Why You Can't See Rebecca Black's Friday Video

She and recording studio disagree over who owns what
By Tim Karan,  Newser Staff
Posted Jun 17, 2011 2:40 PM CDT
Rebecca Black's 'Friday' Removed from YouTube Over Copyright Dispute
Rebecca Black's "Friday" video was removed from YouTube amidst a legal battle between the singer and her label.   (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello)

It's Friday, Friday, gotta take down Friday on Friday. Just when you thought you'd heard the last of YouTube sensation Rebecca Black, the singer (add your own quotes around that word if you like) is again in the spotlight—this time for taking down the YouTube video that made her infamous. Lawyers for the 13-year-old are locked in a legal battle with Ark Music Factory over who owns the rights to her image and her surprising hit single, explains Reuters. "The dispute has been going on for months and is more about the contracts that young musicians sign before they hit it big," writes Eriq Gardner.

Black recorded the song through the vanity label Ark Music, and her attorneys claim the company profited on the unexpected success of the video without the right to market her as an exclusive artist or providing her with promised masters. "Most bona fide record labels would have taken care of such matters rather easily," writes Gardner. "But if Ark was really more like a recording studio for hire rather than a recording label, it likely gave little thought to how it would support Black's career through publicity and marketing expenditures." Now a court might have to straighten it all out. (More Rebecca Black stories.)

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