On Feb. 21, and again on Feb. 23, Nadine Nippard posted videos on the social media video website in which she sings two well-known country songs a cappella.
One song was a cover of Martina McBride’s hit How Far, while the other was a video of her singing Bless the Broken Road, a song made famous by the group Rascal Flatts.
Within days, Ms. Nippard received notices from three recording companies suggesting her videos constituted copyright infringement, and demanded she take them down.
“It’s amazing, because I can give you names, and I can show you videos, certain ones I’ve seen, and they’ve been posted, uploaded since 2006-2007, and even prior, and they’re still there, and they’re doing covers of famous famous people, and they got millions of hits,” said Ms. Nippard. “I’ve seen some that got millions, and I’m talking millions, and there’s no issue with them obviously, because they’re still there.”
Ms. Nippard is relatively new to the world of YouTube. She opened an account in 2009, but only began posting videos this past February.
“I wanted to do it because I’ve been singing since I was 13,” she said. “The pastor in my church noticed that I could sing, I don’t know how, and him and his wife said, ‘Okay, we’ll play the keyboard for you and you come into the parsonage with us, into the home,’ and he played the keyboard and she listened, and when I was done, they said they wanted me to sing that night. I was 13.”
“I wanted to do it because I’ve been singing since I was 13.” - Nadine Nippard
Before she knew it, she was singing in front of an audience and getting very positive reactions from the group of church-goers.
“I sang, and I came down from the stage, and I had a standing ovation,” she said. “I never dreamed, I never dreamed in my life I could sing. I may not be the best out there, I’m not saying I’m the best or nothing like that.”
Fast forward to 2013, and the woman decided to take her singing to a wider audience, via the Internet.
“It was some time in February, I said to my husband, ‘Maybe I should do some videos, and put them up on YouTube, and see how it goes,” said Ms. Nippard.
Within a few days, she had received the notices, and that’s when she started wondering if perhaps she was being unfairly targeted.
“It is my belief that I am being discriminated against,” she said. “I don’t know why they would come after me after just a few days. It doesn’t make any sense.”
Ms. Nippard said she does not have any immediate plans to take down the videos, and in fact, wants to take her story global.
“I’ve got calls into all the major talk shows in the United States,” she said. “People need to hear my story. I want this to go around the world.”
tsaunders@ganderbeacon.ca
Twitter: @Beacon1Reporter
