And So It Begins.

Peter Chernin COO of News Corp speaking at last week's Merrill Lynch Media & Entertainment Conference in Pasadena attacks YouTube for leeching off MySpace. Universal Music threatens to sue YouTube over copyright infringement and YouTube announces a deal with Warner Music whereby a royalty-tracking system will detect when homemade videos are using copyrighted material and allow Warner Music to review the video and decide whether it wants to approve or reject it.

Meanwhile, Jeff Jarvis rants "They are marketing and distributing your music for you. Don’t want them to? Fine. Plenty more where you came from."

No there isn't - in all markets the product is the most cruciial element of the marketing mix. Remove the copyright material from these sites and there's virtually nothing left in terms of popularity. It's YouTube that has cut off its nose by not facing up to the issue.