAIL

    "all-signing, all-dancing" and "comnent stream"

    I would guess that IF (?) Kim Dotcom's claim is legitimate, GEMA is using one of the (ultimately flawed) "copyright scanners" that can't tell the difference between original content and copies and/or plagiarised content

    As for Kim Dotcom himself: I'm still not sure if he is flouting "Internet Freedom" or "Personal Gain"

    1. 142

      Re: "all-signing, all-dancing" and "comnent stream"

      See my post above... the songwriters are registered with GEMA. Therefore it cannot be used without paying GEMA a royalty, which then gets passed to the songwriters after GEMA take a cut. It doesn't matter who owns the recording. If the songwriters don't like that, they can feel free not to register with the rights agency.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: "all-signing, all-dancing" and "comnent stream"

        My understanding is that in at least some countries, everyone is signed up by dint of existence whether they want to be or not. I produce electronic music for fun, and when a reasonably popular net radio station wanted to run my stuff I had to sign a waiver saying it was ok; otherwise they would have had to pay someone else for the privilege of playing MY music.

        I don't know if this is how GEMA is, but it seems plausible.

  7. Eenymeeny
    Thumb Up

    Thumbs up for the anagram title

    "GEMA met MEGA" was A GEM.

  8. Will Godfrey Silver badge
    Unhappy

    Actually, I find this accusation entirely believable. GEMA are even worse than the RIAA in some respects. They even shake down music distributors of CC licensed work, and collect royalty fees! No, if you're in Germany you don't have the right to give your music away - well you can, but only if you pay GEMA

  9. Wintermute
    Unhappy

    GEMA is loathsome

    About a third of YouTube goes dark in Germany because GEMA objects to the videos and Google slavishly agrees to all their demands. The scope of the material blocked is vast: Educational videos are blocked if a snippet of music can be detected in the background. Self-publishing artists are routinely blocked. Even big Internet sensations like Gangnam Style were blocked. The law in Germany needs to be changed. GEMA is a success but at a huge social cost to Germany.

    1. LinkOfHyrule
      Joke

      Internet sensations like Gangnam Style were blocked

      I think these guys might be all-right after-all!

    2. Anonymous Coward
      WTF?

      Re: GEMA is loathsome

      Wait, so if I, as Unknown American Trance Producer A, put a video on YouTube, GEMA can/will block it? Or does this only apply to hapless Germans who have the audacity to think of melodies on their own?

      Sounds to me like GEMA make the RIAA look like cuddly poster boys for internet freedom - if I'd grown up in that environment, I'd probably have a Kim Dotcom-sized lust for vengeance too...

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