In the Air Tonight

In their viral reaction video twins Tim and Fred Williams listened to Phil Collins’ “In the Air Tonight” for the first time: they loved it. It brought an almost four-decade-old song back to the spotlight, including peaking at #2 in the iTunes chart. The reaction video “In the Air Tonight” was played in its entirety. Should this be allowed? Does this infringe on Collins’ copyright of the song? I don’t have a legal answer, but I don’t think a YouTuber should be able to make money off a video where the primary content is a copyrighted work played in its entirety. (What takes more creativity and effort, writing a song or reacting to it?) In this case, the viral video prompted sales of the original, but regardless of the financial outcome, I think the principle stands. With that being said I don’t think all use of a copyrighted work should prompt YouTube to demonetize or ban a video, for instance, I think short clips should continue to be covered under fair use. The distinction is that a short 5–20 second clip allows someone to discuss the work, and if a viewer wants to see the entire original work, they will have to go to the original artist or their distributor to access it. To me, that seems fair and allows the original creator more control over their work.