The RIAA lawsuit engine is in FULL GEAR.

I'd think that most studios and artists would approve of incidental usage in these amateur videos. In the marketing industry, there's a maxim: "there's no such thing as bad publicity."

I fail to see where profits are being made from incidental footage on YouTube, since I'd estimate that 99.9% of contributors aren't making a dime from their efforts. Most studios and labels trip over their bureaucratic forms to see that their works are "donated" to non-profit use. Normally this implies charitable foundations but if people are making videos just for fun, then that's technically non-profit as well.

The moment any of them makes a taxable earning from their video, then the RIAA might have reason to ask for a fair consideration. But this is definitely on a case-by-case basis and not to be implemented as a blanket policy for all YouTube users.

I think this world fell into a downward spiral the moment the merchants and lawyers seized control.

Jam it back in, in the dark.