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Legal
Rebecca Black issues takedown notice over own song
By CMU Editorial | Published on Friday 17 June 2011
Rebecca Black’s viral hit ‘Friday’ has been taken off YouTube because of an ongoing dispute between the surprise online star and the company who made her terrible song, Ark Music Factory.
As previously reported, questions were asked about the copyrights in the song as soon as it became an internet hit. Black’s mother paid Ark Music Factory – which seems to basically be a musical equivalent of a vanity publisher – to write the song and make a video of her daughter singing it. In a subsequent interview the boss of Ark seemed to say that, having paid for the making of the track, the Black family owned the copyright in ‘Friday’, though a legal rep for the firm did not concur, possibly implying Mrs Black (actually, she’s called Mrs Kelly) had bought the copyright in the recording but not the song.
Whatever, talks are presumably ongoing regarding ownership of ‘Friday’ and Black’s recording of it, but things seemingly came to a head this week when Ark Music Factory put the infamous video behind a paywall on YouTube, making it pay per view.
Black’s fans – for apparently such things exist – reacted angrily, and Black herself quickly distanced herself from the decision to charge for her song. Ark Music Factory seemingly pulled down the paywall in quick response to that outrage, but then the song disappeared from YouTube altogether.
It seems Chez Black issued a takedown notice, presumably because they believe they own the copyrights in the song and they don’t want Ark Music Factory managing its official presence on YouTube anymore. As of this morning, if you search for the pop song on the video website you get the notice “This video is no longer available due to a copyright claim by Rebecca Black. Sorry about that”.
It’s not clear if the debate over who owns the copyright in this song is likely to go properly legal at any point. I hope so, the resulting court squabble would be a damn site more entertaining than the song itself.
