My First YouTube Content Ownership Dispute
In the year after my divorce, as I was trying to figure out what to do next, I uploaded a handful of videos to YouTube. Some are of me just being goofy and singing, a couple are of me just talking to the camera about what I was going through and one was a documentary about Geoff Smith called Making Gravity with Geoff Smith.
Some of the videos contain songs and YouTube associates the songs with copyright holders and provides links to buy mp3s of the original recordings. To me that seems like an ideal use of technology. I got to be goofy and sing a couple songs that provided sales opportunities for the copyright holders, and no one would opt for my silly versions over the originals. Pretty cool.
I recorded one video on a Sunday afternoon. Typical for me, on a Sunday afternoon, Miles Davis was playing quietly in the background. It didn’t cross my mind that the song was even in the video because I’m talking the whole time. YouTube’s tech detected the song, but didn’t associate it with the title and didn’t provide links to buy the MP3. They contacted me to let me know they couldn’t monetize it unless I could prove I had the right to use the song. That makes sense. It’s a video YouTube could remove completely and I wouldn’t care.
This morning I got this notice about the Making Gravity documentary:
Dear 00neal,
Your video, Making Gravity with Geoff Smith, may have content that is owned or licensed by IODA.
No action is required on your part; however, if you are interested in learning how this affects your video, please visit the Content ID Matches section of your account for more information.
Sincerely,
- The YouTube Team
I clicked the link to dispute the question about my right to use the song. I produced the video with the songwriter and copyright owner, Geoff Smith. It’s a documentary created to promote Geoff’s music. The dispute process was smooth and I expect a positive resolution.
It makes sense to me that Google’s algorithm would flag the content. Geoff uses the IODA (Independent Online Distribution Alliance) to distribute and protect his music. They provide independent artists with the same type of protection that major labels provide to their artists. Neither IODA or YouTube would know that Geoff worked with me to produce this documentary about Geoff producing his song That’s Gravity. Ideally, YouTube will check it out, and they’ll add those groovy links so people can buy copies of the MP3. It really is a great song.
It is a good thing that we’re upset by SOPA, PIPA, and stories about videos wrongly taken down from YouTube. In my experience, YouTube is doing a pretty impressive job balancing the rights of copyright holders with the desires of users, and they’re doing it without the interference of Congress.
Get a copy of That’s Gravity from Amazon for $0.99!
Read MoreOriginal Blade Runner Design Sketchbook
I clicked a link and started flipping through this out of print Blade Runner design sketchbook. It is very cool and free to enjoy. Just click the Expand button.
Read MoreYour (awful) Guide to Holiday Movies from Think
I love public radio and one of my favorite shows is called Think with Krys Boyd. It’s smart and Krys is an excellent host. Before you read the rest of what I’m about to write, you should listen to this episode …
Think is produced in Dallas and this episode features DFW film critics, Stephen Becker of KERA’s Art&Seek, Christopher Kelly of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram and Chris Vognar of The Dallas Morning News. I’m not familiar any of these guys, but two of them came across as much too film illiterate to have jobs as film critics. One guy fell asleep in Hugo. A couple of them consider National Lampoon’s A Christmas Vacation a great Christmas film. They suggested Home Alone and It’s a Wonderful Life are not Christmas movies. One or more of them hasn’t seen Love Actually and still criticized it!?!?! The number of films these professional film critics admitted they haven’t seen was embarrassingly astounding.
Dear Krys Boyd,
Think is the best show produced by KERA and one of the best shows on public radio. Please skip these guys next time you want to talk about film. It’s like they decided because they like going to movies they would get jobs as movie critics without understanding that they’d be no go at it until they had seen everything. The take away from this episode of Think is the guests you had on haven’t taken the time to watch enough films to know what to Think.
Love the show, though!
Neal
Read MoreSmooth Tracking Shots on iPhone / handheld cameras
With few exceptions, I believe moving the camera is filmmaking SIN! I’ll give you mercy IF you have tools to keep the camera from shaking. I believe in simply setting up a shot and letting the action take place in front of the lens. Jerky, quick camera moves might be an Avant-garde shooting style, but it’s a style that sucks. If you’re going to shoot in HD and you don’t have the tools to keep the shot smooth, just please follow this one simple rule:
DO
NOT
MOVE
THE
CAMERA!
If you want the camera to move, there are tools like balancing stabilizers, jibs, tracks, and of course tripods. Without them, your shots will be better if you don’t move the camera at all ever. With the right tools, though, you can achieve shots that are down-right cinematic even with an iPhone.
Mobislyder is small little track designed for iPhone, iPod Touch and other small video cameras that gives shooters the ability to capture smooth tracking shoots like you see in film. It has a variety of mounting options including and articulated mount, mobile device mount, 1/4″ standard mount, adhesive ball mount and a 1/4″ ball mount, so really the only limitation on cameras you can use with it is weight.
Glidetrack, the company producing mobislyder has them available for preorder at a special launch price of $129.49 at the time I’m writing this.
Watch this demo to see the kinds of shots you can capture with mobislyder:
“You Wouldn’t Steal” Anti-Piracy Campaign in Trouble
If you’ve watched more than a few DVDs, you’ve most likely seen this little anti-piracy video. It says,
You wouldn’t steal a car,
you wouldn’t steal a handbag,
you wouldn’t steal a television,
you wouldn’t steal a movie.Downloading pirated films is stealing,
stealing is against the law,
PIRACY IT’S A CRIME
An organization called BREIN hired Melchior Rietveldt to score the anti-piracy video you’ve seen on DVD after DVD. According to Rietveldt, BREIN only acquired rights to use the music when playing the video at a local film festival. When he saw it included in a Harry Potter DVD, he wasn’t happy.
The video has been included on thousands of DVDS sold millions of times and Rietveldt wants to be paid. It’s estimated that he’s missed out on $1.3 Million.
The Hollywood-funded campaign has been criticized heavily by film lovers because it’s shown to those of us who pay to see films and buy DVDs. The people who actually infringe copyright aren’t influenced by the preaching to the choir message.
Geeks believe when content is available in fair ways and fair prices, people will happily pay to consume it. When Hollywood makes restrictions too restrictive, people will find a work around the limitations in exactly the same way BREIN seems to have worked around paying Melchior Rietveldt for his creation.
Read more about this story here.
Read MorePBS Documentary about Woody Allen
I’m a HUGE Woody Allen fan. This is a documentary PBS made about his work.
Part 1
Watch Woody Allen: A Documentary Part 1 on PBS. See more from AMERICAN MASTERS.
Read More
