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VEVO Caught In Piracy Act

Crying hypocrisy, TechCrunch claims that VEVO -- the record label-owned video hub -- showed a pirated stream of an ESPN football game at a recent PowerStation event. As we’re reminded, VEVO’s owners -- Universal Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment, and Abu Dhabi Media Group -- represent the core of the Recording Industry Association of America, which regularly attacks consumers for illegal file-sharing.

Reached for comment, VEVO said that the event was produced by a creative agency called Continuum Entertainment, and that there were several other companies involved. “However, the venue was broken into different sections, and the televisions in question were clearly those belonging to VEVO’s PowerStation -- and VEVO confirms that the televisions were supposed to be used to showcase VEVO videos and ‘original content,’” according to TechCrunch.

And while the alleged stream was most likely an anomaly born out of convenience or ignorance -- rather than part of a larger piracy pattern on VEVO’s part -- it does prove a point… for TechCrunch. “It perfectly underscores everything wrong with the media industry’s approach to piracy,” it writes. “They’ve long made out pirates to be lawless thieves who think they’re entitled to receive everything for free. But the reality is far less black-and-white.”

 


Read the whole story at TechCrunch »

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