MTV and MySpace partner to monetize pirated content
Similar to YouTube's most recent proposition to copyright holders, News Corp-owned MySpace is offering to identify pirated content uploaded by users, insert advertising and share the subsequent fruits with the content's owner.
The first benefactor of the new offering, which leverages 'finger printing' technology from Auditude, is Viacom-owned MTV Networks, a noteworthy partner since Viacom is currently involved in a one billion dollar copyright lawsuit with MySpace Video rival, YouTube.
Under the arrangement, MTV Networks will be able to "pair advertising with clips from The Daily Show With Jon Stewart, Punk'd and other shows that MySpace users upload to the social network site, whether they have permission or not", reports the LA Times. YouTube launched a similar system last year that identifies clips so it can give copyright holders a choice between removing the content or letting YouTube place ads against it in exchange for a share of revenue.
Whatever the outcome of the YouTube/Viacom lawsuit, MySpace's new offering is evidence that the world has already moved on. Rather than playing the 'cat and mouse' game of DMCA takedown notices, technology is offering a more efficient way of dealing with pirated content uploaded by users. An efficiency that claims to not only offer automation in identifying content but a way to monetize it too.
"This is a game changer," Jeff Berman, MySpace's president of sales and marketing, told the Times.. "This takes us from a world of 'no' to a world of 'yes,' where the audience gets to curate content, express and share it as they choose, while copyright holders are not only respected, they get to make money."
