Can you imagine your world of music without YouTube?

Well, can you? Did you watch Gangam Style on the infamous video platform when it just became popular? Do you look for music videos of your favorite artists and songs or try to find songs that you caught the melody of at last night’s party? If you do some of these things, you probably don’t live in Germany…

Because around here, almost all music videos or videos just containing copyrighted music are blocked on YouTube. What sounds like internet censorship in China and other non-western parts of the world is actually the sad everyday life of people in Germany. So why is that?

The Süddeutsche Zeitung released an article with some statistics at the end of January. It turns out that of the top 1000 videos on YouTube, most of them being popular music videos, 61.5% are not watchable within Germany. If you click on one of these videos, you’ll see a message like this:

So, in a nation where freedom is spelled with a capital “f”, music videos are not accessible on the world’s largest video collection platform. Even if the artist himself has uploaded the video, chances are it cannot be watched in Germany. In comparison, of the top 1000 most popular videos on YouTube, 15.3% cannot be accessed in South Sudan, 5.1% in the State of Vatican and 4,4% in Afghanistan.

To put it into a few words: it’s a disgrace. A hypocrisy for a nation that criticizes countries like Ukraine, Russia and China for not being as democratic, lets its people access less music videos than the freshly established, third-world and islamic nation of South Sudan. And it’s not even close.

The reason behind this is that YouTube itself blocks these videos for German viewers. It does so in order to protect itself from copyright infringement claims by GEMA – the Society for musical performing and mechanical reproduction rights (Gesellschaft für musikalische Aufführungs- und mechanische Vervielfältigungsrechte), the private but state-authorized copyright society in Germany.

Now people outside of Germany might ask why this is a problem, since many other western nations also have similar institutions. Well, Google, the parent company of YouTube, managed to settle on a deal with each on the amount of money the respective copyright society receives for each video clicked. Unfortunately, this is where the notorious German stinginess dominates again – because GEMA demands a resounding 0,00375 Euros (or 0,375 cents) per view. That is more than three times as much as the copyright society in Britain receives from Google. So in the end, GEMA is the reason for Germans not being able to watch videos that contain any sort of copyrighted music. Google/YouTube tried to solve this problem by asking GEMA for a list of artists and titles which they represent the copyrights of, but GEMA denied the request, saying that it would not make sense to send Google such a list, since it is Google itself that blocks the videos.

GEMA has since become an organization which the majority of people in Germany love to hate, especially young people who enjoy keeping up in the music world. The Germafrican contacted GEMA and asked why they insist on demanding such an outrageously high amount. I received the following answer:

“…in other countries, YouTube put pressure on the copyright societies. Higher sums have also been demanded there. We believe that our demands are not too high, but fair and adequate for our members.“

In the end, it comes down to how greedy GEMA is and whether it could settle for less money. Considering that the board members receive an annual salary of nearly 500.000 Euros, one might think they are in a position where negotiation with lower sums should be possible.

GEMA is obviously not aware of any social responsibility. Music is one of the most important parts of culture and in our modern times, where technology enables us to share pretty much anything, it is a real shame that a country like Germany is so far behind when it comes to simply listening to some music on YouTube, which normally is taken for granted in pretty much every other nation on our planet…

The sixth generation iPhone is here!

It’s time. No other electronic device has stirred up this much talk, rumour and excitement since the release of…well the last iPhone I’d say. Of course, I don’t want to bash on Samsung, their Galaxy SIII flagship phone is also one very impressive piece of technology. But still, the Apple brand and the smartphone revolution brought about by Steve Jobs five years ago with the introduction of the original iPhone is legendary to say the least. Samsung simply does not have the same type of followers. While some people who hate Apple, I got to read what one had to say by the way, are so frustrated by the company’s success, they are going mad – telling people in their article to consider the fact that the iPhone is not a Swiss pocket knife with all sorts of handy gadgets, like a knife for example to cut off some mushrooms in the woods. Now I don’t know what kind of mushrooms that specific journalist is into, but I believe he once thought Apple might be a drug selling company and just got really disappointed when he found out that this is not the case.

While certain saint-like people criticize Apple for not selling drugs, but letting poor Chinese workers build their iPhones under harsh conditions for companies like Foxconn instead, people like me just can’t help but admire the economical success of the company. Let’s now take a look at the Apple shares in the period of 2003 – 2012. Suffice it to say, there is nothing else quite like it:

Since products like the iPhone and the iPad have been introduced, Apple has simply made a fortune. A lot of people outside of the company got rich too. And let’s not forget, the US budget also profits in a time of global shortage of cash. That’s why the verdict on the patent dispute between Apple and Samsung was not a big surprise for many people…

But let’s get back to the topic. Early today, Apple showed a little hint that something big was going to come, since the online Apple store has been down all day. If some people still had their doubts about the new iPhone getting presented today, they should have vanished in the meantime.

Mystery in the online Apple store…

Not much was known on technical specifications of the new iPhone, as usual, but tech-fans assume that performance levels will be contending with the Samsung Galaxy SIII. However, rumours were that it will include worldwide LTE support. Now that is a big call, since LTE networks are somewhat different from country to country. Also of course, iOS 6 will be released and while we all already got to enjoy a little preview, it will be interesting to see what changes Siri and Apple’s new map application will have in store.

The main reason Apple went with the development of their own map/navigation software is obviously due to their competitive relation with Google, as in Android. While Google Maps have made all of us, whether we’re Apple supporters or Android fans (I haven’t forgotten about you Windows guys, but let’s be honest, you’re not in the picture right now), Google’s navigation has made all of us quite happy. My biggest fear is that the app is more limited when it comes to actual maps, compared with Google’s product.

