Downloading music from youtube?

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invadersomeone

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I was wondering if downloading music from youtube is immoral? The way I see it is if the music is legally uploaded (as in the label uploaded it/if it has more than 100k views[because if the label wasn’t okk with it then it wouldn’t have more than 100k views]) then it is no different than recording a TV show to watch at a later time using DVR?

Am I right and thinking it is ok to download legally uploaded music from youtube for playback at a later time (not redistribution) ?
 
If a song were legally uploaded into your friend’s iPod and then you downloaded it to your iPod for future use, it is stealing.

Unless the video on YouTube is marked otherwise, it’s illegal and immoral to download it for personal use; essentially, it’s stealing. Your intention of using it later for just one use doesn’t change this. Just because a video has 100k hits (any number is arbitrary) doesn’t make it morally acceptable for you to download it.

DVRing is different. IIRC I’ve seen sports broadcasts that explicity state that recording the game is ok if one uses it for personal use, but it is unacceptable to rebroadcast or redistribute otherwise. Also DVR doesn’t allow you to make personal copies of the show to watch outside of the confines of the DVR box, unless you attach a third-party device like a DVD burner or somehow transfer the show to your iPod. Were you to do so and then burn copies of the show, it would be stealing.

Good question. I hope someone else chimes in, too.
 
Darn, I guess my downloads of the Tridentine Mass, Pater Noster, and Kyrie Eleison from youtube must be mortal sins! 😛

I’ll mention it in confession…
 
invadersomeone said:
I was wondering if downloading music from youtube is immoral? The way I see it is if the music is legally uploaded (as in the label uploaded it/if it has more than 100k views[because if the label wasn’t okk with it then it wouldn’t have more than 100k views]) then it is no different than recording a TV show to watch at a later time using DVR?

Am I right and thinking it is ok to download legally uploaded music from youtube for playback at a later time (not redistribution) ?
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If the song is uploaded with the permission of the copyright owner, then there is no issue. If it was uploaded illegally, then you would be best advised not to download the song. Even though a song may have >100k views, if it was uploaded by a third party (e.g., a fan), that does not imply that the copyright owner has given permission.

There are a growing number of artists that use social media as a marketing technique. So it’s not quite as simple as saying “no” always or “yes” always.
 
markomalley said:
If the song is uploaded with the permission of the copyright owner, then there is no issue.
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There is still an issue. The permission has been given to youtube to carry the content, not to anyone else who wishes to download it for use outside of youtube. If you do so, you are stealing.

If I put my money in a bank and someone took it out without my permission (or the bank’s), it would be stealing.
 
I_Thirst said:
There is still an issue. The permission has been given to youtube to carry the content, not to anyone else who wishes to download it for use outside of youtube. If you do so, you are stealing.

If I put my money in a bank and someone took it out without my permission (or the bank’s), it would be stealing.
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Totally false analogy. One would be stealing, the other a breach of a terms of service agreement at best. There are a lot of things that can be carried by Youtube, and most of the videos are in fact uploaded by personal users. I wouldn’t mind if anybody downloaded any of my videos. In fact, I’d be flattered. In addition, Youtube DOES download videos to your computer…it’s the way it works. When you see the red bar extending beyond the playback point, it’s downloaded. It might be to a weirdly-named file, but it’s on your computer. Usually, it’s deleted right when you close the window.

It’s true that YouTube does have a TOS which technically forbids downloading, but if anything this is a civil breach of an agreement, not necessarily a criminal act of theft. With these types of terms of service, which have become increasingly common now that the internet is so widespread, I think judgment is necessary as to the applicability of them in specific cases. Take the example of somebody with a slow and unreliable internet connection, who cannot usually watch YouTube videos in the normal interface but can download them through a third-party downloader (and I have had this happen to me; in fact, YouTube suggested DOWNLOADING the video and provided a link, possibly to a third-party video downloader). Would YouTube really want to lose the potential advertising clicks generated by this user because he strictly obeys the terms of service and hence cannot download the videos, thus rendering the site useless to him?

In addition, there are ways of disabling even third-party video downloaders from downloading videos - VEVO uses a method like this.

This isn’t to say downloading off YouTube is never wrong, but to offer a counter-point to the above poster.
 
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