Billionaire investor and dot-com veteran Mark Cuban had harsh words on Thursday for YouTube, saying only a “moron” would purchase the wildly popular start-up. Cuban, co-founder of HDNet and owner of the NBA’s Dallas Mavericks, also said YouTube would eventually be “sued into oblivion” because of copyright violations. “They are just breaking the law,” Cuban told a group of advertisers in New York. “The only reason it hasn’t been sued yet is because there is nobody with big money to sue.”

In other remarks, meanwhile, the often-controversial Cuban also told advertisers that the reach of YouTube is limited, particularly when it comes to user-generated videos.

“User-generated content is not going away,” he said. “But do you want your advertising dollars spent on a video of Aunt Jenny watching her niece tap dance?”

“Somebody puts up something really good and you get, what, 60,000 viewers?” Cuban added during the event at Advertising Week in New York.

YouTube now offers advertising through banner ads, promotions and sponsorships. It has said it plans to roll out a range of different advertising options over the coming year.

Viral Campaigns are usually a waste of money

Cuban cautioned advertisers against investing heavily in so-called viral campaigns that are spread by users beyond their initial point of distribution on YouTube or other video sharing sites. But he touted opportunities to run commercials on high-definition television such as his HDNet network.

“What makes viral so special is it’s so hard to do. It’s so hard to plan. It’s hard to stand out,” he said, describing 99 percent of money advertisers spend on viral campaigns as “wasted.”

Point well taken. Advertising dollars spent on amateur videos? C’mon. The world is faced with enough mediocrity. Also, the new industry buzz word is “Viral Campaigns”. I have received many calls from start ups that claim they can exploit artist videos through clever marketing techniques that will result in brand awareness and exponential sales. Viral Marketing is beneficial to mediocre artists. They need all the help they can get. They can sell a couple of CD’s and make Amazon money. Next……………………………

• EMI Group will sell historic Capitol Records tower. The company’s shares were down marginally on the London Stock Exchange
• Check out Kill The Alarm tonight 8:00PM at Arlenes Grocery.
• Geffen Said ‘Confident’ Of Los Angeles Times Purchase…
• Section 115 Reform Act is Withdrawn By Chris Castle

After a long and winding road that’s too much to go into here, the Section 115 Reform Act a/k/a SIRA (or the “Copyright Modernization Act� as it came to be called) has been withdrawn by Representative Lamar Smith. Although there were some major warts that developed in the form of amendments to the bill, it’s a real shame that this issue couldn’t get resolved and another session of Congress will pass without songwriters getting paid monies that are accruing at all the online subscription services. CONTINUE READING

Warner Music who just struck a deal with YouTube yanked it’s videos from Yahoo Music according to the Wall Street Journal. According to reports Warner became concerned that Yahoo was not promoting its videos heavily enough. Earlier this month, Universal Music yanked its content from Fuse, a cable and internet outlet that mostly features music videos.

Unsigned John Vesely who adopted the name Secondhand Serenade is a singer songwriter that hails from Menlo Park, California. He is in the similar realm of Dashboard Confessional – American acoustic/electric guitar driven indie rock. His online following and numbers have surpassed most unknown artists on majors and indies. You can thank the self promotion tool Myspace. He is the #1 unsigned artist on myspace for months now, with over 9 million plays and he’s been in the top 100 alternative albums on itunes for months as well. Plus, he’s the number 1 selling artist on Tunecore, the digital distribution service and has a top 10 song on the Yahoo Launch’s adult alternative station. You can also find his song “Vulnerable” on the current itunes compilation “Back To School” on the Sk8ters list, along with AFI, New Found Glory and Simple Plan. Yes, he has accomplished more than many artists that signed 400k record contracts. What does this mean? It means some artists are better self promoters these days. For more information contact manager Chris Maltese.Â
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• Lime Wire turns the Table, Sue Record Companies
  Lime Wire now charges the record companies with colluding to create a monopoly over the digital distribution of copyrighted music.
• Warner Music Edgar Bronfman calls on EMI investors. He remains focused on the possibility of a deal with EMI.
• Â Apple is waging war against companies that use the word “pod” in product and company names, arguing customers will be confused by what brand they are buying. The action has been fuelled by Podcast Ready company, which has developed software to allow podcasts to be delivered directly to digital music players.
• Barenaked Ladies who have gone indie has topped $970k in gross sales from “intellectual property” during the first week following the release of “Barenaked Ladies Are Me”.
  Netwerk’s Terry McBride has been working hard to lead the industry into a new era, one where it views the big picture of overall sales figures rather than the mypoic view of physical album sales alone.

McBride says, “Generating revenue, especially in the artist-run model, is about selling music in various mediums, selling concert tickets, licensing music to TV, ring tones, packed USB drives, etc. That is how success is measured, not by the physical album sales.”