The Internet has brought just as many problems as it has solution, just as much hassle as it has joy. A huge one of these issues concerns how the works of songwriters, musicians, filmmakers etc. get used on the Web, with most people seemingly having little to no regard that they may be accessing someone’s copyrighted material for free without the creator’s permission.

The Copyright Issue

This is obviously the case with peer-to-peer file-sharing networks which enable people to upload and download media of all kinds, whether it be copyright-free or otherwise. But most online video sites have to play by the rules, or else they risk being taken to court, fined huge amounts of money, and eventually put out of business.

YouTube is a prime example. When the site was started it was seen as a pretty lawless place, with copyrighted clips being uploaded all over the place, and little done to appease the concerns of rights holders. But that culture gradually disintegrated, and when Google took over disappeared altogether. YouTube is now a legitimate and very successful business which firmly sits on the right side of the law.

Embedding YouTube Video

A huge part of the appeal of YouTube is the ability to embed a video on another Web site, blog, Facebook profile or whatever. It takes YouTube out of YouTube and enables videos to be spread around the Web, go viral, and get seen by millions of people. Which is seen as a problem by the legal team at ASCAP.

According to Valleywag, Jason Calacanis recently tweeted the news that he’d been emailed by ASCAP with a request for him to acquire a license from them for embedding YouTube videos. He said:

“Just got an email from ASCAP asking me to pay for an Internet license for running a YouTube video. hello??!?! #ascapfail”

ASCAP R CRAP

Calacanis is the founder of Mahalo, a human-powered search resource which pushes in the direction of news stories and videos which are hot or deserve greater attention. And part of the site is dedicated to the embedding of the latest and greatest videos. Which shouldn’t even be a problem, but is something which ASCAP has clearly taken issue with.

ASCAP licenses the performance rights for music and then collects any royalties due on these performances. And it feels that by embedding clips of the works of artists it represents, Calacanis should have a license to do so, and then pay royalties every time a Mahalo user plays the clip directly on the site. ASCAP said:

ASCAP does not offer licenses to – or require licenses from – those who simply make their personal blogs available on purely noncommercial Web sites. Mahalo.com is a larger venture than simply a personal blog, and therefore ASCAP is engaged in discussions with Mr. Calacanis concerning the use of ASCAP members’ music on the site.

Conclusions

YouTube has always maintained its commitment to sort these kinds of legal problems out and asked any site owner approached by ASCAP (and there have been a few) to refer the organization to YouTube itself. But if these complaints and requests become more numerous I doubt whether YouTube will be able to cope under the pressure. Which would leave many Web sites which embed YouTube clips prodigiously worried about whether they’re about to be hit with a huge royalties claim and legal bill.

This doesn’t make any sense whatsoever because YouTube is hosting the video and paying royalties every time it’s viewed. Which means, at least from my layman’s perspective on the issue, ASCAP has no legal basis for these claims. At least let’s hope I’m right because if not it’s going to be a bloodbath.

IPhone 3GS Video

The recently-released iPhone 3GS includes some fantastic video features. The device includes a 3 megapixel camera which is capable of recording video at near-HD quality with full audio and at 30 frames-per-second. What’s more, there is some excellent basic editing software included as standard which also allows captured clips to be uploaded to YouTube and the like with ease.

This inclusion of a good quality video camera in the iPhone is a worry for video camera manufacturers, because if this sort of device is available in a smartphone, where is the need to buy a product which costs more and is only capable of doing that one job? However, the iPhone is still a costly prospect for most people thanks to the monthly contract required to use one.

IPod Touch Video

This isn’t the case for the iPod Touch, the product which has almost everything in common with the iPhone, apart of course from the phone part, with the Touch instead focused on being a multimedia device you can carry in your pocket. Imagine what would happen if Apple decided to put a video camera inside each and every iPod Touch, and possibly other flavors of iPod as well.

This is the latest rumor to have hit the InterWebs. TechCrunch claims a source in Asia is reporting that Apple has recently placed a massive order for the camera modules of the type used in the iPhone 3GS. The order is said to be so large it can only be intended for the next generation of iPods. MacRumors has added weight to this theory with the posting of alleged new designs for the new iPod Touch and iPod Nano, both of which have holes intended for camera lenses to poke out of.

