I've deleted the Reece Anderson material

[Bill McCloskey]

I posted some live tracks of Reece Anderson playing live from 1975 and the response was positive enough that I thought I would continue to promote Reece's body of work, especially his out of print recordings. I started posting the 12 string lap steel recordings Reece made about 25 years ago but received an email from a forum member complaining that I was violating Reece's copyright.

1. I don't make any money from youtube. The steel guitar audience is tiny and I don't have anywhere near the number of subscribers and watch hours you need in order to monetize your channel. And the view numbers aren't high enough to generate any revenue if I was monetized (which I'm not).

2. What is a real concern though is fear someone will complain to youtube and have my channel taken down like what happened to Bill Ferguson who lost his channel and decades of live steel playing we will never get back again.

so I have removed the tracks (I'll keep the live tracks up for now). I had planned on promoting all of Reeces' work, but not now. In fact I don't know if I will continue with the channel. These videos take time and effort to get ready for youtube and it is really not worth my time if I am just going to get hassled for it.

[Larry Dering]

There's always somebody to chime in and throw a wrench in the works. I don't know who would benefit from the Copyright if at all. This is why our music history gets lost. Sad we have to deal with legal nonsense. If it were the family I would agree. Thanks Bill for your efforts.

[Doug Taylor]

Thank you for your efforts Bill, I had never heard any of that before and enjoyed what I got to listen to. Unfortunately I have been dealing with a family sickness and death so I missed most of it.

[Levi Gemmell]

I am extremely disappointed by this development, and appreciate what you were doing, Bill.

Please keep the live tracks up for as long as you can.

I listened to everything you posted - completely blew open Reece's contributions for all to see in a different context - felt that it was a significant archive that we could all appreciate, just like Bill Ferguson's videos, and didn't expect this sort of outcome.

I'm sorry to hear you've come up against it, and whoever complained about this needs to have a long, hard think.

[Bill McCloskey]

I've decided not to focus anymore on the steel guitar youtube channel. I'll leave up what I have but it is simply not worth it. I don't make any money from it and not worth the hassle. I've started a new youtube channel, for those interested, focused on meditation and buddhist topics. Hopefully the Buddha won't accuse me of copyright infringement.

If you ever wanted to learn how to meditate, here is a 5 minute video I put together that will teach you everything you need to know about how to meditate for free: https://youtu.be/c6jGYOhWgrU

[Gary Spaeth]

keep your videos backed up on your drives so if they shut you down you won't lose them. then play wack-a-mole with the youtube gatekeepers. fun and games.

[Bill Ferguson]

I can surely relate to what has happened.
The Steel Guitar HOF and it's president attacked me a few years ago and filed copyright claim on over 300 videos. Google gave me 7 days to rubute each one individually, which was an impossibility.
I personally recorded all the videos I posted and had a firm agreement with Scotty, for whom I volunteered my time and money for over 35 years, that I could post the videos. But after Scotty died, the new president decided to get greedy because he thought I was getting rich.
I had well over 1500 videos (music and personal) posted, not just the convention, but many venues.
Fortunately I had friends around the world who had downloaded most of my music and I was able to rebuild my library to about 90%. But I lost all my personal videos FOREVER.
The SGHOF continues to claim they are going to build a building and show my videos, but we all know better. They have been saying that for some 25 years, to no avail. Yet they keep soliciting money, tax free.

And Google will never allow me to have another YouTube site.

So Bill M, thank you for what you were attempting to do. I know the amount of work it takes.

Now, you need to name the person that complained, so we can all boycott them.