Gangnam style has been the most viral video in the history of the web. It has been able to attract the highest ever views on YouTube and continues to be a rage on the internet. Interestingly, Psy who sang the song doesn’t care much about people posting the song elsewhere – and that has been a key to his immense success and fame.
Those who actively lambaste online piracy and are overly enthusiastic about guarding the copyrights of online content seem to forget one crucial point – pirated content means free publicity which may make something far more popular than it would otherwise be.
In the case of Gangnam Style, for instance, Psy didn’t care a fig about the copyright infringements of his song on the web. He let people post and repost the song, the result of which was that it went very viral and soon became the most watched video on YouTube. Ever.
It gets even better. Copyrights enthusiasts do not tire of presenting the argument that infringements lead to less money and artists don’t want that. Well, it would appear that infringement in the case of Gangnam style brought more views to the YouTube video which bolstered the money Psy earned through it. And as the video grew viral, he became a celebrity in his own might.
Psy has been invited to be a part of the ads of the top brands in his country. According to analysts, his commercial deals with brands alone rake in $4.6 million. Combine that with the revenue earned through YouTube and iTunes downloads of his song and Psy is estimated to be worth more than $8.1 million before this year expires.
Courtesy: Tech Dirt
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Choosing to Ignore copyright infringement to increase exposure works for viral novelty hits like this one, but wouldn’t work for the vast majority of serious musicians. And It’s only because of copyright laws that youtube and itunes have paid him – after all if music was legally a freely distributable commodity then Youtube, Apple etc would have no reason to pay artists a share of their profits from their music.