Immediate Effects

If true, this would firstly have a huge impact on the video camera market because millions of iPods are sold every single month, and who would buy a more expensive video camera when they could just upgrade their iPod and get a whole bunch of other features thrown in for the price?

The other obvious impact would be on the amount of people suddenly able to flex their creative muscle and shoot reasonably good looking video on a mobile device. Video shot on a crappy cellphone camera is one thing, video shot on a smartphone or personal media player is quite another. Mobile uploads to YouTube would likely increase by a huge amount once again.

Conclusions

Apple could quite easily corner this particular market while killing another one off if it chooses to go down this route. And as there’s no real reason why the company wouldn’t, it seems likely the speculation will prove to be correct in the months to come. Mobile video is about to come of age, and as with so many other markets, Apple is at the forefront of making it mainstream.

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Michael Jackson died after suffering a cardiac arrest on June 25, 2009. Attempts to resuscitate him were unsuccessful and he was pronounced dead on arrival at the hospital. His death has prompted an outpouring of emotion not seen for many years, probably since Princess Diana died in 1997.

His death, and the reaction of people around the world to it, has been well documented by online video. First, there was the reaction videos, then tribute videos popped up, and continue to do so even now, ten days after his death. There was also the shockingly sad footage of Jacko rehearsing for his This Is It tour just two days before he died.

Michael Jackson’s Funeral Service

Now comes the next stage of Michael Jackson’s story - the public memorial service and funeral being held at the Staples Center in Los Angeles on July 7. The service will begin at 10am PT, but unfortunately, only 20,000 people are able to attend in person because that’s how many people the venue can hold. Tickets have been given out via a lottery to 17,500 members of the general public.

Online Streams of the Memorial Service

The majority of Michael Jackson fans around the world will be watching live coverage of the memorial service on television or via streaming video online. It’s already been announced there will be a free, live stream of the event, with Jacko’s promoter, AEG Live, which also owns the Staples Center, wanting as many people as possible to be able to watch the memorial service.

• A compilation of the live streams and videos are available on WebTVHub.

How to Watch on iPhone

Thanks to the uStream Viewing Application, iPhone users will be able to watch the live stream of Michael Jackson’s funeral in real-time.

The uStream iPhone app (video review below) was released at the beginning of this year just in time for Barack Obama’s presidential inauguration, an event that became the biggest Web TV phenomenon ever seen, thanks in part to the multitude of people watching on their cell phones.

Where can I Find a uStream Live Feed of Funeral?

There will be a large variety of live video feeds available on Tuesday covering the funeral, e.g: CBS, but also check the comprehensive list of live streams on Web TV Hub.

Live Streams on SmartPhones?

Unfortunately watching Michael Jackson’s funeral with uStream is not possible on Smartphones (yet). However, most windows based cell phones should have a couple of options available to them.

SlingBox

Slingbox owners can set their slingbox up to stream a channel covering the memorial service over the internet on their private channel. Then using the Slingplayer mobile app it is possible to watch the event live on a cell phone.

The Slingplayer app is also available for the iPhone. Download it from the iTunes store or read about it here.

TVUPlayer - Live TV on Cell Phone

Another option for windows based smartphones is to use the TVUPlayer cell phone app. You can get it here. TVUPlayer is a P2P TV streaming service that has channels from all around the world, you can read about it here.

TVUPlayer has plenty of channels, simply look up a new channel and undoubtedly it will be broadcasting MJ’s historic funeral.

Any More?

If there are any more ways to watch Michael’s funeral on a cell phone then please leave a comment below to let us know.

The Links You Need (roundup)

• Comprehensive list of live internet streams on Web TV Hub. iPhone users using uStream check the uStream links on this page.

