Copyright Strike?
"How can sothing be copyrighted when we’re the source and own the original copy of everything?" PD Emily muttered.
When making a music show, preemptively addressing copyright issues was one of the main things that ate up a lot of the budget, since licensing music for comrcial use was a bit expensive.
It was why the production team pushed for several self-produced songs.
It wasn’t because they wanted to highlight the contestants’ producing skill (although that was a major bonus, especially since it let the label that would sign them know the full extent of their skill so that they could be properly exploited in the future)
It was to cut down the costs as much as possible!
And to help with that, the production team had utilized their contracts with the judges extensively.
Jelissa and Larry Jackson had worked on alternate sound bits, lodies, and different packages that the producing contestants could use for free. After all, they were both pretty good producers in the music industry so they could catch any pitfalls and steer the contestants in the right direction.
And with those sa judges working directly with them and reviewing everything, a copyright strike was essentially impossible.
So why was she seeing this ssage?
PD Emily was completely confused as she attempted to click another video of Williams’ performance.
[Video Unavailable.]
"What the heck is going on? Are people rage reporting William’s videos or what?"
It was sothing that occasionally happened on so social dia sites.
Fans who were feeling angry about one thing or another would band together to get certain accounts or videos locked or taken down.
Given how angry Ari’s fans were, it was possible they were just lashing out and doing the only thing they could.
Take down William’s performance video.
They were organized enough to do it, so she wouldn’t be surprised if it was them.
The few comnts that she was seeing already had William’s fans accusing other fandoms of taking his video down out of jealousy.
Although it was a bit funny, it would be good to check just in case.
After all, each minute the videos were down was money lost.
Taking another swig of coffee, PD Emily imdiately began checking the official accounts on all platforms to see if it was actually sothing serious.
And to her surprise, it was.
Every platform on which they had posted William’s performance video had received a copyright strike, and the video had been taken down.
From Twitter to IG, they all had a copyright strike.
Sensing the severity of the situation, PD Emily quickly moved to WeTube, which had a much stricter policy for taking videos down.
If the video was down there, then there was really sothing going on.
Consud by a bad feeling, PD Emily’s heart began pounding, and her palms grew sweaty as she gripped the mouse and clicked on the correct video on the show’s WeTube hopage.
As the video loaded up, all she saw was a grey background with words that made her stomach twist and turn.
["Idol Performance Video." This video is no longer available due to a copyright claim by Pacific Records.]
It was an official copyright strike by a record label, aning that they had evidence that sothing in the video was used without permission.
Since the visuals were personally taken and edited by her production crew, the problem was naturally the song.
What the heck had William done with his song?!
Had he used a sample illegally? Had he plagiarized? What?!
And why hadn’t Larry Jackson caught it?
Feeling a headache coming on, PD Emily checked her email and found a formal complaint from the Pacific Records Legal departnt.
Scanning through the legalese-filled email that had made her previously tired eyes perk up, PD Emily felt her heart begin to race at the sight of the listed consequences.
Channel shutdown, court orders, extensive fees starting at 8 zeros?
At this point, even if she sold her organs, she wouldn’t be able to afford to pay this or justify it to the executives.
Seriously, whose song did William use illegally?
Also, Pacific Records?
Hadn’t Martin, the CEO of Pacific Records, co to visit Ari?
Was this sohow connected to that green-eyed gremlin who felt bitter about how she had edited him, so he used his connections to ruin her day?
But this was an official ssage from a record label’s legal departnt? Did they really have ti to waste on such nonsense?
As PD Emily was running through a variety of situations in her head while trying to figure out how to proceed, her cellphone began ringing and vibrating aggressively.
Knowing that this couldn’t be good, PD Emily chugged her remaining coffee before picking it up
Caller ID: Bing Yongsun.
Executive creator and performance director of Soundwave Music.
The person whose ’line’ she had decided to join to withstand the constant pressure from Wilford Forbes.
F*ck!
Feeling that her neck was now on the chopping block, PD Emily answered the phone and did the only thing she could.
"I didn’t know anything about it. I might go overboard on editing now and then, but I would never intentionally include sothing that would bring the show down like this. You have to believe ."
Deny!
Deny!
Deny!
That night, there was an executive eting, and the results...
Well.
********
"Good morning! Did you miss ?" Despite wanting to fight her about the way she edited him, Ari cheerfully greeted the PD, who looked like she had lost a fight with a bear.
