Universal Music withdraws ‘Purple Rain’ takedown notice
Universal Music has withdrawn a Digital Millennium Copyright Act ( DMCA) takedown notice for a Twitter video showing thousands of people singing Prince’s 1984 classic “Purple Rain”.
Aaron Lavinsky, photojournalist for US-based newspaper the Star Tribune, shared the video in April 2016 on his Twitter account, a day after the musician died.
The video, which Lavinsky claimed showed “thousands” of Prince fans, was shot outside the First Avenue nightclub in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The club was also used as a setting for some of the scenes in the film “Purple Rain”, also released in 1984.
The tweet had been viewed almost 14,000 times and received over 17,000 likes.
However, Lavinsky tweeted on Wednesday, July 25, that the video had been removed following a DMCA takedown notice from Universal Music.
Prince’s estate signed a distribution deal with Universal Music in 2017.
A DMCA takedown is issued when the owner of copyright-protected content issues a request to remove it from an internet service provider.
Lavinsky took to Twitter to share the “very disturbing” news and claimed that his video was “clearly fair use”.
“DMCA takedowns are an important tool for artists who need to protect their IP online, but a major corporation abusing [the] system to remove a news video shot by a newspaper photographer is inappropriate,” said Lavinsky.
The photojournalist received an outpouring of support from people on Twitter, with one person commenting: “Pretty dangerous how these services can dictate everything even when they are in the wrong.”
Universal Music seemingly backtracked on its notice and, on Friday, July 27, Lavinsky tweeted that the music corporation had retracted its request and that the video on the original tweet has since re-appeared.
Last year, WIPR reported that a coalition of music organisations, including the Recording Industry Association of America and the National Music Publishers’ Association, criticised the DMCA as being “broken and antiquated”.
The organisations submitted their comments as part of the US Copyright Office’s study of copyright law.
George Sevier, director at Gowling, told WIPR that people would be able to obtain tracks for free instead of paying for them if record companies do not have unauthorised copies of music taken down from the internet.
"However, it is increasingly important for rights owners to consider when to take enforcement action, and when taking action might do more harm than good," he said.
According to Sevier, while it is often necessary to take action against fans, it can "leave a sour taste in the mouth" and that Universal Music did the right thing by retracting its takedown notice.
"Given the context, the sharing on social media of this particular clip is unlikely to result in fewer paid-for downloads," he added. "In fact, seeing the clip is more likely to remind people of Prince’s great music and result in more paid-for streaming and downloads."
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