OK Go apologizes to fans for YouTube restriction on their videos

Ok Go caught the attention of listeners and netizens with their video Here It Goes Again. The music video, which featured the band performing a choreographed routine using treadmill machines, was an instant hit among viewers and became a huge viral hit when it was released in 2006. But what will you do if the very thing that made you famous is now being restricted?

That’s what OK Go is contending with right now. It’s label, EMI, has restricted access to the band’s videos on YouTube, basically forbidding people from embedding the videos on web sites. According to the band, EMI did this because it does not earn any royalties from embedded videos. The band has issued an apology on their web site, Okgo.net, and explained that the band wanted to have their videos passed around all over the net and have even “argued” with EMI about the decision, but the label has firmly stood by its decision. They further added that even though their “duty” is to the fans and to their music, EMI’s is “to their shareholders” and the company believes that what they’re doing is right.

This is an issue that really goes back to the argument about the current business model of the record industry not reflecting the changes in the real world. As Radiohead’s Ed O’Brien said, it’s an analogue business model for the digital age. The record should really rethink what they’re doing because they are the ones that’s killing music and the industry.

Having said that, check out the new OK Go video for their new single “This Too Shall Pass” — quite an apt title for what’s happening to OK Go.