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Edit: Probably not a lot of people care about my blog, but just in case more people wander in... There's more going on here than just the one thing that made me come here and write this post. I was particularly intrigued by the post about copyright law on page 2. Please try to follow the rest of the evolving discussion before you reply! Original angry rant below:
I am furious right now.
Before I tell you why I'm furious, I want to be clear about the fact that I'm not going to come down on a side of the major Korean E-sports dispute. Starcraft 1 VS Starcraft 2 has been debated to death, as has Blizzard vs Kespa, Gretech vs Proleague. Instead, I'm going to try to stick to my concrete realization, without being subjective. (edit: lol)
Watching the GSL, however, has caused me to have an epiphany, not just about E-Sports, which is the topic at hand, but about I.P. law in general.
Rather unsurprisingly to most of us who are older, the dispute about I.P. broadcasting rights for StarCraft in Korea boiled down to money. Gretech said to Kespa: "We own the exclusive rights to broadcast StarCraft; so, if you'd like to license those rights from us, you need to pay us some money." (I'm going to ignore the other demands, such as "don't compete with our event time-slot" for now.)
Where's the hypocrisy, you ask? It's immediate, prominent, and it's spread all throughout the GSL broadcasts. I literally had just begun watching a VOD when I had to stop within moments because I was so angry, and I came here to write this post instead.
Can you guess what it is that got that reaction out of me?
It's the music.
That's right, the music. Surely the gears in your head are turning by now, but I'll help them along: I guarantee that GOMTV doesn't have the right to broadcast that music on television. This has been happening for years, by the way. It happened in "the Classic" as Tasteless calls it. Every Starcraft broadcast I've ever tuned in to by GOMTV has used music by Western rock bands and even some obscure industrial bands (I recognize Bill Leeb's Front Line Assembly during the flashy GSL1 intro graphics). There is no doubt in my mind that royalties are not exchanging hands for any of this material. I can only assume they choose music from the English-speaking world because it's so unlikely that someone's going to call them up threatening to sue.
Oh, don't get me wrong: OnGameNet and MBCgame have been doing this for years, too. But at least they were consistent. They weren't paying royalties for StarCraft and they weren't paying royalties for the music either. OnGameNet may be guilty here, as they are a company, but MBCgame is a government-related entity, and in my opinion they should get a pass for being not-for-profit. Gretech, GOMTV, and by extension, Blizzard, are hypocrites for demanding that royalties be paid for the StarCraft I.P. while ignoring all the commercial I.P. they're using for free.
I'm personally opposed to I.P. law (and silly presumptuousness) in its current form. Think about how ridiculous it really is: when morning talk shows go on the air, do the producers have to credit the people who made the suits and skirts everybody's wearing? Do they have to pay tribute to the manufacturer of the desk, or the pen the news anchor is twirling in his hand? Of course not... THEY bought the clothes, the clothes are theirs. Now that they own the clothes, it's up to them whether they want to take video of people wearing them or not.
However, they often DO give credit where credit's due. They'll say "so-and-so's wardrobe by ____". Maybe they get a discount if they do that, I don't know. But I'll bet the clothing maker is pretty happy that their name got blasted over the airwaves.
StarCraft was and should be no different. Blizzard should be ecstatic that Korea loved their game, that these e-sports television companies promoted their product and directly had an enormously positive influence on sales of Blizzard's product. They should be happy for the free advertising.
But the world chugs on. It was time to sell the sequel. So after Blizzard got its money's worth from the existing Korean e-sports scene, they suddenly changed their tune and cared very deeply that their creation was being used "illegally."
Well I'm calling them out. Don't tell me all about how we should respect your I.P. while you blatantly ignore the I.P. rights of others. If I were running the world... OGN and MBC bought umpteen copies of StarCraft, they should be allowed to show their copies on television, while crediting you and promoting your brand.
This isn't even getting into the fact that the specific game being played is an invention of the players playing it. That game being shown has never been played before in the history of the world, and that's really the thing that's being shown on TV. Blizzard only made the platform for the activity-- and then they sold it, or a copy of it, to the broadcasters. It should be up to the broadcasters whether they want to twirl it around in front of a camera. If Blizzard wants to "own" and control this thing they made, they shouldn't sell it.
