Bye-Bye Moosebutter *UPDATED*

I've been meaning to post about this since mid-December, but then it was too late, but then again recent developments have brought it up again.

It's about the John Williams video...

Originally, I was going to write about how it WASN'T sung by Corey Vidal.

Corey is lip-synching to the 2002 studio recording of moosebutter. It was recorded at June Audio, Provo, UT. Corey filmed his video in his kitchen.

He was lip-synching? Well, that explains why he's not wearing headphones. Still, very convincing. I found out that it wasn't his voice when he updated the description of the video (so it wasn't like he was trying to be sneaky about it). This was around the time it was nominated for a People's Choice award.

Anyway, never got around to posting that, and the PCA have come and gone (Barack Roll won), and NOW (Jan 18th) the videos have been removed from YouTube by Warner Music Group. The entire ApprenticeA account (Corey) has been suspended.

Corey Vidal and our Star Wars videos were taken down by Warner Music Company, or Warner Brothers, or Warner INC ... all we know is, Warner has gotten picky about 'their' content on youtube, and even though there are a dozen other videos on youtube with our Star Wars song, and hundreds of videos that illegally rip footage from Harry Potter DVDs, and fake Batman trailers and etc etc etc Warner has been kind enough to target our stuff.

This means one thing: we've finally hit the big time! Maybe.

Wait, WHAT? How is it POSSIBLY a copyright violation? Parody is explicitly allowed as fair-use (one of the very few things that are actually spelled out).

My bullshitometer just exploded.

UPDATE: ApprenticeA is Back.

BIGGER UPDATE:
OK, so after this posted (which means most people won't come back and read this, but whatever), Cory posted a new video. The two important things from the video are:

1. There is a pretty high quality (better than YouTube) upload of the video over on Cory's Facebook page.
2. There is an important article on what's been happening, over at cnet. Go there and Digg it.

From the article (emphasis mine):

On YouTube, Vidal posted a humorous video tribute to John Williams, the man who scored the soundtracks for such blockbuster films as Indiana Jones, and Star Wars. In his clip he included some of Williams' music. By now, everybody knows that YouTube removes videos that violate copyright law. What's different about Vidal's work getting pulled is that when he posted it in October, he was permitted to use Warner's music.

Until last month, YouTube had an agreement with Warner Music--one of the four largest recording companies--that allowed video creators to include the label's content in their clips. Last month, talks to renew the deal broke down and that means YouTube and its users no longer have access to Warner's library. For this reason, the case is much different than YouTube's high-profile fight with Viacom or run-of-the-mill piracy that once flourished on the site.

I did not know that.