Mark Cuban reads my blog

Mark has an excellent post today about the vulnerability of YouTube. His argument is essentially that YouTube has a shut-off valve, which I posted in July.

Here's a taste:

The thing is the shock that until Universal Music Group apparently started to put the pressure on them, no one had sued them. Considering the RIAA will sue your grandma or a 12 year old at the drop of a hat, the fact that Youtube is building a traffic juggernaut around copyrighted audio and video without being sued is like.... well Napster at the beginning as the labels were trying to figure out what it meant to them. With the MGM vs Grokster ruling, its just a question of when Youtube will be hit with a charge of inducing millions of people to break copyright laws , not if...

...And its not just copyright lawsuits that will end up severely impacting Youtube's business, its that their business is too easy for the people who own the copyrights to copy.

Well, it's stating the obvious to say that a lot more people read Mark than read me. And it's good that this argument is getting some real play.

I wish he had given me some link love, and he probably would have... if he actually read my blog.

Update: Techcrunch is reporting that Warner Music has reached a deal with YouTube that will allow user generated vids to use music owned by Warner. There are plenty of restrictions and caveats, but this is a big deal. And it suggests that Cuban's assertion may be a little premature. YouTube has plenty left in the tank - nobody was making deals like this with Napster.

On the other hand, doesn't it bolster Universal's impending suit against YouTube, that the video sharing company is entering into this type of agreement with Warner? I dunno. One thing I do know, though, is that the Warner deal says they can pull the rights at any time. And that means that YouTube still has a shut-off valve.