Oh, but I'm sure there's a loophole here somewhere. There's an infuriating trend that's taken hold in corporate culture not the least of which in gaming: unfair EULAs. I don't know if this is Activision, Vivendi, or just Blizzard's influence, but in WoW, they tell you that you don't own your account. No no. THEY own the account that you bought. You're just licensing its use from them. That way, they have an out: THEY own it, so they can pull the plug on you if they feel like it. I'm sure SC2 accounts are the same way. Anyone here care to read the EULA?
Blizzard would probably say they've never ever sold a copy of StarCraft II. They're just letting everybody borrow its use for a modest fee. Pricks.
Let me know when you decide to pay for all the music GOMTV has been using for last 3 or 4 years.
Sorry for getting all subjective there at the end. But I hope you can all agree that this is blatantly hypocritical.
 
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17076 Posts
How can you guarantee that they don't have the rights to broadcast the music?
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I heard Stabbing Westward, and the cd of Stratovarius I have in my car right now. It's like spotify but better, to me.
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I can't guarantee it, Empyrean. But how much doubt is there, really? Are you really that skeptical?
A lot of the acts are very small and unheard of. Some of the industrial artists I've communicated with personally. They often have real jobs to support themselves while they make their music on the side. Those are the people who need royalties the most for the work that they've done. And I've never seen any of them mention "My music got used for a StarCraft tournament, and they sent me a check!" on their websites.
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They paid for right to play those songs.
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thinking about this, i think they have the rights. also: during one of the classic seasons they had a song by an austrian band playing 
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Oh really? Then why aren't they ever listed in the broadcast credits? You know, like music in the rest of broadcast television.
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I guarantee that GOMTV doesn't have the right to broadcast that music on television.
guarantee any sh.t without knowing the facts.
and you can't ASSUME when it is LAW.
"Gretech is a bad bad company hurting e-sports etc. So since they are bad I can guarantee they didn't fulfill any other duties regarding law" excuse me but this is a 12 years old viewpoint...
I am not saying that they HAVE the rights. But I know that I can't guarantee anything since I don't know the facts about their I.P. negotiations with the respective rock bands.
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OGN for example is owned by On Media who own like 10 different cable TV channels in Korea, to suggest that they just skimp on licensing fees is highly presumptuous.
Another problem in addition to having no proof to back up your claims is you don't have any idea how broadcasting rights work in Korea. How do we know there is no fair use law protecting live events, or if there the rules on broadcasting licensed music on TV apply to internet TV, etc.
You could be right or wrong, but writing in bold "I guarantee they don't pay" when you can't actually make that guarantee really invalidates your blog
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1) You're not guaranteeing anything. You're guessing.
2) Even if broadcasters don't have the rights, why would small bands complain? That's the advantage of playing music by unknown artists - the only way small bands are going to make money is exposure and all exposure is good if more people hear your music, so they're be HAPPY you play their stuff. Same goes for K-Pop in a slightly different way; although it could be popular in Korea, having it played to foreigners is good because that means more potential consumers.
But 2 is moot if you can't prove the big companies don't have a licence to play the music. 99.9% chance they do.
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Calgary26003 Posts
I also like to assume things and then get upset about them.
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I feel bad for you, writing that huge text and in the end it made no sense. You're just speculating. Where's that source that says GOM does not pay?
Innocent unless proven otherwise, or whatever they say.
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Yeah... uh... next time you express indignation at presumed hypocrisy, make sure the offender is actually a hypocrite before gong off on a tangent. It's always fun to see nerd-rages, but at least give some sources next time.
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So you made up some shit that might or might not be true and you got so pissed at what you made up that you had to post about it? WHY?
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You all are understandably annoyed that I can't prove my "guarantee" (which isn't a guarantee at all; I chose that word when I was pissed off). But I consider this issue just common sense. There is evidence that the rights to all this material is not held. So, for all of you who are annoyed by this post: where is the evidence that they DO have the rights? Aren't you also just guessing, presuming, that they'll of course do "the right thing," just because they're broadcast companies?
