Dear LoveCat Music Part 2

Doesn’t a decade fly? Ten short years. Ten years since I had to abandon my fledgling youtube channel – Goodbye MrCheapkills.

So why am I posting this? Surely you’re still not bitter Dave?

Well no, I’m not. In fact the only time I ever reflect on the events that caused me to abandon a channel as it was starting to take off was when a fake account would message me out of the blue to ask me to take my original posts about the issue down. Like this one:

Yes,  2017. Three years ago.

What about the stuff from 2010, what’s that all about? Well you’d need to have a look at the saga, and especially the comments from that time: Here’s all the relevant posts from that time

So why post now?

Because after a decade I’ve had another communication, this time from the man himself. Mr Randy Fischer everybody, the Big B himself, Ariel, Sarah, and Benny. Apparently the posts have upset his daughter, and times are tough.

Apparently I should “let bygones be bygones”. Randy, I have. I did. I posted a contemporaneous account of what happened at the time while you dicked me around from fake accounts, and then I got on with my life.

But since we’re apparently stuck in the past. Let’s rediscover what YouTube (YT) was like in 2010. It was a time when YT was under pressure to act on copyright infringement following a less than exemplary history (during which time it actively encouraged users to upload infringing content).

YT introduced a Copyright Strike system which was a 3 strikes and you’re out system. At the time the strikes did not expire and unless you had a lot of clout you couldn’t really do anything about it. So if your channel got strikes, it was in serious jeopardy.

As well as randomly finding infringing videos, YT introduced a content matching system that would detect if audio used in a video matched an entry in its database. From that match the copyright holder could decide what to do.

The content matching system wasn’t a nuke. It could also be used just to mute infringing content, or be used to take any revenue from advertising on that video. To be clear, for a channel to receive a Copyright Strike (the most serious infringement) THE COPYRIGHT HOLDER HAD TO REQUEST IT.

That’s what our Randy did. To over 600 videos. I don’t know how many channels received strikes, but over 600 videos were gone. Except for two. One appears to be a random video that may have been missed (hey, Randy nuke that shit!) and the other is from the actual content creator (i.e. ultimate copyright holder) whose video STILL encourages users to use his music and upload videos – ten years later (which will then get pulled by the YT content matching system I assume).

So here’s the situation, Randy:

Bygones are bygones. I don’t give a shit about LoveCatMusic, or Love Cat Music, or LoveCat Music, or LoveCatMusic.com. All the posts relating to Love Cat Music are a contemporaneous account of what happened at the time, are not libellous, and are not coming down.

I agree, these are tough times. And I think what’s happening is that you may be attempting to sanitise the history of LoveCatMusic to make you more attractive to clients. But perhaps after weeding out all the bits you can control you find that my decade old blog post suddenly creeps up the search engine ranks? I don’t know, I’m just, as President Trump would say, spitballing here. I haven’t even bothered to google you or your site to see if it’s any better than it was in 2010 because bygones really are bygones.

Randy, you said that your daughter read my posts and was upset and disturbed…. Erm, okay. Well, I guess that’s the price you pay for being a dick a decade ago. For creating fake accounts to try and gaslight me and others. For refusing to even confirm that you had the authority to nuke 600 videos. To take advantage of the YT copyright strike system to make a quick buck (the track had been used in the soundtrack of Super Troopers).

Yup, times are tough. Times were tough in 2010. You have no idea how tough. So here’s some friendly advice for you to move on with, so that YOU can let bygones be bygones. Perhaps even how to explain it to your daughter (if she actually exists).

1. Abandon the business you have tried to build up. Ditch Love Cat Music and recreate under a new name. Can I suggest Cat Love Music? (it’s pretty much what I had to do).
2. Teach your daughter that what you do on the internet is forever. That’s a good life lesson.
3. Explain to her that ten years ago you thought it was more important to be a dick than to consider what would happen to the 600 channels you served copyright strikes on.
4. Make sure she understands the importance of integrity, especially in NOT creating fake accounts instead of engaging legitimately.
5. Lastly and most importantly, ten years after the fact is generally not the time to get the resolution YOU want from the person you fucked over at the time.

And a final life lesson. Posting “Confidential” on a an unsolicited private message does not make is private, or confidential. So here’s the last round of comms from you:

The blogs stay. Don’t message me again. The water is under the bridge. The bygone is gone. Don’t be a dick.

