Friday, June 17, 2011

Have You Heard Of The Ship Called The Good Reuben James?

I particularly like this old Woody Guthrie song sung by The Kingston Trio entitled The Sinking Of The Reuben James. The maker of this YouTube video put the names of each lost sailor into scrolling graphics.

I love how each man's name seems to rise from the blackened depths--names that might otherwise be forgotten:



Looking over some of the music posts I've put up in the past it's sad to see so many of the YouTube video links get disabled. Rumor has it that some of this creative YouTubing may all be coming to an end.

Surely there can be some kind of mutual recognition between the owners of the song's copyright and the artists wanting to make use of them. The short answer to this is licensing. But what artist is going to find (let alone contact) the owners of the copyright? I see an opportunity for Google here. Perhaps they could broker reasonable fee-for-usage licensing--something akin to iTunes.

6 comments:

  1. I think that they're going to sell more with advertising on YouTube than they would otherwise -- unless they're VERY BIG.

    I like this entry from the Kingston Trio too.

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  2. I think that they're going to sell more with advertising on YouTube than they would otherwise -- unless they're VERY BIG

    I guess that's the point isn't it. If the band is already huge, they just don't want somebody using their song, no matter what. Smaller bands appreciate the free advertisement.

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  3. The Kingston Trio has name recognition, but they're a bit long in the tooth these days. Yes, I know. So am I.

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  4. The Kingston Trio has name recognition, but they're a bit long in the tooth these days. Yes, I know. So am I.

    Only one of the original, Bob Shane remains alive.

    I knew the band had a Hawaii connection too.

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  5. That was brilliant! I applaud you for this post. And, yes, I remember the song. But this was unbelievable.

    Reminds me of that poetic line "and the grass covers all."

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  6. Reminds me of that poetic line "and the grass covers all.

    Was that Whitman or Sandburg? Google doesn't help me. :(

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