On October 01 2010 01:29 sgtcodfish wrote:
2) Even if broadcasters don't have the rights, why would small bands complain? That's the advantage of playing music by unknown artists - the only way small bands are going to make money is exposure and all exposure is good if more people hear your music, so they're be HAPPY you play their stuff. Same goes for K-Pop in a slightly different way; although it could be popular in Korea, having it played to foreigners is good because that means more potential consumers.
But that's exactly my point. EXACTLY. You're utilizing the same logic as me. If you think that these artists should be happy about the exposure, then you also think that Blizzard should be happy about StarCraft's exposure.
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United States7481 Posts
1/5, next time bring some proof.
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Austin10833 Posts
what..
do you really think GOMtv is going to call up whatever industrial artist you found on myspace and say "Hey man, can we use some of your tracks for our tournament?" I have no doubt that GOM is using those tracks legally, probably through a service like ASCAP or BMI, which aggregates tracks through agreements with labels and publishers and then sells blanket or per-program licenses for broadcast.
Also, news anchors don't wear their own clothes rofl. They have wardrobe departments. The reason you see "wardrobe provided by hugo boss" or whatever isn't some nice courtesy, the designers provide the clothes explicitly for that purpose, so that viewers can see the fashion on TV personalities and then identify it later. It's essentially paid advertising.
Mod Edit: Muted anger for this post provided by Chill. Chill - When you just can't take it anymore.
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United States22883 Posts
On October 01 2010 01:09 Delerium wrote:
I can't guarantee it, Empyrean. But how much doubt is there, really? Are you really that skeptical?
A lot of the acts are very small and unheard of. Some of the industrial artists I've communicated with personally. They often have real jobs to support themselves while they make their music on the side. Those are the people who need royalties the most for the work that they've done. And I've never seen any of them mention "My music got used for a StarCraft tournament, and they sent me a check!" on their websites.
You're calling him skeptical because he's questioning your logic that they must be unlicensed? And you're the one making that assumption without any relevant information? Are you really that skeptical?
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United States22883 Posts
On October 01 2010 01:52 BroOd wrote:
what..
do you really think GOMtv is going to call up whatever industrial artist you found on myspace and say "Hey man, can we use some of your tracks for our tournament?" I have no doubt that GOM is using those tracks legally, probably through a service like ASCAP or BMI, which aggregates tracks through agreements with labels and publishers and then sells blanket or per-program licenses for broadcast.
Also, news anchors don't wear their own clothes rofl. They have wardrobe departments. The reason you see "wardrobe provided by hugo boss" or whatever isn't some nice courtesy, the designers provide the clothes explicitly for that purpose, so that viewers can see the fashion on TV personalities and then identify it later. It's essentially paid advertising.
Mod Edit: Muted anger for this post provided by Chill. Chill - When you just can't take it anymore.
Every day I look forward to seeing which powersuit Chanel has provided to Nancy Grace and how it will express her dedication, fearlessness and inquisition er... inquisitiveness on the case!
It's time for Swift Justice!
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On October 01 2010 01:52 BroOd wrote:
do you really think GOMtv is going to call up whatever industrial artist you found on myspace and say "Hey man, can we use some of your tracks for our tournament?" I have no doubt that GOM is using those tracks legally, probably through a service like ASCAP or BMI, which aggregates tracks through agreements with labels and publishers and then sells blanket or per-program licenses for broadcast.
I've grown accustomed to seeing material like that credited, so this is the first that I've heard that published music is such a clipart-style commodity.
Yes, they're innocent until proven guilty. The hypocrisy charge I can drop, because I don't have anything to back it up. Let the power of logic win out over emotion.
I am still annoyed about the business model. To me, the professional sports model is based on advertising. That's why I wanted Blizzard to give up trying to control their products and let the fans and the e-sports industry run with them; they can't lose if they do that, it's infinitely better advertising than anything they can pay for. I originally had a line of thought about this, because most sports on television are paid for entirely by sponsors, but I abandoned the idea of mentioning it because there are some pay-per-view events, so there's precedent for the GSL model.
Yes, Jibba, I felt that skepticism... because I'm passionate about e-sports. Being passionate about e-sports isn't an excuse for behaving like an idiot, but it's why I got upset. About OSL, MSL, Proleague, and everything else.
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EPT
