Will APRA Survive?

Some people are good at public relations, while some are not.

After The Decision, some said that Dan Gilbert was not good at public relations.

After The Revision, some said that Steve Jobs was not good at it.

And now comes a story (H/T Rob Michael) about the Australasian Performing Right Association getting really really close to having someone invoke Godwin's Law.

Benny6Toes points us to a story about an Auschwitz survivor, who went back to Auswitz (sic) with his grandkids and recently filmed a video of them dancing to Gloria Gaynor's I Will Survive -- as a way to celebrate life and the ability to overcome obstacles. The story is about the basic controversy over the video, as some folks find it offensive and others find it heartwarming. However, Benny notes that the video has been taken down. The video attached to that HuffPo story, when you click on it, says "This video is no longer available due to a copyright claim made by APRA."

Ignoring for the moment TechDirt's next point (how can an Australian group affect the entire world?), there's a question about public relations vs. principle.

On the other hand, APRA or whoever could argue that while they're sympathetic to the cause, the video producer did violate copyright law, and if they granted an exception for this video, then they'd be forced to grant an exception for every other video.

On the other hand, APRA comes off looking bad, which can't help their cause. People might download Men at Work's "Down Under" in protest.

As of Saturday evening Pacific time, the video was at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j7PtrFJtseg.

And here's a non-musical video of Jane Korman's grandfather in a train car. Yes, one of THOSE train cars.



And here's Jane Korman consummating her marriage. Not sure how grandpa felt about that.