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Ari Emanuel this week started a battle — or, to put it more politely, a debate — with Google over the piracy issue. The WME chief complained about Google at the AllThingsD conference on Wednesday, then Google bitchslapped him back saying he was “misinformed”, and now Emanuel has just given Deadline this letter (see below). In summary, the agent tells us, “I don’t give a shit anymore about SOPA. i just want the conversation to be happening.” That it is:
I am misinformed about a lot – just ask my wife – but I’m not misinformed about this: one of our last remaining dominant American exports is our creativity, no matter how you define it, either as a story or as an algorithm. There is equal genius behind companies like Apple, Facebook, Amazon and Google as there is behind artists who create stories that resonate around the world. We need to protect America’s intellectual property and Hollywood can’t do it on its own. I understand that the onus is not entirely Google’s, but let’s stop talking at each other and get in a room with all parties to figure this out. To be clear, I don’t want to rehash SOPA as we can all agree that was a reflection of Southern California’s arrogance, and let’s also not pretend that we’re working together on this issue because we have Youtube channels together. This is a larger conversation. It’s time for Hollywood, our government and Silicon Valley to step up and collectively resolve this problem. Let me know where and when and I’ll be there.
Ari
(Photo – Asa Mathat / AllThings Digital)
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oh go volunteer somewhere and donate that easy money you made-
stay away from this – its not your issue dude-
R E T I R E
‘Easy money’????
Anonymous, you don’t know what the f*** you’re talking about. Ari Emanuel works harder by noon every day than you do all year.
And if you’re not a content creator or a distributor of content, it’s not your issue, either, DUDE.
Sounds like Ari can’t get a meeting with the Google kids so this is his lame ass attempt to get in a room with them. Not going to happen and Chicago will never get a super bowl and Zek’s health care plan sucks. Emanuel’s can F.O.
Plain & simple…. absolutely agree with Ari E.on this one….
Having heard him speak about this issue before, I don’t think that ‘misinformed’ is the right word. He just draws totally different conclusions from someone like me because he simply does not care about freedom on the internet. He does not care. He believes increased regulation is the key to every policy issue out there. It’s ironic that he is such a brilliant capitalist, yet such an enemy of the market.
But, I think it would be good for Ari to be in a roomful of people who can put his ‘expertise’ on this issue to the test.
He’s got a point…
When Google Ad Chief Susan Wojcicki responded to Ari’s comments at D10, she said, paraphrasing, “Google spends tens of millions of dollars a year and removes millions of URL’s responding to takedown notices, and that, besides, it is too difficult to determine what is copyrighted and who owns it.” Surely Google, with all of its computing power and Ph.D’s generating petabytes of data tracking intimate details about our daily lives so they can better target ads, can track who owns the copyright to what.
Technologies like Shazam could be used to scan the audio of films and TV shows to determine what movie/series-episode it is, cross checked against copyright registration data and a common data base of owner permissions. This is a trivial problem to solve for a company like Google to solve.
Yeah but then you have issues like the one Jay Leno created – he used a music video from YouTube without the creators permission, and after the clip of his show where he used it hit the net, the original legal owner of the work had his video removed and the Tonight show is completely unresponsive after ripping someone off and then DMCA’ing their original work. Automated tools aren’t the solution.
We need new regulation simply because the DMCA still uses the word “phonorecords” and the stupidity of that makes me want to personally strangle every congressman with their own gaudy neck ties, BUT the studios have to step it up. The reality is piracy isn’t going away. Studios have to compete with free. Content access, migration across devices and platforms, etc, has to be DEAD SIMPLE. I buy a Blu-Ray with Digital Copy, drag and drop into iTunes, on my iPad, Done. Simple. Why don’t all physical discs come with digital copies? How come I can’t rewatch TV shows after they air without having to pay Hulu or for a DVR? They’re alienating the modern viewers by not adapting.