Windows SmartPhones:

• TVUPlayer Windows Smartphone App
• Slingplayer Windows Smartphone App

iPhone

• SlingPlayer App from the iTunes store
• uStream Viewing App from the iTunes store

Ringtones

• Get Michael Jackson Ringtones (U.S Only)

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International Plans

Hulu has reportedly had plans to roll-out internationally for a while. In March, the company hired a senior vice president of international operations whose role was described as being “responsible for leading Hulu’s expansion efforts outside the United States.” Then in May, these plans to expand outside of the U.S. borders were revealed.

There were newspaper reports at the time stating that Hulu was in negotiations with several large British broadcasters, including ITV and Channel 4. The plan was to make the UK the first port of call in an international roll-out of Hulu. Each country would get a localized service, with some American shows available alongside shows from that territory.

Hulu Confirms Plans

Now, The Telegraph has revisited the story after Hulu made its plans for an international roll-out clearer. Johannes Larcher, the SVP mentioned earlier, spoke this week at the Future of Broadcasting conference in London. He confirmed the plans for a Hulu UK launch, but would not be drawn on possible content partners or when the service was likely to launch.

He also spoke about the possibility of offering high quality streaming video and stated that Hulu was willing to discuss its plans with British ISPs in order to make this a reality. Which is important because ISPs in the UK already aren’t happy with the amount of bandwidth taken up by the BBC iPlayer. A UK version of Hulu really would be the icing on the cake for them, especially is programs were offered in anything close to HD.

Johannes Larcher Speaks

Larcher said:

“We are talking to everyone. The UK is our number one priority in terms of international expansion. We are very interested in the UK. We hope in the very near future we will have some plans to reveal for the UK. [The] UK is very ready for a product like Hulu.”

A Kangaroo-Sized Gap In The Market

Larcher also admitted the rather obvious assumption that Hulu was moving into the UK market to cash in on the collapse of Kangaroo, the joint online video project between the BBC, ITV, and Channel 4. Which makes the Competition Commission’s decision to forcibly kill off the project look even more ludicrous than it did already. Doing so has effectively left a gap in the market which an American company is going to exploit.

Conclusions

Hulu has been very successful in the States and will undoubtedly be just as successful in other territories. The UK is the obvious country to start this roll-out as the iPlayer has opened many people’s eyes to the world of premium online video catchup services. And of course the death of Project Kangaroo means there are broadcasters likely to be very willing to climb on board the Hulu Express.

Everything In Place

Joost seemed to have every chance of succeeding when it launched as The Venice Project in October of 2006. Early hype made it a much in demand start-up, with everyone wanting to test the new high quality, on-demand video streaming service out. Which they did in their droves thanks to an invite-only beta.

The funding was also there in place, with $45 million raised from some big names including Sequoia Capital, Index Ventures, Viacom, and CBS. It was Hulu before Hulu was even a twinkle in its shareholders eyes. Success seemed guaranteed but clearly nothing is guaranteed in the world of technology.

Long Painful Death

There have been problems at the company for a while now, with some believing it to be only a matter of time before the whole thing collapsed under the weight of no one caring anymore. And while it’s still there, chugging away, it feels like Joost is about to die. It’s just a matter of how long and painful a death it is set to suffer.

In a last-ditch effort to stay alive, Joost has announced a raft of changes to the make up of the company and what services it is going to offering. CEO Mike Volpi is out, to be replaced by the former SVP of engineering Matt Zelesko. 90 percent of its workforce is also getting cut, with just core teams being kept in place in New York and London.

White Video Label Provider

Joost as a whole is going to be changing direction. The Joost television portal will remain open (at least for the time being) but the new focus will be on turning the company into a white label video provider providing services to others. That is if anyone actually wants to acquire those services.

Joost providing the back-end technology and support for other companies may not seem like a bad move but, as NewTeeVee points out, this is usually the strategy taken when all else has failed. It’s also a strange move seeing as Joost already uses Ooyala, another white label video provider, to do just that for its offering.

Conclusions

The white label video sector is already a crowded one. Granted, it’s not quite as crowded as the one Joost seems to now be moving away from but I can’t see the likes of Ooyala and Brightcove rolling over in the face of Joost, which, let’s face it, has arrived late at the party. Especially as Yahoo! seems to have bailed on Maven after buying the company at the beginning of last year.

