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The Internet’s unlikely sweetheart, Rebecca Black, has been causing some serious drama on YouTube this week. You’d think she was a 13-year-old girl or something.
When videos are taken down, it’s usually over a misunderstanding or just some troll being hateful and stupid. But this video removal is a little heftier thanks to pending legal action between Ms. Black and the [s]hit music sweatshop, “Ark Music Factory.” Allegedly, Black was not given the master tracks to her “Friday” monstrosity, and now that the song has seen some extreme viral acclaim, Black desperately wants those tracks. According to her contract, they belong to her, but Ark hasn’t handed over the goods. We’re not surprised by Ark’s shady behavior, and they’ve undoubtedly seen giant profits off of the tracks.
We’re not sure about the specifics of the contract, but Black and her legal team are asserting that Ark Music Factory had no right to release the tracks and publicize Rebecca Black as one of their artists. Of course, it comes down to money. Specifically money that comes from royalties, ringtones, and merchandise sales. As a result of all this legal hubbub, the now iconic “Friday” video has been all over the place. It was listed as a YouTube rental (see below — $2.99… really?), listed as private, and now the video has been removed completely.

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So what’s our take? First of all, this inconsistency with the video’s presence online is embarrassing for all parties. Take the video down or leave it up, but this YouTube tug-of-war is really childish, especially for a video that everyone’s already seen back when it was having it’s 15 minutes. And this brings us to our next thought: time on the internet moves EXTREMELY quickly. “Friday” had it’s reign of glory and it’ll be remembered as a part of Internet history, but it’s not so current anymore. It’s like trying to squeeze blood from an old ass stone that nobody cares about anymore.
But if we have to choose, we’re on Rebecca’s side. Artists should be able to control and profit from their work and it’s really a shame that Ark has behaved so dishonorably up until this point. We’re sure Rebecca will get some really angsty diary entries and ballads out of this wreck.


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If you want to watch it, which I doubt you can here:
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