I agree with this commenter . . . and would like to add that we have been able to record and replay music and programming for years for our own listening and spectating. I am a dance teacher/choreographer. I am also a spectator of theater and dance. The Nutcracker has many different choreographed interpretations as does the show Spiderman now. No one is compelled to stick to one person’s interpretation of a piece of music. At the same time, if I set the “One” form A Chorus Line on my students, I may make some simplifications to Michael Bennett’s original choreography, but it is close enough that I would never claim it as my own choreography. Rather I would say that I am setting HIS choreography on the students which is a great learning experience for them.
If I tell the story of the Ugly Duckling to my child, I don’t pretend I made it up myself. I “teach” them about the author, Hans Christian Anderson.
This is the way stories, music, and dances of so many cultures have been handed down through the years. And it should continue this way. For when we pass on the creative works of those around us whether through our own interpretation or not, we grow, the listener grows, and the creative spark existed before continues to burn. . . . . like carrying the Olympic torch around the world.
You’d think so, but one of the striking points to come out of the Viacom v. YouTube lawsuit was that Viacom itself was pretty horrible at distinguishing the authorized clips vs the pirated ones. Despite multiple judicial orders to distinguish them, Viacom kept contradicting itself over which clips it or its employees and agents had placed itself for promotional purposes vs. which others had posted without permission.
If Viacom itself couldn’t tell which were the legitimate vs illegitimate clips, how could Google possibly have done so?
Sorry Ari, but solve your own problem. Why is it everyone else’s problem to protect your content? Invest in some technology. If Skiddies can take down Sony for a month, that should tell you something is lacking with content providers. Maybe Anonymous is available.
Go ask Tech News Today and the TWiT network how scanning audio and video of copy written material works out. They get take down notices regularly for content that they have a fair use argument to use because they are a news organization. Or political ads that it taken down for using clips of audio or video. Google already scans video and audio for signatures and it doesn’t work. That is the system that is already in place, and it’s not good enough for Ari or the thousands of times a week that people are taken down in error.
gotta love it
Ari just wants to be in the spotlight to feed his fragile ego and keep up with his brother. He’s in way over his head on serious issues like this, though, and needs to leave it to the grown-ups.
+1
I agree Ari! Well done!
That was a serious backing off by Ari… He went from cocky arrogance to the “can’t we all just get along” bullshit.
ari:
use your influence to build a true constituency and THEN bring silly-con valley to the table.
bring the studios, the music co.’s, the unions and the other agency heads together and get everyone to understand that we are all in this together. there are plenty of people with skin in this game, but we should all be understanding one thing:
as thomas paine said:
“if we do not hang together, we shall surely hang separately.”
Agree with you all. Ari wins this one. Google is lame.
Way to bring the wife into it Ari.
completely agree. gotta find some balance. hate to crush the golden goose.
To Ari and anyone else who wants to take on the role of Hollywood’s leader on this subject. In matters involving the intersection of Hollywood, government, and the business world at large, four simple words to keep in mind: What Would Lew Do?
+1
Is there another Wasserman out there…anywhere…..
Wasserman Quote:
“Things have changed a great deal since the days of Mr. Mayer. The studios no longer control, as they did in those days, artists or directors or producers, as the case may be.” (I guess we can add the internet to that list).
It’s incredibly arrogant and wrong-minded to ask an industry to devise methods to track and remove copyrighted material being shared across the web, then punish those who share this material.
How about sitting down and coming up with ways to ensure that piracy doesn’t occur in the first place? Reduced windows of movie releases, sharing licensing, copyright reform and other non-punitive measures would not only reduce piracy, but would cost a helluva lot less than identifying, removing and prosecuting file-sharing crimes.
It was just announced today that President Obama (in co-operation with the government of Israel) authorized the use of the Stuxnet worm to prevent Iran from being able to refine plutonium / uranium ore. What’s interesting is the use of a lower-costing method to prevent the refinement of the ore instead of launching a major (and costly) military offensive.
I’m not saying use viruses or worms – I’m saying that media companies and the government need to consider their customer’s needs first so they aren’t tempted to download in the first place. Come up with ways to make sure the customer can see what they want when they want it – and the torrent of piracy will slow to a trickle. And as in the case of ebooks and ipods, a new revenue stream will reveal itself.