"Not even a little bit, you green-eyed demon." PD Emily imdiately cursed as she saw the handso, bright, cheery, well-rested face beaming beautifully at her.
As if he didn’t have a single worry in the world.
Curse your youth!
Ari: ಠ_ಠ
Wow. So we’re starting the day off with negative energy?
"Calling a demon first thing in the morning is kind of crazy, no? I haven’t even done anything to get you back for the way you portrayed in the episode."
"If this is you not getting back, I’d hate to see when you actually put in effort, you little gremlin." PD Emily responded honestly before rubbing her eyes tiredly as she realized that the person she was talking to was, in fact, Ari and not so hallucination.
What was he doing here? Hadn’t he confidently said that he wasn’t participating in the surprise showcase?
"What are you doing here? You’re not supposed to be here."
"I’m here to participate in the surprise showcase. Obviously."
"Why?"
For a mont, PD Emily felt betrayed and wanted to tear up.
They were supposed to protest together to prove a point to that stupid Forbes family and have a fun ti at the graduation.
"Why wouldn’t I participate? It’s a fantastic opportunity to increase my votes, satisfy my fans, and show viewers that I’m serious about debuting while performing an amazing song with my friends and teammates."
"I would believe you more if you didn’t sound like you were reading from a script while sobody held a gun to your head. Who’s blackmailing you into performing?" PD Emily comnted, noting the unwilling expression Ari usually wore when he had to do sothing he didn’t agree with.
"A mysterious alien voice that I hear in my head. It constantly blackmails into doing things that I don’t want to do, and I have no choice but to listen."
[I’m not an alien!]
[And I wouldn’t say blackmail.]
[I prefer the term forceful coercion to get you to do what I want.]
That’s just a fancier way of saying BLACKMAIL!
Swiping NOVA’s blue transparent window away, Ari saw the PD looking at him as if he needed to be committed to a ntal institution, and couldn’t help but laugh.
It was a bit sad, really. He was telling the truth, yet nobody believed him.
Yet his laughter seed to trigger PD Emily, who suddenly rushed over and began shaking his shoulders aggressively.
"Ariel, seriously. Answer seriously, did you do it?"
"Do what?"
"The copyright strikes? Did you do it?!"
"What copyright strike?" Ari asked in confusion.
To be honest, he had ended up staying late over at Levi’s house with the rest of the team as they ironed out their entire concept and who was going to do what.
Since Ari was going to be extrely busy this week, prepping for graduation, he needed to make the most of his ti and honestly hadn’t had ti to check online as much as he wanted to.
Did he miss sothing yesterday during the episode?
Had the evil production team finally gotten caught ssing with sobody they shouldn’t have?
What had happened?
PD Emily looked at him like she couldn’t believe what he was saying.
"You’re telling you don’t know or didn’t plan it? He’s basically your nesis."
"My nesis?"
There was only one person who fit that description.
William.
Quickly reading PD Emily’s face and recalling her previous words, Ari shot out a random guess.
"Oh? Did William get caught for stealing sobody’s song?"
That was the only thing that made sense because, ever since William announced he’d made his song in a day, Ari had been suspicious.
It wasn’t that he thought it was impossible to make a song in a day; it was that he had seen William’s work ethic and knew that it was impossible for HIM.
He basically assud that William had been provided one by the production team, but based on PD Emily’s reaction, that wasn’t the case.
He had stolen one?
Seeing PD Emily laugh, Ari burst out laughing.
"Seriously? He stole a song?"
"Yes."
Looking at the somber PD, Ari couldn’t help but laugh again.
Wow! Life was so beautiful right now!
He could do a cartwheel down the hall and even go work out with Benjamin and Jamie.
That’s how happy he was.
And the only thing that would make him happier was-
"So? He stole a song and presented it as his own on global television. Is William going to get eliminated?" Ari asked excitedly.
He hoped with all of his heart that he would never have to see that smug, blonde face again.
"It’s highly possible. That’s what all the executives are discussing right now. But his imdiate punishnt is that he’s banned from performing at the surprise showcase." PD Emily explained, examining Ari’s expression to see whether he was pretending or really didn’t know what was happening.
At her words, Ari let out the most beautiful smile PD Emily had ever seen.
"Good."
Reviews
All reviews (0)