No YouTube, You Haven’t Found What I Like

I hate sales, I hate sales people. I hate being sold to. I hate being told what I should like and what I should think. I know what I like, I know what I want. If you haven’t got what I’m asking for then I’m not going to buy some other stuff because it’s in stock, and if I’m not buying other stuff off the shelf then it’s because I either don’t like it, or it doesn’t interest me in the first place.

Ooooh, bit of a rant there, but that’s how I feel about crap like this:

GTFO!

Every time I log in to YouTube I get this rubbish. “Hey why don’t you subscribe to Machinima, and Wingsofredemption and Woodysgamertag? We show you their channel link every day so why not just click subscribe and we’ll stop?” Maybe it’s because I don’t want to subscribe to those channels, I’ve been subscribed to those channels and unsubscribed for very good reasons (which regular and historic readers of this blog may or may not remember).

Fine, let’s go to my subscriptions list because that’s where the channels that I want to watch live…. oh wait, YouTube is trying to tell me something again:

“HEY! YOU SEEM TO HAVE MISSED IT ON THE FIRST PAGE…. WHY DON’T YOU SUBSCRIBE TO THESE GUYS? THEY’RE REALLY GOOD, HONEST!”

Seriously YouTube: FOAD

I’m fairly confident that they are not the only three gaming channels on YouTube…. or are they paying for the privilege of polluting my screen? Either way, YouTube needs to sort this rubbish out. If they’ve shown me the same channels more than three times and I still haven’t clicked on there then chances are I’m not going to.

It would be much better for me, and YouTube uploaders in general if they rotated these “featured” bods like in the good/bad old days. Which reminds me of a video that Chris (redd_dragons) tweeted a while back where AndrewBravener talked about how YouTube no longer helps out the smaller channels to get noticed while the bigger channels just keep getting bigger.

I suppose there are parallels to real life and capitalism there which are quite apt as YouTube is a business and as we all know businesses nowadays are only interested in turning a profit by whatever means (and who cares about the little guy right?).

Peas and loaves.

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Find me on PSN – MrCheapKills
Find me on XBL – MrCheapKills

David Nicol is Articles Editor for hupitgaming.com, YouTube gaming commentator and blogger based in the UK.

Why not check out my new gaming site: backslashgaming.com

YouTube’s Content Matching

To save me time, this is pretty much how YouTube’s content matching works:

There are 8 differences....

YouTube compares existing content on the database against a reference copy from the copyright holder.

So here’s what happens. A copyright holder, or their representative, provides YouTube with a copy of their material. YouTube crunches it using a super secret technique that allows it to be cross checked against existing content on the database and any new material being uploaded.

The content is given a digital fingerprint which provides a number of pieces of data that can be searched against in a similar fashion to forensic fingerprinting. Anyone who’s watched CSI will have seen them search the fingerprint databases for a ‘match’.

Essentially when searching content the YouTube algorithm is not going to be set to only find 100% matches since usage of some materials may be small in the overall content of a video. This can create false positives (although rare) where legitimate content gets flagged for potential copyright infringement.

Content that is matched to the content match database on YouTube will either automatically have the artist name and a link to buy the track included in the description area:

Some artists/copyright holders understand the power of free advertising (like Lady Gaga above) and so they allow their work to be flagged in the manner above. Others will instruct YouTube to automatically disallow their content from being reproduced – this will result in either the video having its audio stripped (in the case of an audio match) or the video being removed immediately and a Copyright strike made against the uploaders channel. A copyright strike can only be removed if it was implemented in error, that is, only in cases where an uploader has permission to use the content, or is the copyright holder.

So what about non-matched content, cover versions and live versions? Good news and bad news. You’ll be able to use those without any trouble…… until the copyright holder gives YouTube copies of those recordings to content match against.

All this relates to both video and audio content too. The fact is, YouTube is owned by Google. Google are very good at doing search related things. They’re also a business. Copyright infringement is bad for business so they’re not going to be interested in fighting your corner with regard to copyright issues.

If you’re a YouTube Partner, and you upload an infringing video, it’ll be set to private and you get a nice message telling you to sort your shit out. Everyone else gets the video removed and a copyright strike until such time as you can provide proof that you have permission to use the content.

My advice to anyone out there is to avoid using other peoples material altogether. Sure, there are a million songs that are begging to be used. And any forward thinking artist would love to have their material reach a wider audience, unfortunately business comes first, which means the copyright hammer hangs over everyone who uses other people’s material, no matter how apt or well intentioned.

