I didn't expect the Archive on Vimeo to end in such a bizarre way. No glorious going out in flames, fighting the power as I slowly succumb to the dying of the light, possibly with some really pithy catchphrase as my last utterance. Nope. What I got was a swift exit thanks to some representatives of Drake and Justin Timberlake, of all people. This is a blog about Editors, and it's two recording artists that I have nothing to do with that ended up having a hand in killing the Vimeo account. As I said, bizarre. It turns out that even if you perform a cover version of a song by a UMG artist and publish it online, not the studio take but something you do yourself, they will still come after you...in certain instances (I'll explain below).
When I reached out to Universal Music Group to see if I could fix this, their reply left me with two major takeaways. The first involves their belief that somehow I'm robbing artists of their earnings, and the other is that the Archive may have become collateral damage in an ongoing dispute between UMG and Vimeo. Here's what they said:-
"Thank you for reaching out about the recent removal of content from Vimeo. While this is an important and necessary action to assure that artists and music creators are fairly compensated for their hard work, we regret that this action, and the reasons why it happened, surprised you. We appreciate the opportunity to explain.
Recording artists and songwriters earn their living from their music. Our role is to connect them with fans in ways that are entertaining and convenient and accessible, so that everyone can enjoy the music in a mutually beneficial way. For example, we have licensed more than 400 digital music services. As a result, last year music fans enjoyed more music than ever before in history.
The issue here is that Vimeo, LLC – unlike our hundreds of other partners – has generally decided not to obtain licenses or pay for the use of our music on its platform, including cover versions of songs. This makes our music content available in a manner that deprives artists and songwriters of fair compensation and unfairly competes with licensed services that pay for music consumption.
We hope that you share our goal to assure our music creators are compensated fairly, and that you understand why we need to take these actions on their behalf. We certainly understand any frustration you might have, but remain hopeful that Vimeo, LLC will license music so we can all enjoy the platform without these types of issues. Of course, in the meantime, we encourage you to post on licensed platforms (see: whymusicmatters.com)."
The summary for this would seem to be that first of all that I'm a bit thick for not knowing that artists make a living from making music (which is mutually patronising and incorrect, but never mind), and that if only Vimeo would sort out a licensing deal with them then this would stop happening. Interestingly if you go to YouTube you'll see that there are quite a few cover versions of Mirrors by Justin Timberlake available to stream. What's the difference? YouTube signed a licensing deal with UMG so they get left alone. Vimeo haven't yet and so their users become targets for this ongoing crusade against music piracy. This time around all these strong-arm tactics have merely resulted in a non-UMG affiliated fansite being crippled. What gains have been made here? Do we really want to alienate and eradicate the very people who are actually buying the records and attending the shows? I'm pretty sure that Justin Timberlake couldn't care less about The Lemming Archive. It honestly makes me yearn for the days when fans just passed tapes around of live recordings and demos between each other because there was so much more freedom. Another irony, considering all the other wonderfully liberating aspects of the internet.
The one accusation that bothers me the most in all of this is that I'm deliberately ripping off a performer.
I'm not that guy.
I hope that after 7 years of doing this that the band, Team Editors and most importantly all of you know that this isn't the case. It's all about sharing the love for this group and getting their music out there, and that's all. How ironic that I'm in total agreement with my executioner; artists should be compensated for their work. Amen to that.
However, all this action against the Archive does is suggest that UMG are unable to discern between genuine music fans, the very people who support the bands they're so keen to protect, and pirates who seek to make a profit while not fairly compensating musicians. This scorched earth approach lacks any kind of nuance and consideration of circumstance, namely that I wasn't in any way trying to reduce the earning potential of Justin Timberlake or Drake. The Dermot O'Leary show that caused all the problems is unavailable to listen to anymore and you can't legally buy the cover of Mirrors that Tom played acoustically. So the blog post was made purely for hardcore fans who collect and enjoy rare performances by Editors, and I cannot see the harm in that. Nobody is profiting here, certainly not me, and nobody would appear to be being inconvenienced.
As I write this, all the Vimeo links are dead and 7 years of work is in ruins. Again. Any post that contains mediafire downloads are fine, but all the stuff that you could watch or stream online is gone. I couldn't even get into my account to rescue anything when I was alerted to it. I received an email saying I'd been the target of a third strike, and immediately after that the account was offline. My login details no longer worked, and it was as if the Archive never existed on Vimeo.
My thought processes are still a little bit scrambled at the minute, so I'm going take a little time to think things over and decide what to do next. When you cut away all the excess and really look at the options there are two simple choices; carry on or bow out gracefully. In Editors lyrical terms it's either "it breaks me" or "some friends are worth the fight". I'll have an answer for you in the next few days.
With love and respect to the band, Team Editors and the folks who sent your words of support. Thanks a lot for your kindness. The Archive has always been about all of you.
drew lemming
