As MWA explains it, the only reason that free music on YouTube can legally exist is due to “safe harbor laws” included in a piece of late-nineties legislation called the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, which relieves giant companies like Google from being liable for the material that circulates on YouTube, and puts the responsibility of reporting copyright violations on the artists themselves. “Reforming DMCA Section 512 is the only way to fix the ‘leak’ and establish a fair functioning market for recorded music,” MWA writes in its explainer. “Once this happens, we can organize and build
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