Yeah people were downloading songs like crazy before itunes and buying 99 cent songs became available and then when itunes came out, people actually starting buying them even though they still could have easily downloaded them.
Make things accessible and at a decent price and people won’t put up with crappy feeds and crappy virus-laden downloads.
Also, why the f#ck would Google care about Ari? They don’t. He’s one guy at one agency. What would they get out of helping him and his industry out? Less money and time. Fair trade, good business for Google? Hell no!
He didn’t offer them anything. Of course he’d be at any meeting Google would go to, it’s all about his money. ME ME ME ME ME. Google smells the greed from a mile away and does not care.
I gotta side with Google on this one. Fact is, new technology is all about convenience and accessibility. And since the future will obviously be built by the latest technologies, we have to adapt to technology, rather than making technology adapt to our own models.
Adapting to technology has worked for other industries, so I see no reason why it shouldn’t work for film/television and music. It’s worked wonders for video games — and that’s a better cross comparison than any other medium. And even while dollar games litter the marketplace and revolutionize gaming, people still flock to the latest big releases– look at Call of Duty, Diablo, Battlefield, Skyrim, etc.
I really do think Hollywood can learn a lot from the video game industry. And the video game industry utilizes Google and the internet, rather than fighting it.
I have known Ari since 1987 and he has remained true to his nature: he has the balls to speak his mind and will say in public what everyone else is thinking in private. We need more influential leaders of American business to get behind Ari’s declaration and solve this problem once and for all.
Josh Topolsky – the man who was told to sit down by Ari a couple days ago – posted an article in response to Ari’s dismissal of him. It’s worth a read to get the perspective of the “other side” – Topolsky is a big name in the tech world. http://www.theverge.com/2012/6/1/3057275/ari-emanuel-this-is-where-i-work.
Copyright law is what it is until it changes. It’s a law enforcement problem but on a global scale and there are many multinational corporations getting away with murder. These enormous tech companies have a tactical advantage in that they have technical expertise above and beyond government’s ability to keep up.
Hate him if you must, but Ari’s got an EXCELLENT point. The piracy needs to stop. Google makes money on cat and dog youtube videos…they don’t care about creative types.
Yeah, but it’s not really his issue. Ari is not a content owner.
He’s making a big ASSUMPTION that talent and content creators (this IS his issue) are being harmed by piracy, but if you look closely at the actual evidence it’s not clear at all this is the case.
This really strikes me as posturing on the behalf of the studios, aka the big agencies’ bed buddies…
Fine, let’s all do this, but that has to come with Hollywood’s ability to admit when it’s products are not worth as much as they claim they are. A summer tent-pole and a Shark Night 3D should not be valued the same in the digital market or at the box office. The problem is Hollywood is not willing or able to accept the fact that the value of their assets are eroding as global competition steps up and the ubiquity of film making allows more players to enter the space. This industry has had a monopoly on distribution of A/V entertainment for 100 years+ but that has changed and it’s time we get ahead of the curve instead of fall behind it. Policing the internet is not the answer, using it to make money is.
Ari is correct on this piracy issue. I don’t know who are all the owners behind Google, but I suspect that James Murdoch might be involved in it some how, further Google has had problem internationally as well in other countries on ” criminal charges “, apparently they did improper things in foreign countries as well. Piracy is theft. If you are an artist and you rely on your computer to store your work, before you know it someone has already stolen your materials from your computer and generate profits from your work, that is theft period!
If someone steals your car and drives around with it, they would get arrested, but because piracy is so hidden and tech involved, it’s a lot of time, effort, tedious investigation to track the thief, so people don’t want to deal with it, but it is basically stealing income ( money ) from other people.
I like to do photography as a hobby, but one day I looked into magazines in a store and from what I could see, someone has gotten into my system and stole my work and passed it on to photography magazines….I was quite upset, and had to buy a seperate computer with internet shut off to store and secure my work and protect it from theft, especially when I noticed a certain person was encouraging me to do more photography, because they want to steal more of my work and sell them for money! It made me sick and was greatly disturbed by this !
