Self-made mogul Michelle Phan is embroiled in a legal battle
over her use of music in her popular YouTube videos.
Phan’s legal troubles began in July when music label, Ultra
Records,
filed
a suit against her for copyright infringement. Ultra alleged Phan used
songs and compilations owned by the label as background music for her YouTube
videos without first obtaining a license to do so. Phan has
responded
to
Ultra’s
complaint, and has also
filed
a counterclaim, stating that, although she did use some of the songs and
compilations in question, her use is pursuant to an agreement she had with the
label.
Specifically, her counterclaim refers to communications she
had with Ultra’s Senior New Media Manager, Jason Kilgore, where she asked his
permission to use music by Ultra artist Kaskade in her videos. Phan alleges
that Kilgore, being aware of Phan’s large YouTube following, was “more than
happy” to let her use the content, with Phan agreeing in return to credit the
artist. Phan also states that Kilgore referred to an existing agreement Ultra
allegedly had with YouTube, whereby YouTube’s Content ID System would
automatically track Ultra artists whose content was used in uploaded videos.
The content ID system would trigger a “claim”, whereby Ultra would be made
aware of the use and would automatically receive a share of the advertising
revenue generated by the video. Phan has stated that Kilgore promised to
release any “claims” against Phan, thus leading to an express/implied license
to use Ultra’s copyrighted content.
In addition to damages, Phan is seeking a declaratory
judgment against Ultra stipulating that she has a non-revocable license to use
the content in question and has not infringed on any of Ultra’s copyrights.
Michelle Phan quickly rose to fame for her makeup tutorial
videos, which have garnered a following of over 6.7 million YouTube
subscribers. Phan’s popular videos have snowballed into a robust career— she
now has various sponsorships form big companies like Dr. Pepper, paid
advertisers in her videos, and her own line of cosmetic products backed by
L’Oreal.
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