BRIAN MAY Is Looking Into Copyright Strikes On Fan-Filmed QUEEN Concert Videos: ‘I’m Very Concerned’

Brian May says that he and the rest of QUEEN are not behind the recent increase in copyright strikes issued against QUEEN + ADAM LAMBERT concert videos posted to YouTube and other social media platforms.

Earlier today (Monday, December 18),the QUEEN guitarist shared a screenshot of message from a QUEEN fan who claims to have gotten a “strike” from Universal and YouTube over QUEEN videos she posted on the platform. The fan wrote: “Hi guys, it looks like Universal and YouTube are now coming for everyone who posts concert videos of QUEEN and Adam. I got a strike and deleted most of my concert videos. If you get multiple strikes you may lose your channel. Be careful!”

In a message accompanying his post, Brian wrote in part: “I’ve been watching this for a few days, and I’m very concerned. I’ve asked our management to look into it, and try to figure out if there is a reason for Instagram and Universal suddenly becoming so Draconian.

“The decision to take these videos down certainly hasn’t come from us, the band. hopefully we will get an answer soon. Meanwhile, be extra careful and I’m sorry you good folks of good intentions have been put in this position.”

If you take a video of a concert, you may be unable to post that video online because some artists don’t allow unauthorized fan videos of their live performances to be shared online. In most cases, however, you will find that no issue is raised by opposing parties since most musicians don’t want to alienate the very fans who pay to see them. Since 2007, YouTube has provided a program that lets copyright owners monitor such fan-made music videos, allowing a record label, for instance, to drop in ads or “click to buy” links.

QUEEN + ADAM LAMBERT kicked off the 2023 leg of their “Rhapsody” tour on October 4 at the CFG Bank Arena in Baltimore, Maryland. May, drummer Roger Taylor and singer Adam Lambert opened the concert with “Radio Ga Ga” and ran through a total of 25 songs, including the first performance of “Stone Cold Crazy” since 2018 and a rendition of “Is This the World We Created…?”, which was played for the first time with Lambert.

The fall leg of the “Rhapsody” tour ended on November 12 at the BMO Stadium in Los Angeles.

Lambert, May and Taylor first shared the stage during “American Idol” in May 2009 for a performance of “We Are The Champions”. They teamed up again in 2011 at the MTV European Music Awards in Belfast, Ireland for an electrifying eight-minute finale of “The Show Must Go On”, “We Will Rock You” and “We Are The Champions” and in the summer of 2012, Lambert performed a series of shows with QUEEN across Europe as well as dates in Russia, Ukraine and Poland. They have since completed a number of tours and performed at some of the biggest festivals in the world.