(yes, there are exceptions and allowances within copyright law….. YouTube is not interested in those. If you want to argue points of law then you’ll have to set up your own ISP and host those vids yourself thanks to the DMCA and EUCD)

Peas and loaves.

Want to know how to comment on or subscribe to this blog? Click here.

Find me on PSN – MrCheapKills

David Nicol is Articles Editor for hupitgaming.com, YouTube gaming commentator and blogger based in the UK.

Why not check out my new gaming site: backslashgaming.com

Almost There

Red Leader: \"Almost there\"

In the immortal words of Red Leader “Almost there, stay on target”. Okay so it didn’t work out to plan for him, but in the immortal worlds of Mick Jagger “You can’t always get what you want (you get what you need)”.

Right now you’re probably thinking I’ve had some sort of seizure, but no, I’m referring to my subscriber count on YouTube:

When I got to 980 I got everything together for a 1K giveaway… but that was over a month a go now and the march from 980 to 1000 has been pretty endless. But it’s almost over, for the second time.

Peas and loaves.

Want to know how to comment on or subscribe to this blog? Click here.

Find me on PSN – MrCheapKills

David Nicol is Articles Editor for hupitgaming.com, YouTube gaming commentator and blogger based in the UK.

Why not check out my new gaming site: backslashgaming.com

VIDEO: The Irish Connection

This a Squad Death Match that we played on Isla Inocentes before Christmas. The three of us were recording and have put that together in to one video showing each individual feed at the top and the main window displaying the current action.

In the game you’ll see Duck tearing the map up while Donncha and I paint the town a delightful shade of mediocre. My favourite part is Donncha’s out of bounds kill on Sniper Ridge – total dedication to the cause there.

Our commentary doesn’t actually talk about the gameplay as we decided that that is pretty self explanatory so instead we talk about game tactics and how the slayers get their kills. Yes, we have a Massacring Mallard in our midst.

Duck’s audio came out quite low in the final mix though so headphones are advised to fully hear the conversation.

Also check out Donncha and Duck’s channels on here:

http://www.youtube.com/donncha2001

http://www.youtube.com/iTimoleageDuck

Peas and loaves.

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Find me on PSN – evaDlivE

David Nicol is Articles Editor for hupitgaming.com, YouTube gaming commentator and blogger based in the UK.

Changing Settings

Bonjour peeps, can you give me some input on what settings to go with. I’ve been looking in to using mp4 rather than wmv for the vids. However, as I only have one monitor I can’t really get an objective look at what is the best set up so can you spare 21 seconds out of your life to have a look at the following three clips (7 seconds each) and then vote on which one looks the best.

They all have identical footage and filters (unsharp mask and contrast adjustment) so it’s really just a case of which looks best for you (it’s probably best to view them on YouTube and at at least 480p).

OPTION 1

OPTION 2

OPTION 3

And the poll:

Cheers peeps, much appreciated.

Happy New Year

Peas and loaves.

Want to know how to comment on or subscribe to this blog? Click here.

Find me on PSN – evaDlivE

David Nicol is Articles Editor for hupitgaming.com, YouTube gaming commentator and blogger based in the UK.

BigMooney’s Top 5 Plays (Battlefield)

In case you missed the recent vid from BigMooney06 and Cardsnumber7 there was an important announcement regarding a new Top 5 plays series that BigMooney is starting up.

He’s accepting footage from ALL Battlefield games so here’s what you do:

1 – capture your uber1337 footage
2 – upload it to zshare (http://www.zshare.net/) – it’s free 😀
3 – email the link to: battlefieldtop5plays@gmail.com

And that’s it. If you’re clip is rootin’ tootin’ enough then you could be in Mooney’s Top 5 Plays!

Here’s the announcement vid:

Peas and loaves.

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Find me on PSN – evaDlivE

David Nicol is Articles Editor for hupitgaming.com, YouTube gaming commentator and blogger based in the UK.

(an open letter) Dear LoveCat Music….

[Update 29/04/2020 – due to someone not being able to let bygones be bygones, there has been an update to this post: Dear LoveCat Music Part 2]

Please stop posting under fake names. It’s getting tiresome.

