Update: The RIAA claims that the takedown notice was forged.
RPGFilms was a website that hosted tons of machinima videos made with video-game engines. One popular machinima genre is the music video, in which a machinima artist synchs action recorded from a game to a piece of popular music.
Now the Recording Industry Association of America has had RPGFlims shut down because they argue that these “songs files” (not MP3s you understand, but humorous videos made by fans who in no way substitute for purchasing the songs) infringe their members’ copyrights.
Under the US fair use doctrine, a court can find a use fair if it can be shown that the use doesn’t interfere with the rightsholder’s income. I think that’s pretty clearly the case here: no one who downloads a machinima video of a bunch of Wookies getting down to “Surfin’ Bird” is going to say, “Well, hell, now that I’ve got this, no need to buy the CD.”
The use of music in fan-films can only be beneficial to the rightsholder’s interests, and permitting that use can only be beneficial to society. Watching the RIAA commit slow, spectacular suicide by taking down the fan art that celebrates, advertises and raises awareness of its members’ products, well, it’s flabbergasting.
What a bunch of tools.
(Thanks, Nick!)
Update: Michelle sez, “An MMORPG player has started a petition against the RIAA for shutting down rpgfilms. 451 people have signed it so far.”