Misadventures in Social Marketing: Universal Music Group and Me

Yesterday was an exciting day! I slept late, grabbed some coffee from my local co-op, and moseyed on into work. Waiting for me in my office was the copy of Adobe Creative Suite 4: Design Standard I had ordered for my MacBook. (!) I settle in at my desk, fire up said MacBook, launch Firefox, check Gmail, check campus email, check Twitter, check Tumblr, and…wait…what?

And that’s where our story begins…

See, in my Tumblrverse, a new follow is a pretty big deal. I’m relatively new to the service, and so far I’ve found it to be a positive alternative the awful Facebook walls of past and present. As it currently stands, I follow just 13 other Tumblrs and, except for one troll, I generally know everyone who follows me (eight total).

Now, I’m no n00b – I know individuals, non-profit orgs and for-profit companies all use social media services for various reasons. I know that Universal Music Group or any other for-profit company could most likely care less about the communal aspect of SM services like Tumblr; they’re there to dump news, press releases, and other general info onto the masses, hoping – somewhere, somehow – it turns into revenue via album sales, concert tix, whatever. Some people might think UMG’s information is worth a follow back, others will not. Sure.

However, I couldn’t help but find the humor in the fact that a giant arm of a monolithic media corporation represented by the RIAA wanted to “follow” me on a multimedia-driven social platform. As Tumblr (and, I guess, the Internet in general) isn’t exactly my place to be formal, I grabbed the above screenshot, posted it and jokingly added:

So…this happened. And now, for no good reason (I DOWNLOAD FROM AMAZON! I PAY MONEY! WHAT MORE DO YOU PEOPLE WANT???) I am more than a little nervous.

Haha, whatever. Drop a little neurotic Netizen humor and go about my day.

Within minutes, however, Universal Music had reblogged my screenshot and added a reply:

Needless to say, I was quite surprised that my insignificant post sparked any sort of response. (I suppose the same goes for my wee Tumblr in general – I mean, look at it, it is nothing but terribly out-of-context quotations and pictures of beer. *Sigh* Moving on…) Moreover, I was taken aback by Universal Music’s insistance that I do not need to be “scared of Universal Music.” Stuff like that reads kind of flat and forceful on a computer screen, and usually the only people that feel the need overtly assert their non-scariness are those people who are, you know, scary.*

Anyway, I thought their insistance that I need not be afraid was funny, so I grabbed another screenshot and posted again (keeping up the neurotic Netizen facade):

WTF? Universal reblogged my photo?!? WHAT IS GOING ON HERE? “Don’t be scared! Please! We just want to be your friend…we just want to play with you.”

I recognize that, at this point, my humor had moved away from the actually-kinda-funny original freakout towards a much less amusing on-the-nose-but-vaguely-misused Shining reference. The joke had clearly run out of steam. Surely, the good folks at Universal Music Group had more important things to do than entertain another post from some random dude on Tumblr.

I was wrong.

My first reaction was: (!). My second reaction was: “ok, now it’s personal.” I mean – they specifically posted my username and called me paranoid. I understand that they are aiming at a sort-of diplomacy here. After all, my hyperbolic freakout was maybe making them look bad. (Of course, only eight people would have seen it had they not reblogged it and advertised it to everyone that follows them, but, you know, they’re probably new to this.)

So, I’m paranoid, huh? Well, let’s take a look at that. I just so happen to have in front of me two pertinent documents.

1. A copy of the letter that parents of Freshman students at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee receive from the school’s University Information Technology Services (UITS) division. It notifies these parents that:

[the] RIAA (Recording Industry Associaion of America) has stepped up its pursuit of students whom it believes have illegally shared digital copyrighted materials, i.e. music, games and movies, in violation of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). The RIAA has initiated lawsuits across the country against students who have violated copyright law, including students from UWM and other UW campuses. The RIAA is demanding significant settlements in exchange for withdrawing its claims against these students.

