Universal Goes Nuts over “Let’s Go Crazy”

As if the music industry needs any more negative publicity, Universal Music Group demanded a video be pulled from YouTube citing copyright infringement. The short, video depicts a baby dancing to the Prince tune “Let’s Go Crazy” and was uploaded to YouTube by the girl’s mother, Stephanize Lenz, to share with friend and family. As the firestorm surrounding the popular video has heated up, the Electronic Frontier Foundation has stepped in to defend Lenz and filed suit against Universal.

In an era where companies are jostling for visibility on YouTube, Universal Music Group has clearly lost its way. Many companies would kill to have their products prominently featured on the most popular video-sharing site, and savvy marketers are pouring big bucks into viral campaigns on YouTube and other sites. Universal’s bullish tactics have only brought negative publicity their way, and turned the YouTube community against them.

After all, Universal set off the entire controversy by fighting someone who enjoys one of their products. Alienating your customer base is never a good idea.

Whether Universal is on the right side of the law is beside the point. Though they may win in court, they are losing among their customer base because their actions appear heavy-handed and misguided.

In addition, the implications of this legal battle could be huge for YouTube. The site features hundreds of videos of talent shows, lip-synching, and other videos that involve copyrighted music. Do these videos represent free product placement for record companies, or egregious copyright violations? Universal has publicized its view. What’s yours?