In Face Of Copyright Controversy, Yahoo! and Sony Agree To Share Ad Revenue

The Associated Press reported this week that Sony BMG “inked a licensing deal with Yahoo! Inc. that clears the way for people to upload files with music or video content by the record company’s artists” to Yahoo!-owned sites.

The terms of the agreement stipulate that Yahoo! share revenue amassed through advertising associated with its current and future user-generated-media channel(s), as well as the distribution of strictly copyrighted material on the Internet giant’s pages as well as those of third parties that utilize widgets associated with Yahoo!.

In layman’s terms, Yahoo! is sharing a portion of the cash generated through clicks of advertisements with Sony to prevent any bad blood from brewing between the content publisher and content provider. Call it a preemptive treaty if you will.

It’s not the first of its kind, either. A similar move was made between Sony BMG and Google last year, reported the AP, in order that any technically unsavory practices by users of the Mountain View-based company’s sites, most obviously YouTube, don’t result in lawsuits aplenty.

Of course, Sony BMG is but one of the Big Four, a number of which have yet to follow suit and allow for reasonable use of their materials (for a price, paid by the audio/video host) in mashups and things. Which means that Internet users still have a strong chance of drawing the ire from other media conglomerates. Which kind of defeats the purpose of the deals struck between Sony and Google and Sony and Yahoo!, does it not?

Oh, sure, nevermind the fact that copyright law most certainly requires some drastic, sweeping edits done in order that it operate on some logical, sensible level in this digital, consumer-is-king era. The way for large Web-based entities to continue along with the distribution of media as they please is now to assuage copyright owners’ anger over ridiculous violations with green. The financially valuable kind of green.

I don’t believe there’s much more to say about this topic, really. You know, come to think of it, it’d certainly be fitting to write here now a few brief lines of a Beatles’ lyric. But I imagine doing so would be a violation of a copyright clause. So I’ll pass on the option.

Woe be unto senseless authoritarianism.

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