Folks, I know: It’s quite been a while. But keeping in mind the huge amount of other interesting blogs out there I’m pretty sure that you didn’t get bored in the meanwhile. So let’s get back to business and continue where we stopped last time!

On January 21st, Warner Music became first in place in our Hmm-ranking: They suspended the YouTube Channel of my co-author, co-musician and friend Sebastian Mereu, known and popular there for his creative Ukulele covers.

To Sebi, the suspendition equals a huge loss. With 100 videos online, he generated more than 500’000 views and had more than 1000 subscribers. Three hours after his channel got locked up (without any notification), he annotated on his Facebook profile: “But I claim they’re wrong. It’s free promotion for them. I don’t make money with it. Au contraire, I invest time and effort to make their music more popular. And that is how they thank me? Crazy world we’re living in.” (See the whole feed here.)

Crazy world, indeed. Seems like Warner Music didn’t make it out the fog yet. A single step outside their grey, malodorous cloud would let them realize that things have hanged, which is what Sebi pointed out so well in the quote above. But the case of Sebi aka monsterbazz doesn’t seem to be an isolated one: There are plenty of articles and forum threads on this topic. (Find an interesting cnet article on the YouTube/Warner issue here).

What will be next? I don’t even wanna guess. But one thing is for sure: We need to stand together and become part of the discussion! The first thing you should do right now is to post/share Sebi’s Warner Music Love Song #2: ‘YouTubers Unite!!’, which is of course 100% genuine. Spread the word! It might be one small step for you, but one giant leap for all of us.

And always keep in mind: Sharing means caring.

~Simon