THANK YOU ULRICH SCHNAUSS!!!

Thank you for being reasonable, and I have every intention of buying the rest of your albums!

Seriously.

Okay, what am I talking about here?

A while back I noticed that one of my uploaded YouTube videos had been blocked due to me using unlicensed material. I went on quite a tirade against the Moody Blues. See the Oct. 7, 2008 post. The point of it was...yes, of course I used the music without permission...but it's a family vacation video for heaven's sake! Do you really have nothing better to do than to come after my own little hobby?

Honestly, this was a large part of my sort of 'giving up' on the whole YouTube thing for a while. I loved sharing these old vids with people, but when this went down it bummed me out.

Well, I got back on today, with the intent of uploading some more. And of course, lo and behold, a bunch more have been either blocked or muted. Seriously. Infuriating.

BUT...

My man Ulrich Schnauss, or someone associated with Ulrich Schnauss had a WONDERFUL idea. My videos containing his music (Tennessee Children's Museum and Louisville Out and About) now contain a brief annotation advertising the song, as well as a link to purchase it.

So they found that I had used the song, but realized that I wasn't a threat to their way of life, and DID NOT BLOCK it!!! They are doing what all the other organizations should be doing - using it as free advertising! That is tremendous!!!

So, everyone check out his site and purchase some music, because in the midst of the depressing realization that I can't use YouTube to share family memories in a meaningful way, I found a ray of sunshine. Someone has a sense of perspective.

Ulrich Schnauss on myspace.

Whoever had something to do with this decision, thank you for being a reasonable human being. I truly love you.

Matt