Whether Joost can make a successful move into this sector isn’t yet clear, but what is clear is it has failed to live up to its early hype as an online video streaming service. Is it just a matter of time before the dream of its founders ends for good or can Joost live on after evolving into a new business?

Things happen fast in the world of peer-to-peer torrent tracking. Just a few days after unveiling The Video Bay, a new streaming video site based on open source video standards, The Pirate Bay had even bigger news to announce this morning: it’s selling out.

Sold Or Sold Out?

The Swedish press broke the news story first, forcing The Pirate Bay to confirm the truth in a blog post earlier today. The Pirate Bay has been bought by Swedish software company, Global Gaming Factory X AB.

The price, a cool $7.7 million, is enough to pay the $3.6 million in fines racked up by the four co-founders of the site in their recent court case, and have enough left over to ensure they never have to work again, or at least be able to walk away from the whole thing better off than when they began.

The Facts

What we know for sure is that Global Gaming Factory X AB has bought The Pirate Bay, including the site, the torrent tracker, and the millions of users that come with it. The company also acquired a company called Peerialism which, unsurprisingly given its name, is a file-sharing firm which has recently developed a new P2P distribution tool.

GGF is listed on the Swedish stock market, and its shares have gone through the roof since news of the acquisition of The Pirate Bay broke. Whether this is an important element of the story or not is yet to be clear but it does warrant mentioning.

The Non-Facts

Everything else surrounding this deal, which is due to be completed in August, is confused by half-truths, conflicting statements, and differing ideas of what to expect. TPB is suggesting this is a good deal for everyone, even the users, with the site being decentralized in order to survive whatever attacks are thrown at it in the future. At least according to TorrentFreak.

The blog post from TPB was vague and non-committal, while the statement from GGF seemed to spell out a very different future for The Pirate Bay than the one I’d have imagined ever happening a few days ago, with talk of introducing “models which entail that content providers and copyright owners get paid for content that is downloaded via the site.”

The Future

The truth has clearly yet to come out. Maybe the two companies are still discussing the direction The Pirate Bay will take in the months and years to come. But it looks as though The Pirate Bay has committed to taking the money and running without ensuring how things are going to be run in the future.

Maybe this will end up being a good thing for The Pirate Bay. But I doubt it very much. If the site goes legit, with the illegal torrents which make up a large proportion of the site removed, and paid downloads introduced, then those millions of users who populate the site at the present time will disappear to a rival which hasn’t yet sold out. Mininova is about to get very much larger.

The video streaming sector of online video is already a very crowded place. Lead by YouTube, there are also many other video sharing sites trying to compete. And now The Pirate Bay is preparing to join the battle with a little site it calls The Video Bay.

The Pirate Bay

Whether they’ve used it or not, almost everyone will have heard of The Pirate Bay. It’s not the largest torrent tracker in the world, that honor goes to Mininova, but it is the most notorious. In fact, the people behind the site go out of their way to cause controversy, stoke the fires of file-sharing, and generally try to upset the big media companies currently fighting P2P technology.

The Pirate Bay’s latest innovation is unlikely to change how the site is viewed by people in the industry. Not content with providing one of the wheels in the cog required to share files online over a network, The Pirate Bay now wants to try its hand at video streaming.

The Video Bay

The Video Bay is the name of the site, and it’s now live. Unfortunately, the site is in a very early stage of development, even though The Pirate Bay first hinted it would be developing such a site in May 2007, which is why everyone assumed ThePirateCity was that site. Even so, The Video Bay is currently in an “extreme beta” stage, with bugs and errors expected at every turn.

Peter Sunde Speaks

The Pirate Bay founder, Peter Sunde, announced The Video Bay to the ‘Open Video Conference’ in New York recently where he stated that the site “will be done when it’s done, in the future, in like a year or five.” A statement then appeared on the site, which explains a little about what the next steps are:

“To stay in the spirit on which TPB was founded and using the Latest Technology™, TVB aims to use the new HTML5 features, more specifically the audio and video tags with the ogg/theora video and audio formats.