So, what did the keynote say? Well, it’s official, the next iPhone is officially called iPhone 5. It has got a metal backside and the display is larger. According to Phil Schiller, marketing manager at Apple, it is the thinnest iPhone ever and he considers it a “jewel”. Here are all the specs from the keynote so far:

– It is only 7,6 mm at its thinnest point
– With 112 grams, it is also lighter than the iPhone 4S
– The display is 4 inch retina-display, with a resolution of 1136 x 640 pixels
– LTE is also included
– It is shipped with a brand new processor, the A6 chip
– Battery life headlines with 8 hours of voice calls or surfing via 3G, as well as 8 hours for surfing via LTE according to Schiller. It can also do 225 hours of standby time before you need to go and find a plug
– The iPhone 5 comes with a new camera, capable of taking photos with a resolution of 8 megapixels (3264 x 2448). It also includes new features, like noise reduction and an infrared filter, getting close to the quality of SLR cameras. It can only also take panorama photos with up to an incredible amount of 28 megapixels!
– It comes with three microphones and a noise-cancelling earpiece, in order to increase audio quality
– A new dock connector is also introduced, which is 80% smaller compared to the previous one
– The iPhone 5 comes in black and white versions
– Prices for the new version of the iPhone will stay the same, i.e. it costs as much as the iPhone 4S did until now
– The iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S get cheaper

P.S. iOS 6 will come out on September 19th and it will also run on the iPhone 3GS. The iPhone itself will be available as from September 21st.

Germany’s ex-First Lady cleaning up

Wulff. A name not that uncommon in German-speaking parts of the world.  It is only one of the different variants we have. Some others include Wulf, Wolff and Wolf. Although the exact meaning is unclear today, it established itself as a reference to the legendary canid. If you would ask people on the street to describe the behaviour of a wolf, quite a few different terms would come up. Personally, I would describe a wolf as a very beautiful animal, powerful, fierce, cunning. Who knows, some attributes might also be applicable for people carrying the name.

Germany’s former president, Christian Wulff, who resigned in February, after the department of public prosecution of Hanover filed for the abrogation of Wulff’s legal immunity as president of the Federal Republic of Germany in order to be able to begin with investigations of corruption, at least managed to get German linguists to get creative. As a result of his more or less legal intrigues, a new verb came up: “wulffen” – which means to babble onto someone’s answering machine, as Wulff did with editor-in-chief of Bild, Kai Diekmann.

Since Wulff stepped down as president, another big discussion started because of the “Ehrensold” – the gratuity sum Germany’s former presidents receive after their services for their country have ended. Of course, in Wulff’s case “services” get a whole new meaning. Germans got furious after they found out that Wulff was to receive 199.000 € per year of tax payers money. Immediately, debates arose on whether such a scandalous and rather fruitless period of presidency was worthy of receiving such a large sum of money for the rest of his life. And for quite a long time too, since Wulff was Germany’s youngest president in history, at age 53.

I have to admit that I also do not agree with the Ehrensold for Christian Wulff. I do not want to play down the work Wulff has done in his time as president and I think it is difficult for third parties to rate Wulff’s efforts. But this large sum of money seems a bit too much, considering that he was only president for about two years. Furthermore, his predecessor Horst Köhler, who stepped down as president due to controversial statements on foreign deployments of the German Bundeswehr, turned down his Ehrensold, even though he was in office much longer than Wulff, having been president of Germany from 2004 – 2010.

Since it was the media who started to uncover the alleged scandals surrounding Wulff, claims have also been made about his wife, ex-First Lady Bettina Wulff, who allegedly has worked in the sexual services industry in her younger years, before she met her husband.

Apparently, she googled herself and was rather unpleased with the results and keywords that popped up. On Friday, she filed an action against Google and also against famous German TV host, Günther Jauch, who had quoted from an article in the “Berliner Zeitung”. According to local newspapers, she pursues a declaration of discontinuance from Jauch about mentioning the topic.

Let’s think about this for a second. I can understand that Mrs. Wulff dislikes connections of her being brought into connection with prostitution from an ethical point of view. And the media making statements without actual facts is also a never ending story. But to order a TV host from keeping his mouth shut and not being allowed to quote what or whom he wants is unacceptable in a nation that so proudly speaks of freedom of press/speech/opinion. In the meantime however, Günther Jauch agreed to the request within a few hours of these legal steps.

Another point that makes you think is the fact that you are allowed to say: “I think/heard that John Doe worked as a toilet cleaner from 2000 to 2001.” Now I am not a lawyer, but in my opinion I only made a statement about a profession I think a certain person had performed in a certain period of time, irrespective of the ethical point of view of the profession. Since prostitution is legal in Germany and employees of the sexual service industry also have to pay taxes and also get statutory health insurance, I really do consider seeing Mrs. Wulff succeed with legal cases for reputational damage as incorrect, when speculating on a former profession. A prostitute who meets the legal requirements such as majority age, health issues etc. is not performing an illegal profession. It would be a whole different story if I would make the statement that a certain John Doe worked as a hit-man or a drug dealer.

A large number of people commented on this story on the internet. Since Mrs. Wulff also filed for compensation for pain and suffering, many believe this is just another addition of the Wulff family trying to increase their wealth. And of course this is not the first time a member of the Wulff family tries to get a muzzle on the press…

If I recall correctly, the majority of Germans do not consider the greater part of  statements from Christian Wulff to be true. Of course, no one can say Bettina Wulff worked in the sexual service industry for sure without having any proof supporting the statement, but honesty is a term most people do not bring into connection with this now infamous surname…