I probably don’t need to tell you, but the RIAA represents Universal Music Group (as well as Sony Music Entertainment, EMI, and Warner Music Group) and they are a powerful group indeed. As we’ve pointed out here before, the RIAA’s methods for prosecuting potential copyright violators have often been questionable at best. (Learn more here.) Which leads me to the second document…

2. A sample RIAA letter to a potentially infringing student. Besides notifying a student that they’ve been identified (and for how many audio files via whatever program) and that a lawsuit will be filed against them, it tells the student that they may simply go to http://www.p2plawsuits.com and, using the CASE ID# that appears at the top of their letter, settle the matter immediately (credit cards accepted!), apparently from anywhere between $3,000 and $4,000. It is no stretch to say it is an “ethically gray” approach to use this letter (which specifically cites the Copyright Act) as a means to encourage financial settlements (and, in turn, generate income) outside of any transparent due process of law. It is also no stretch to call it “bullying.”

Now, I know that the RIAA has claimed to have abandoned this approach to going after fire sharers. But that in no way means they have stopped searching for ways to prosecute consumers in an online marketplace which they’ve been woefully slow at adapting to.

More specific to a platform like Tumblr, individual companies – acting independently of the RIAA or MPAA – have taken to removing all kinds of content from various social media sites for a whole host of reasons, something The New York Times addressed earlier this week. Given this reality, you can see how suddenly being “followed” by one of these corporate giants on a multimedia sharing platform might be a little alarming.

Or, you know, maybe I’m just being “paranoid.”

In my last posted response, I threw down the gauntlet. I posted a YouTube video of Black Sabbath’s “Paranoid.” From what I can tell, Universal Music Group could very well own the rights to this song (though not specifically the rights to Viacom-owned VH1’s segment from which the video clip was pulled), since UMG owns Vertigo Records, on which the album Paranoid was first released. This is, of course, a rough estimation – who knows where the rights have bounced around over the last 39 years. Regardless, I found it to be an appropriate tongue-in-cheek response to Universal Music’s assurance that I need not be afraid, that I was simply being “paranoid.”

Since my challenge, they have not reblogged anything else from my Tumblr account or addressed me directly (though I am waiting patiently for a call from their legal team and/or the RIAA…just kidding! [sort of]). However, they have addressed the matter further. First, shortly after my rockin’ Sabbath post, they reblogged this quote from Tumblerette “Little Miss“:

Combined with their condescending tone from earlier (to each his own? Who says that?), I decided to take this personally.

Second, they posted this disclaimer:

First off: thanks for giving me permission to use my Tumblr, UMG! I’ll sleep better now for sure! The arrogance here is overwhelming. Be they lovers or haters? Great sense of community, guys. Your grassroots outreach campaign (it worked for Obama!) just devolved into a second-rate junior high lunch table. Can I just take my ball and go home, too?

Let’s be real, UMG. Let’s be, like, IRL real here. The case is not closed. Not until you and your peers stop using the RIAA to bully users and unduly influence Congress will the case be closed. Not until you stop trying to expand and enforce copyright to tyrranical levels, suffocating Fair Use and severly damaging the positive public utility of creative output will the case be closed. No, it will not be closed until you’ve consistently demonstrated a view that those of us creating, remixing, and sharing media online are individual spirits to be inspired and not crooked consumers to be reprimanded.

In this case, you don’t get the final word. Until you realize that the public good – which is often expressed in such exciting and innovative ways online – should not be compromised for your private gain, this case will absolutely remain open.

*At this point I feel the need to add that, yes, I know “Universal Music” on a whole isn’t addressing me here – it is, most likely, some overpaid 20-something who had a Good Idea in A Meeting Once and now gets to post stuff on Tumblr all day. I get it. I mean, I’m an underpaid 20-something who got Financial Aid from An Application He Filled Out and now I get to play on the Internet all day to avoid finishing my thesis. It’s cool. We’re all just doing our jobs, man.

UPDATE: UMG has deleted the two posts that reblogged/referred to me from their Tumblr. Michael Zimmer has asked them why. I don’t have the posts archived, but I still have the screenshots I grabbed yesterday. Strangely, they have not removed a similar response to another Tumblr (thiswontlastlong) that posted around the same time. What gives, UMG?

UPDATE 2: I’ve also notice the UMG’s Tumblr hasn’t been posting today. Hmmm… (As of 1:30 PM CST this is no longer true.)