CoCo thinks Facebook and Instagram are being a drag.
CoCo鈥檚 the drag queen persona of Vancouver鈥檚 Derek White. With the West End 麻豆传媒映画restaurant he manages shut due to the pandemic, White has taken to doing drag shows online to raise people鈥檚 spirits.
And, he鈥檚 getting hundreds and hundreds of views and shares.
However, he said Facebook and Instagram have been a bit of a drag on that front, removing the music from the performances he鈥檚 taping at home.
White said the whole thing began when he decided to do a selfie every day just to check in with folks.
鈥淭hen, a friend suggested I wear a wig,鈥� he chuckled. 鈥淚 do have a lot.鈥�
White decided the selfie project wasn鈥檛 enough.
鈥淚 thought, 鈥業 need to do a little better.鈥欌��
With the shutdown, CoCo hadn鈥檛 been getting enough stage-time to shine.
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So, the video idea was born.
鈥淚 get people everyday commenting how they love it, how it gives them an energy boost at the beginning of the day,鈥� White said.
The first post as Whitney Houston went to Instagram鈥攚here it was muted. It got 800 views.
The Mary J. Blige performance got 600 views and Tina Turner 195. Janelle Monae didn鈥檛 fare as well. They鈥檙e still on Facebook with intermittent sound.
鈥淧eople are enjoying them,鈥� White said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 just Facebook and their copyright mute. Ridiculous.
鈥淚 get up every morning and put my music on random, see what music jumps out at me, put on a wig,鈥� White explained. 鈥淚鈥檓 just putting it out there. I鈥檓 enjoying doing it.鈥�
He鈥檚 been recording the spots on his phone and then uploading.
Then the warning from Instagram arrived.
鈥淵our video was blocked because it may contain music, audio or video that belongs to someone else,鈥� it said. 鈥淵our video matches 31 seconds of video owned by Warner Music Group Rights Management.鈥�
White was told to delete the video if he didn鈥檛 have all the rights to use the material.
Facebook鈥檚 copyright policy said a person may breach copyright rules even if they ought or downloaded the content; recorded the content onto their own recording device; gave the copyright owner credit; included a disclaimer that you didn鈥檛 intend to infringe copyright; didn鈥檛 intend to profit from it; or modified the work or added their own original material to it.
Instagram鈥檚 copyright policy page said posters must ensure all posted items must be made by the poster.
鈥淵ou can only post content to Instagram if it doesn鈥檛 violate the intellectual property rights of another party,鈥� it said.
The exemptions to that rule include having permission to use the material or if it falls within copyright exceptions.
White had considered other social media platforms. 鈥淚 tried TikTok but that鈥檚 too much work.鈥�
Graham Spence runs Tuck Entertainment, which promotes drag queens and their performances. He said some performances fall under fair use of music.
Spence said Facebook does allow appeals, which go to a person rather than a robot. His suggestion to White: say you're an artist and not making any money off the use of the music.
Facebook sees it differently, though.
鈥淲e reviewed the video and determined the audio in the video was removed correctly,鈥� spokesman David Troya-Alvarez said.
He said music rights are complex, so some copyright restrictions may impact live videos that include music.
Bu, he added, in the current circumstances when the importance of tools like Facebook Live is becoming more critical in helping people connect, the company is actively working on ways to improve the Live experience.
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