Russian media reports, some users of YouTube, the largest video sharing platform in the United States, have recently encountered a situation where they upload video content with the Russian national anthem and receive a warning from the platform that the video infringes the copyright of American copyright holders.
YouTube claims that the copyright holder of the Russian national anthem is an American company called Broadcast Music Inc.
A Russian blogger Yuri Hovansky posted on social media Telegram that he posted a video with the Russian national anthem on YouTube, but received a warning from the platform that the video seemed to contain “controversial content” if the national anthem was used in the video.
You may face copyright problems.
According to the report, such problems must not be caused by Russian law.
According to Russian law, the copyright of the lyrics and melody of the national anthem is public, because it is the national symbol of Russia.
It turns out that the melody used in the Russian national anthem written by Soviet composer Alexander Alexandrov has been “privatized” by the American BMI company to some extent.
Bloggers point out that to upload a video with the Russian national anthem on YouTube now, you must submit an application to the “copyright holder”. This is really magical.
In response to this situation, the Russian Communications, Information Technology and Media Supervision Agency (Roskomnadzor) has issued a statement urging Google to lift the alleged ban on publishing videos on YouTube containing the Russian national anthem.
A Google spokesman later said that BMI’s complaint had been reviewed and considered unfounded by the YouTube platform.
However, when Russia 24 tried to upload a video with a version of the national anthem broadcast on New Year’s Eve by Russian TV, its journalists also received complaints of copyright infringement.
Two U.S. companies complained that the video violated copyright, but neither of them was BMI.
In addition to the Russian national anthem, there are other similar problems on YouTube.
For example, the copyright of the Russian songs “Holy War” and “Victory Day” seems to belong to an American company called The Orchard Music.
It is not the first time that questions about the copyright of the Russian national anthem have appeared on YouTube. Back in 2015, YouTube claimed that the Russian national anthem belonged to the Harry Fox Agency, an American music publisher.
A few months later, another foreign company became the owner of the copyright of the Russian national anthem.
In 2018, the copyright of the Russian national anthem was “alted” to the American company UMPG. Publishing. In the summer of 2020, YouTube announced that the copyright holder of the Russian national anthem was TuneCore Publishing.
Russian media pointed out that YouTube is actually trying to legitimize digital looting and even piracy, and also encourages such behavior.
This shows that the American digital giants believe that they have the right not only to dispose of their user accounts, but also the right to control the cultural and historical heritage that has nothing to do with them.
