User Created Media, MySpace, UTube and Rights Clearance

Universal Music is a wee bit upset at all the user created media available on social networking sites such as MySpace and UTube that open infringes on their copyrighted works.  And rightly so, as copyright and rights clearances should be observed when you produce anything for public consumption.

The problem is basically ignorance and the commoditization of media technologies where anyone can become a music or movie producer.  MySpace and UTube have become the target because of their deep pockets.

On the other hand, there's a certain amount of free publicity that the copyright owners get from such sites when their material is used. 

As media producers, the world of rights clearance and copyright, and fair use needs to be simplified to a point where both sides win.  The small media producer who wants to make something for free needs resources available to them to allow that  and needs to be able to clearly understand what constitutes fair use.  The copyright owner needs to have better control of their product and realize a profit from their works as well.

MySpace and UTube could alleviate some of the problem by providing (maybe they do, I haven't looked), a section of Free Assets, where independent artists, or even some of the big name record companies trying to promote an unknown artist, can upload songs that are specifically identified with a rights clearance so long as an interstitial is used or credit is given at the end, similar to what you see on some of the recent youth targeted TV series where at the end of the program you see an album cover stating that xxxxx music was featured in this video.