This site will be an experimental playground and as such subjected to both live and drunk (en)coding, so please don’t bug us too much if the site ain’t working properly.”

Open Source Video

The site is currently online and those people using browsers which support the HTML 5 tags (Firefox 3.5 Beta 4, Safari 4, Google Chrome 3, and Opera 9.52) can view a couple of sample clips. But that’s all that’s possible on the site at the present time, with the search function not working and no other features yet added.

This is an important step for The Pirate Bay to take because it will really be playing with fire if it opens The Video Bay up properly. There would no longer be the need to download copyrighted files, with the new site instead making them viewable right in your Web browser and in an open source video format.

Compete and Copyright

There is the obvious question as to whether The Video Bay can compete in an already crowded market. The site has a built-in audience of millions of users and fans, and will also be aiming to provide different content than its rivals. While YouTube and the like stay within the law whenever possible, The Video Bay will likely be full of copyrighted clips.

The Pirate Bay has already been found guilty of “assisting in making copyright content available” and that’s just for acting as the middle man. Video uploaded to The Video Bay would instead have to be hosted somewhere, and that would put The Pirate Bay at a much greater risk of getting into legal trouble. Even more than it is already.

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Michael Jackson died suddenly and unexpectedly on June 25, 2009 after suffering a cardiac arrest. He collapsed at his Los Angeles home, was taken to hospital, and declared dead after paramedics spent an hour trying to resuscitate him.

In The Action

Online video immediately became involved when news channels around the world showed footage of the paramedics arriving at Michael Jackson’s home in L.A. The video looked to have been shot on a cellphone or small video camera by a passer-by. The quality wasn’t great but it provided the first shots on the ground of what was happening.

Videos then started cropping on YouTube and other video sharing sites of people’s reactions to the news of Michael Jackson’s death. People of all ages and from all walks of life filmed themselves as they recounted hearing about the death of The King Of Pop. Most were teary, while some took the opportunity to discuss how Jackson was treated in life.

Music Videos and Tributes

Then demand moved on from instant reactions to the news to a desire to watch the man in action. Michael Jackson’s music videos suddenly started getting more views in the space of a few hours than they normally manage in a month. Each of these videos started gaining comments concerning his death, with most taking the opportunity to bid farewell to Jackson on a public forum.

Then came the tributes, some of which were already in existence and on video sharing Web sites before he died. These were invariably altered slightly, often with just an added note about the death of Michael Jackson to bring them up-to-date.

Viral Hits Revisited

There have been a few viral hits surrounding Michael Jackson in recent years. Most notable was the video of prison inmates in the Philippines performing a choreographed version of Thriller, one of Michael Jackson’s biggest hits and best videos. Those same inmates performed again on Saturday (June 27) in the yard of the prison as a tribute to the man whose music and dance moves brought them worldwide fame.

The Indian takeoff of Thriller, performed in a Bollywood movie, has also gained new viewers, although I suspect some weren’t expecting such a bizarre version when they searched for Thriller. Then there’s Mini Michael Jackson, and last year’s Britain’s Got Talent finalist act, Signature.

Conclusions

The shock waves from Michael Jackson’s death are likely to continue being felt for weeks to come. And online video is likely to be at the forefront of this outpouring of grief, the likes of which I haven’t seen since Princess Diana died in 1997.

Michael Jackson Funeral Online to Break Records

It is expected that Michael Jackson’s funeral will be the biggest in entertainment history attracting hundreds of thousands to the event.

Here at WebTVWire we expect the event could break record numbers in online viewing set by Obama’s Inauguration which saw an estimated 70 million U.S. viewers and an estimated 200+ million worldwide.

Daytime events in the week tend to see more online viewers as people are at work.

• Watch Michael Jackson’s funeral live online here.

I Have A Dream

It seems as though everyone, with the exception of the cable companies who need the status quo to continue in order to make money, is keen for online video to fulfill its potential and herald a new revolution in this digital age. There are just a couple of problems, huge problems at that, to overcome before this dream becomes reality.

