WebProNews

I agree with almost everyone here, it's great publicity for the band, no offense to youtube but, the audio quality isn't perfect, which is good in a way because its obviously faster streaming and decreases loading time, but also, the actual quality songs come from iTunes and CD's you buy at the store. Most videos with songs usually have background NOISE aswell, which even if you somehow take the audio off of youtube video, you still have the NOISE in the background aswell. Most of the songs and bands I know of, half are what my friends show me, and the other half is what comes from youtube. I say "hey, id like this song in full quality, and on my ipod...lets go to iTunes/best buy/target or whatever and lets get the CD or song." IF THAT SONG WASNT ON YOUTUBE HOW ELSE WOULD I HAVE KNOWN ABOUT IT TO BUY IT!?!? Almost every song in my iTunes purchases playlist I have found through youtube. That just proves that youtube helps bands bring in more money.

one more thing, if I was in a band, and I found my music on someone video, and then I look in the description and I see that they gave my band credit for the song, I would be honored because I know I've got fans out there that would go as far as to make a video and single out our stuff and make of video and put the song on their video and share it to the world.

I think that utube is a great way of introducing pepople to music that they may not usually listen to and therefore look for more music by that artist.
All advertising is good advertising and most music lovers want a better sound than they would get from ripping utube video clips!

This really doesnt address the fact that someones edited music + edited video + user commentary = a new product (fair use??? Freedom of speech??? Music reviews???). Eliminating users from sharing a video with copyrighted audio is silly, this isnt hurting sales. Why not mute the audio on the music played on the radio as well? Just because clever people can find a way to pirate a song off youtube doesnt mean that the masses are doing it. As the traditional media continues to flail in its battle against piracy it becomes more and more clear what they truly are; dinosaurs desperately trying to survive as the landscape changes and they are unable to adapt.