But before we get in to that, I’ll do you the courtesy that you refuse me (and over 600 other YouTube users) by answering your straightforward question that you posed here. I do this with the understanding that you will reciprocate in answering my straightforward question that follows (and you’ve not answered so far).

LoveCat Music said/asked:

“David” – i’m confused. In your December 5 post youi said you don’t have a problem with the copyright holder not wanting their music used.

Your problem was with YouTube’s policies.

Now you’re singing a different tune. Can you just tell us if you got permission for all the music in all your videos? It’s a straightforward question.

And my answer:

I’ve not changed my tune at all.

My tune has never changed. If anything you’ve failed to grasp the point which I thought I’d made ad infinitum.

Music that I (and every other person that uses music on YouTube) use is tracked by YouTube’s content matching service. This automatically ascertains where and if the content can be used – what permissions have been granted by the copyright holder.

That’s why I don’t have any problem if a copyright holder does not want the track used – it won’t be accepted at all. However, normally if permission is removed then the audio is muted unless the copyright holder starts really throwing their weight around.

The problem is then that YouTube don’t actually act on queries regarding copyright, or counter claims.

Which brings me on to my question to you:

You claim to be the copyright holder, but so does Dieffe Sas. Dieffe Sas clearly gives permission for the track to be used, and yet you are giving out copyright notices left right and centre against those that have used it. Yet you do not have the Bubbles track on your YouTube channel LoveCatMusic, but Dieffe does….. So who is the actual copyright holder?

Y’see, here’s the thing. Three weeks ago there were about 900 or so vids using the track you claim copyright over. This week there are about 100, with the most prominent being on Dieffemusic.com’s channel. You don’t have it on your channel and you’ve totally evaded the question posed in the post Would the Real Copyright Holder Please Stand Up….

Which brings us on to this:

First you were posting as ‘isabelariel’ using randyfx@gmail.com as the email address from 68.175.125.226 – RoadRunner in NYC. As you already know, I posted that you were Ariel Isabel, the name behind info@lovecatmusic.com, although maybe you’re Benjamin S Frisch who’s also keen on the randyfx email adderss. Yet there was then a post from ‘sarah2singer’ from the exact same IP address (but different email address – btlcmusic@gmail.com)…. That was when I responded with my toptip of changing your IP if you intend to use fake accounts.

I thought that would have been the end of it to be honest. Or at least to the bullshit of fake accounts. You’d gotten what you wanted (the removal of videos) but no…… up you pop with a new fake username ‘patriciapoppins’ and this time a new IP 201.144.242.231 – and Mexican too! Kudos baby – how’s the weather?! Unfortunately your selection of email address let you down: randyfx@yahoo.com. Nice try though.

But honestly – creating three wordpress accounts? isabelariel.wordpress.com, skavoovy.wordpress.com, and now whywearehere.wordpress.com just to post comments? Why the need to hide, to pretend, to obfuscate?

If I was representing a client (or was the actual copyright holder) I wouldn’t spend my time flouncing around the internet posting under fake names. I’d simply state when I was appointed, in what capacity, and whose authority I superseded. It’s a fairly easy and straightforward process and generally accepted as good business practice.

I would never represent another entity if my online presence was a non-functioning shambles (loveacatmusic.com), I’d also ensure that when dealing with third parties I’d do it in a professional manner without hiding behind fake screen names or other nonsense. In short, if I was attempting to represent the best interests of my clients (as you claim to do so) and my company then I would actually ensure that it was for for their benefit, not turn people against them. Come to think of it…. do the people you represent know that this is how you work “for” them? Or is this something that they’ve asked you to do?

Incidentally: It seems that your channel has been getting some attention since your copyright operation, and interestingly the sentiments I’ve made are echoed by others:

Oh dear….(click to enlarge)

I don’t know if English is not your first language, but it seems that you either don’t fully read the posts I make, or miss the point each time. One thing’s for sure though – you’re pissing off a lot of people while “protecting” your client’s interests.

And no, none of those posts are by me (I don’t use fake accounts), nor have they been made by anyone that I’m aware of.

To my regular readers: Peas and loaves peeps. Peas and loaves.

To those at LoveCat Music – Merry Christmas.

Who Needs Mainstream Anyway?

I thought I could run my channel without music, or at least without using any full length tracks…. but I was wrong. I’ve been putting together a roadkill vid (all from the same match so not a montage) which I am intending to commentate, but there were some bits that needed a bit of musical accompaniment. Not only that, I just miss editing clips to music.

