I was a subway musician for 25 years from 1975-2000 here in Montreal, I also played in night-clubs and sang in the summers at a tourist area called the Old Port. After 25 years of trying to make a living as a musician I switched careers and became a computer nerd. About 18 months ago I came upon YT and it hit a nerve, my love of music reared it's head and my guitar which in the previous 6 years had remained mostly dormant once again became part of my daily routine. Most of my musical life had been spent busking and forced to sing songs that would make me money but now on YT for the first time I get to sing what I like. You will find that I have a wide variety of tastes and styles probably because my mother owned a record store from the time I was 8 till I was 18 and I just loved being there and I was inundated with all kinds of music. My first profile got suspended (read story below) and this is my second profile. After being suspended the YT community has been wonderfully supportive and I thank you all.

January 23, 2008

My regular account has been disabled today (Jan 23 2008) due to "copyright infringement" of three songs, the first complaint I got was from ABCKO concerning the Sam Cooke song "Bring it on Home to me". The second complaint I got was from Van Morrison / Polydor for the song "Wild Night" and the third complaint was from Van Morrison/ Exile Productions for the song "You don't know me".

I did some research about something called FAIR USE, but it does not apply according to legal web sites I researched mainly because Youtube is a commercial enterprise. Any song that is copyrighted can not be covered without permission (theoretically) but nothing is done about covers unless the owner of the copyright files a complaint. So basically you sing a cover, you are breaking the agreement you made with YT when you joined and you take your chances.

I don't believe there is a person behind a desk making these decisions, it is probably a computer program that automatically suspends an account after 3 complaints.

I will keep doing covers (take my chances) and accept reality. I won't be doing any more Van Morrison or Sam Cooke songs.
thank you all for your support, you have been most generous.

Malvasio profile #1
R.I.P.
December 11, 2006 - January 23, 2008

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