One of the two lead guitarists of the metal band ‘DragonForce’, Herman Li, recently condemned the Universal label after it ended up muting the Twitch VODs (Video On Demand) he uploaded on YouTube.
The guitarist said that he was already infuriated due to not being paid royalties for a while now, and muting his videos on YouTube was the final straw.
“My videos are getting blocked for playing older DragonForce songs. Can you believe it? By Universal music. They’re blocking my livestream videos from being VODs. It’s out of control,” said the guitarist on his chat.
Li’s VODs are generally subscriber-only on Twitch. That being said, the videos that he uploaded on YouTube have however been completely muted due to a claim from Universal. He said that Universal was going to face legal consequences due to their actions.
Li said says that Universal has not been paying Li his royalties for a while and that he never really pressed the label for the lack of payments. The current incident, however, seemed to have enraged him, as he went full ballistic on Universal for missed payments and muting his VODs on YouTube.
“I don’t have time to email these idiots that are not even paying royalties. They owe me money. They’re not even paying it. They’re just ignoring it and not doing it,” said Li.
“That’s how fucking insane it is when you’re a musician. And guess what? Yes, I’m calling them out right now before the lawyer comes”.
“Do they care? No, they don’t care. Because they say, ‘You know what? It’s going to cost you money to get a lawyer, so we’re gonna just not pay you.'”
With the coronavirus pandemic negatively affecting the livelihoods of many people, performing artists such as standup comedians and musicians are mostly resorting to online mediums such as Twitch or YouTube to make money.
At such a juncture, having their videos muted or censored without a valid reason is sure to enrage creators and artists.
