Grand Funk Railroad's 'We're an American Band' chosen for patriotic theme
Headline Surfer videos produced by Sera Frederick / The first of two videos produced by Headline Surfer as a patriotic tribute to the attendees of the Lincoln Day Dinner in Daytona Beach has been blocked on YouTube at the request of EMI because the song "We're an American Band" by Grand Funk Railroad was used. The second video, set to Neil Young's "Rockin' in the Free World" was not blocked by YouTube.DAYTONA BEACH -- A video produced by Headline Surfer showing still photos of attendees from Friday night's Lincoln Day Dinner at the Daytona Beach Plaza Resort and set to the background song, "We're an American Band," by classic rock group Grand Funk Railroad has been blocked by YouTube at the request of music giant EMI.
The 24/7 Internet newspaper asserted its rights to use the track under provisions of the U.S. Fair Rights Act, that allows for use of copyrighted material if it is for "fair and reasonable criticism."
The video in question, "Lincoln Day Personalities 1," was the first of two such videos paying homage to the event, the Lincoln Day Dinner, the annual fundraiser put on by the Republican Party of Volusia County.
The second video, "Lincoln Day Personalities 2," was set to the song, "Rockin' in the Free World" by Neil Young, which YouTube did not block.
Though Headline Surfer protested through YouTube and EMI itself, the video was intermittently allowed and finally cut off for good early Tuesday evening. EMI is among the giants in the music recording industry and is one of the strictest, if not the strictest in allowing its songs to be used by third parties.
Headline Surfer protested through YouTube protocol electronically, but hasn't received a response. So Headline Surfer looked up EMI online and discovered there are several different aspects of EMI under control of various companies.
For example, the Internet newspaper searched Google for EMI and was directed to Sony/EMI, and after numerous emails and dead-ends, a company representative called Headline Surfer back.
Headline Surfer then sent its complaint as directed by e-mail only to be told it was actually a completely different company, EMI Universal that had to be contacted. Headline Surfer will attempt to contact this company on Wednesday.