One is for content creators and copyright owners to realize the world is one place connected by the Internet, rather than a fragmented jigsaw puzzle. Which means making Hulu viewable outside the States and the BBC iPlayer viewable outside the U.K. The other, even larger, problem, is how to make Web video profitable without scaring viewers away by charging the earth for streaming content.

Advertising Is Key

There is always the option for charging a subscription for online video, but it’s a highly unpopular option with viewers, and rarely if ever works. Which is why the vast majority of online video services, whether they are based on premium or user-generated content operate an advertising-based model. This ensures incoming revenue without the risk of scaring off viewers.

Revenue may be guaranteed but profit is not, as YouTube is currently finding out. Hulu, on the other hand, is doing particularly well and is expected to break even, or very close to it, this year. A recent piece of information about advertising rates emerging from a Bloomberg story shows how this is possible.

Higher CPM Rate

Top-rated hows such as The Simpsons and CSI now command higher CPM advertising rates on Web TV portals such as Hulu and TV.com than they do on traditional television. Companies will pay somewhere between $20 and $40 per thousand viewers reached on TV for a slot during The Simpsons, while it’s around $60 per thousand viewers reached on Hulu.

So why isn’t Hulu rolling in money? Because while there are roughly nine minutes of adverts during a single episode of The Simpsons on TV, there’s just 37 seconds of ads per episode on Hulu. Which adds up to advertisers getting a better deal on traditional TV than they do on the Web.

Conclusions

The key thing here though is that advertisers are realizing the potential of online video and the fact they can use it to reach viewers very interested in the show they are watching - so interested that they’ve searched it out on the Web. There’s often also a higher click through rate on Web advertising than there is on traditional television advertising.

This watershed moment actually raises more questions than it provides answers. Should Hulu increase the amount of ads it foists on viewers to better compete with TV? The higher CPM rate means nothing when there is such a differential between the number of slots used on TV versus the Web. And if advertising on Hulu did increase from its current levels, would viewers switch off and turn to piracy for their fix of their favorite show instead? It’s a fine line to walk.

Social Networking Features

Recent months have brought news of a couple of innovations in the field of matching up online video and social networking. The new Xbox 360 Sky Player will allow fans to watch football matches together using on-screen avatars. While both Joost and Hulu have recently unveiled new elements to their services which are designed to increase user interaction during programs. And CBS Interactive introduced Social Viewing Rooms to bring the idea of sitting around watching TV together in a living room to the Web.

Live Stream Box

Now comes a new feature which brings a similar concept to Facebook, the world’s largest social network with in excess of 200 million members. It’s called Live Stream Box and it enables Facebook users to watch a streaming video event, comment and chat while it is happening, and see their messages appearing both alongside the video and on their Facebook profile.

The feature was first tested during CNN’s streaming coverage of Barack Obama’s Presidential Inauguration earlier this year. Since then it has been used for Jonas Brothers concerts, some of the sites covering the Oscars, and the NBA All-Star game. With these tests proving successful, the feature is now being rolled out to anyone who wants in.

Open To All

According to the Facebook Developers Blog, any Web site owner can use the feature to enable Facebook users to share in a video event. This can be any “live streaming” occasion including “concerts, speeches, sporting events, webcasts, TV shows, presentations, or webinars.

The Live Stream Box is built to handle millions of viewers at a time, which is a good thing seeing as 1.5 million unique posts were made using the feature during the aforementioned Jonas Brothers concert. The dual posting on the Live Stream Box and Facebook itself means video events can go viral really quickly.

Ustream

All content owners are welcome to participate but Ustream is the first video site to take advantage of the feature. Ustream is expecting high demand, however, and so has set some limits on who can get involved. People who think they can benefit from the functionality of the new Ustream Live Stream Box have to apply to have it turned on. There is a free, ad-supported version with limited slots available, and a white-label version which requires a one-time development fee of $15,000.

Conclusions

Social networking is big business, as the success of Facebook, MySpace, Twitter and other sites shows. It’s good to see online video embracing social networking features to give it an added advantage over traditional television. The idea of watching the goggle box with a large group of people may be quite old-fashioned but it’s now helping a new generation of content providers connect with their audience.