I do agree with Ari, from my experience, I suspect someone is stealing artistic work and ideas from others and sell them as their own. If we don’t take action to stop them from stealing our ” income/ profits ” , then we’re stupid, because they’re profiting off our hard work and it’s also theft!
To protect our work, money, income, profits, revenues, we have to do something about this right away! What if your work is museum caliber and the bastard is stealing your museum caliber work and sell them before you get to it or even find out, then you’re screwed, and do you know how much money you lose if they keep stealing everything? It adds up over time…..
Google had a criminal trial in India about two months ago…..I don’t think they’re honest like Facebook etc…..even though I use them as my search engine, but my photography work got stolen and sold already, so I do agree with Ari that we all must get together and discuss this issue and stop the THEFT! It’s criminal.
Piracy isn’t theft because nothing is stolen; it’s copied.
Go away, troll.
You have to be the biggest tech idiot I’ve ever come across. If you’re some no name photographer and someone mysteriously got into your hard drive, stole your images, and sold them without your consent then you must have a beacon on your computer that says “Hack Me!” and a account password that’s “12345″. If, on the other hand, you’re a well known photographer who could be targeted and didn’t take proper methods of storing assets then you need to read computers for dummies. And why did you buy a completely different computer to store the photos on???? You could have just bought a hard drive for under $100 and store them there and disconnect it when you’re not using it and no one could hack into that.
James Murdoch doesn’t like Google as much as Ari because they have the audacity to link to link and send people to his newspaper stories. Google calls it driving web traffic, Murdoch called it stealing. Ari and James don’t get it.
It’s easy to attack Ari E.; in most respects he’s earned it. But everything he has said above is true.
If you are coming to this site, it is hard to see why you are arguing the con unless you’re simply making it personal against the speaker. The lack of regulation over actual intellectual property and its commerce — something that is innately inconsistent — is crazy. To think that Silicon Valley behemoths are standing up for “freedom” and “the individual” is as ridiculous as thinking that Hollywood studios really care about production fringes and pensions. At the end of the day, we need all of these people on the top to coordinate something good to protect these businesses, not this “perfect world” nonsense both sides are bludgeoning us with so far.
Thank you for pointing out the obvious that everyone else seems to have missed. Google is a corporation and it stands for profit; so do all the other Sillicon Valley companies, they are NOT some heroic freedom fighters! Stopping piracy simply doesn’t give them any profit or they would gladly do it.
Kind of a hypocrite. He’s making money off other people’s creativity. He doesn’t have any of his own. He’s just another scrounger like Google.
You know who will be the one person excluded at the “table”? The consumer. Just sayin’.
Way to go Ari. Keep fighting the good fight. I know we’ve had our tough negotiations in the past, but we can all agree on one thing– online piracy must be stopped at all costs! Copyright should be respected withou
Sorry, I just got distracted by another window I had open. Looks like the buttcam bootleg for the teaser trailer of our huge superhero sequel (you know which one *wink*) has over 2 million hits on YouTube! And the fanboy comments are through the roof! You can’t buy this kind of promotion!
Anyway, what was I saying? Oh yeah, copyright must be respected without question! Let’s work together to remove all pirated content! Otherwise, our business is doomed!
Piracy creates way more revenue than it takes away; it does not create “lost sales”. Many of the people who consume pirated media would not buy legitimate content anyway and the rest are likely to become fans and buyers of legitimate content BECAUSE they saw the pirated media. Proof: the biggest foreign movie markets for U.S. films (Japan, China, India) also have the most piracy. So far in 2012, U.S. films are grossing an average of $30 million in China. THAT IS DOUBLE what it was in 2011! Soon the Chinese market for U.S. films will be as big or bigger than it is at home. How is that possible if piracy is causing lost sales? If anything piracy is helping the foreign appetite for U.S. content!