Universal Music Group has bizarrely started to copyright strike videos that contain the Moon. You know, the huge celestial object that sits in the sky and is visible to almost anyone — that moon. Copyright strikes from UMG have essentially become a meme in the last decades; however, this one definitely takes the cake.
Director and filmmaker Phillip Bloom recently filmed a clip of the moon with his Sony a1 camera. The clip was then uploaded to social media, at which point it was blocked due to a copyright strike from UMG. UMG has claimed this video violates its copyright despite the fact that it contains no music and no audio.
Bloom stated in a recent tweet: “When you film the moon tonight, post it on Facebook and it gets blocked by UMG for copyright infringement.”
The copyright dispute claims that Blooms’ video matches a 30-second clip owned by UMG. This is frustrating because a simple video of a moon can be claimed and blocked by UMG for about a week, and there are no phone numbers or email addresses available for appeal. This could be a simple error in the algorithm; however, these errors have very real consequences.
Companies such as UMG have consistently overstepped when it comes to copyright strikes against the creative industry. It’s clear that the current system is deeply flawed and needs significant improvement.