Previously I’ve used small bits of royalty free music (my current intro music is from partnersinrhyme.com) but so far the choice has been pretty limited and tracks are generally a bit….. insipid. Then earlier today (it’s a Snow Day today so I’ve punctuating my day between work and intertubes) I searched for ‘Creative Commons Music’ rather than ‘Royalty Free Music’ – I’m not sure why I never did that before!

Well, there’s loads out there. In fact I’m surprised by how much – all these really talented individuals putting their musical work out there for others to share and use….. for free (who’da thunk it!). After recent events I’d lost faith a little bit in the music scene, but my faith has been rekindled.

As such I’m embracing all these people and will be exclusively using Creative Commons Music in my videos from now on. If you’re also a video editor then I encourage you to do the same by using Creative Commons Music. Not only are you benefiting (by not having your vids blocked in Germany for one, but also removing the risks of Copyright strikes against your channel), you’re also helping them get known. There’s music for all occasions including this track which is very Prodigy-esque:

http://widgets.jamendo.com/en/track/?playertype=2008&track_id=108580Royalty-free music for professional licensing

Here’s a great link to Creative Commons Music sites (as always – these are direct links, I DO NOT get anything if you visit them):

http://creativecommons.org/legalmusicforvideos

And lastly, some advice from Creative Commons themselves regarding the music usage:

Can I use any song with a CC license on it?

Almost — you need to make sure that what you want to do with the music is OK under the terms of the particular Creative Commons license it’s under. CC-licensed music isn’t free for all uses, only some — so make sure to check out the terms (you can find these by clicking on each song’s license icon).

Most importantly, you need to use music that is not licensed under a No Derivative Works license. This means that the musician doesn’t want you to change, transform, or make a derivative work using their music. Under CC licenses, synching the music to images amounts to transforming the music, so you can’t legally use a song under a CC No Derivative Works license in your video.

Also, make sure to properly credit the musician and the track, as well as express the CC license the track is under

Peas and loaves.

Want to know how to comment on or subscribe to this blog? Click here.

Find me on PSN – evaDlivE

David Nicol is Articles Editor for hupitgaming.com, YouTube gaming commentator and blogger based in the UK.

Would The Real Copyright Holder Please Stand Up…

Before we get in to it, let me make my position abundantly clear as Ariel and “Sarah” seem to have missed the point: I fully understand that copyright holders can enforce their rights over unauthorised use of their works. I wouldn’t have it any other way.

My issue with the two copyright strikes that I have received from YouTube is not that I have been ‘done’ for infringing copyright. It’s that I’ve been done for copyright infringement after having what I believed to be implied permission to use the material.

Since Ariel Isabel of LoveCat Music, and the person “Sarah” posting from the same IP address, have been commenting here I’d like to ask everyone, LoveCats and non LoveCats, to please tell me who Dieffe Sas is.

The reason I ask is this: Dieffemusic.com or dieffemusicdotcom on YouTube aka Dieffe Sas claims to be the copyright holder of the video: Bubbles – Bidibodi Bidibu (thanks you all) Read on…! That video is still up on YouTube, but the actual Bidibodi Bidibu video count is now down to 100.

In the video Bubbles – Bidibodi Bidibu (thanks you all) Read on…! that Dieffe Sas claims copyright on it specifically says at 0:13: “Post your new videos of “Bidibodi Bidibu” on You Tube.”

Here’s a screenie to show what I mean (and under copyright law this is fair use):

Permission to use the track?

I’ve googled Dieffe Sas and the majority of the hits relate to Dieffe Sas claiming copyright of Bubbles – Bidibodi Bidibu. I had a look at Dieffemusic.com too and it all seems fairly legit. So where does LoveCat Music come in to it? I tried searching their site for either Bubbles or Dieffe Sas…. unfortunately it wasn’t pretty:

I can recommend a number of web professionals to fix that....

I couldn’t find a search result for Bubbles either…. or access the artist catalogue…. or much else due to many many php and mysql errors. Technology eh!?

Anyhoo, if anyone can shed some light on this then that would be dandy as I know I’m not the only person who’s been caught out by this.

Peas and loaves.

Want to know how to comment on or subscribe to this blog? Click here.

Find me on PSN – evaDlivE

David Nicol is Articles Editor for hupitgaming.com, YouTube gaming commentator and blogger based in the UK.