Record labels and Social Media, negotiate copyright issues among you, but please don’t endanger our heartfelt covers

Sir, Anna Nicolaou writes: “The big record labels are pressing the world’s largest social media network… to tackle copyright for cover songs and other content that fans post to their newsfeeds” “Record labels press Facebook to face the music over breaches of copyright” December 29.

That saddens me. On my 60th birthday, thinking about what I could give myself, I came up with the idea of recording and posting on YouTube one cover of a song I have liked in my life, for each day during the whole next year, and so I did, 365 songs! Phew, was I relieved it was not a leap year! Can you imagine how I would feel seeing all that effort and memories just vanishing? http://mynoisyvoice.blogspot.com

If my modest covers generate some ad-revenues, the record labels and the social media should come to an agreement on how to share these… but under no circumstances should it affect all of us who want to express admiration in this way for the songs in our life.

By the way I can’t imagine how any of my covers would impede a single sale of a record containing it; in fact, by reminding people of its existence, it could even generate some new sales. I was indeed moved when one of my covers received the following comment: “Thank you for interpreting so well the song of my grandfather…. I am proud that the memory of his work is not erased over time, and that by disseminating it, do not let it die, an affectionate greeting from….”

If there were one reason I could though understand for the owner of a copyright to take down my YouTube cover, it would be that the song’s original composer expressed horror over how I might be murdering it. Sir, I pray not too many will. 

PS. On my http://ayearofsongs.blogspot.com, with respect to copyrights I actually wrote:

“One is always worried about issues such as copyrights, as one does not want to end up in a slammer at any age, even if voicing some of these beautiful songs could perhaps be worth it.

What I will try to do is to check out on the web if someone else has been doing a cover of the song or any other one by I believe is of the same composer and, if so, I will presume it is ok for me to do it too.

Of course if someone protests loudly, not only for a copyright infringement but also because the composer feels I am destroying or in any other sense behaving disrespectfully towards his baby, I will ipso facto take it down and replace it with another song.”

@PerKurowski

Is Ermotti suggesting UBS tinkers with risk measuring, like Volkswagen tinkered with pollution emissions measuring?

Sir, I refer to your most important editorial in over a decade, “Banking cannot prosper within a culture of fear”, September 24.  A more correct title would be: “Our economies cannot prosper when bank regulators have been overtaken by a culture of senseless fear”.

You, who proudly proclaims a “Without fear”, seem to at long last have to come to grips with the fact that risk-taking is much needed in order to avoid even worse risks. Sadly, you should at the latest, have written that in June 2004 when Basel II was announced.

Then silly risk adverse regulators, who clearly had never read The Parable of the Talents, imposed a culture of fear of “The Risky” by excessively embracing “The Safe”. Its risk-weighted capital requirements, clearly instructed banks to avoid taking risk on The Risky, by giving them permission to leverage incredibly, much riskier, with what is perceived ex antes as safe.

And you write: “Sergio Ermotti, the chief executive of UBS, has been so bold as to urge his staff to embrace risk-taking again”. Great, and of course I agree full heartedly with him. That is our responsibility towards those coming after us. God make us daring!

Unfortunately, Ermotti can urge his staff to embrace-risk taking as much as he wants, that will still not happen, not as long as the credit-risk weighted capital requirements remain in place. That is of course unless Ermotti is now suggesting that UBS tinkers with risk measuring, along the way Volkswagen tinkered with emissions measuring.

PS. On a personal note I wish of course you would have had the decency to at least acknowledged that this, Basel’s dangerous regulatory risk aversion, has been the leitmotiv in the over thousand of letters I sent you, which you preferred to ignore. The letters though are still all out there on my http://teawithft.blogspot.com, for the world to see.

PS. When bankers grow old and begin to fade away... what would they regret the most, the risk they took or the ones they did not dare to take?

PS. Here I have a brief YouTube explanation, in red and blue, of our crazy bank regulations.

@PerKurowski