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It’s happened to us all: you’ve clicked on a video link, only to see the familiar message. “This video has been removed at the request of the copyright owner.” YouTube and similar video hosting sites, while they don’t police all content, regularly remove videos once a copyright complaint has been filed. It’s up to content owners and third parties to ask that the videos be taken down.

But what happens when they let it slide? While most copyright holders do not take lightly to violations of their materials on the internet, some are embracing the free video trend. RCA records, representing AvrilLavigne , has made her videos YouTube hits by allowing them to stay on the site. The video for her hit song “Girlfriend” has more than 98 million views. A recent BusinessWeek article profiles Kadokawa Holdings, a Japanese animation studio which has also allowed YouTube users to do some of their marketing work for them.

Chairman and CEO Tsuguhiko Kadokawa has actively promoted the work of fans of his company’s productions on YouTube. Two of their most popular shows, Haruhi Suzumiya and Lucky Star, are particularly popular with pirates. While some are maliciously spreading protected material, most violators are simply fans who create mashups or music videos of the characters on the shows. Here’s an example, which uses video from Haruhi Suzumiya set to music.

Companies with copyrighted materials used in this way are well within their rights to ask YouTube to remove the videos, but this creates a problem with the fans. While these videos do violate copyrights, they also bring new viewers and free publicity to the material. Having them removed from YouTube could upset dedicated fans. Kadokawa recognizes these issues and has turned the tables in his favor, allowing clips from his shows and mashups to remain on YouTube. He’s even looking into placing ads on fan videos for DVD sales, downloads, and other merchandise.

“I think a lot of people are watching to see whether we will succeed. If we can do something they haven’t been able to do up to this point, they may follow suit,” Kadokawa told BusinessWeek. A team at his company scours YouTube for videos related to Haruhi Suzumiya and Lucky Star. The company does ask that videos copied from DVDs be removed fom the site, but it also approaches fans who have made the best videos. BusinessWeek reports, “It’s sending e-mails to YouTube users, asking for permission to place Kadokawa’s marque and an ad alongside their videos, and encouraging them to join the four-month-old Kadokawa Anime channel on YouTube (2,186 have joined).”

Not only could the strategy help maintain a loyal fan base, but it could also contribute to the spread of the shows popularity abroad. While it’s best known in Japan, YouTube viewers from all over the world have joined theKadokawa channel, and viewership is going international. Anime is gaining ground all over the world, particularly after the success of films like Spirited Away, by Japan’s most celebrated anime director Hayao Miyazaki.

Kadokawa has set a standard that other copyright holders may follow, learning to embrace the world of shared content. By targeting true pirates and allowing fan-created videos to roam free, the company may in fact win the battle against the internet free-for-all.

Tuesday, August 26th, 2008 You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

By Haley January Eckels