RIP Rickroll. PWL orders all of Astley's music off Youtube
Posted: 2008-04-01 11:38am
CNN Link
This really sucks. Especially after Astley himself says that he loved the newfound popularity he gained through rick rolling. But when there's a buck to be made...LONDON - In spite of the growing popularity of the internet phenomenon known as "rickrolling," Pete Waterman Ltd. has ordered Youtube to remove all of the copies of Rick Astley's 1987 pop hit "Never Gonna Give You Up." PWL, citing concerns of copyright infringement, says that they plan to start selling the now infamous music video on iTunes and Xbox Live.
ADVERTISEMENT
Google, the parent company of the video sharing site, released a statement, calling the move "unfair to our user-base, but we will have to comply with PWL's requests to stay in business." The Youtube community, has responded with a show of solidarity. The video has quickly become the most uploaded video on Youtube and thousands of users has posted video responses expressing their displeasure at the situation.
The hacker group known as "Anonymous," now famous for its protests against the Church of Scientology, has called for a protest of Waterman's London Headquarters. Other members of the online faction have taken to overloading PWL's web servers in protest, briefly replacing the label's front page with a drawing of Guy Fawkes.
