The silly politics of images
The recent news story about the battle over video rights between Prince and Radiohead made me think about parallels in the dance world. For those of you unfamiliar with the issues, Radiohead is a band that favors the publicity that comes through free availability of their music. They even released their latest album as a digital download with optional pricing, so you only pay for it if you want to. So, when Prince performed their song, then demanded that YouTube delete any videos of his performance -- even though they were shot by fans -- Radiohead got miffed and is asking YouTube to show those videos since they own the rights.
Not long ago, a competition organizer complained to me about people uploading to YouTube a number of videos shot at his annual event. "What, you don't like the publicity?" I asked. He hadn't thought of it as publicity because he was so focused on the legal issues of who owned the "rights" to the footage.
While shooting pictures of my daughter at the Crystal Leaf competition in Toronto recently, some goons came up to me and told me to cease and desist because they had exclusive rights to take pictures. I talked to organizer Oleg Yedlin and informed him that the IDSF actually published a document decrying these kinds of exclusive photo arrangements because they inhibit publicity and awareness of the sport. The best publicity possible for any business or organization is the free publicity that comes from people sharing with others, like taking pictures or videos and posting them on YouTube or Facebook. These are essential marketing tools for the digital age.
Dance event organizers need to get with the program and not only allow photography and amateur videos but encourage them.
In a study of online behavior, book publishers found to their surprise that when books were available on the Internet as free files, the number of physical copies sold of those books actually increased. Music publishers have found that offering DRM-free music has actually increased legal downloads. In contrast, those who inhibit these activities are feeling the pain of the outcry against them. The most popular YouTube clip about Prince the other day was a rant by a "former Prince fan" attacking the artist's tactics. That's bad for business! When you allow people to be fully part of the events you hold, they become even more involved. That's been proven by the success of events where photography and video are allowed. People still buy just as many of the shots taken by pros as they do now. They still buy the video footage taken by the official vendor, just as they do now.
Not long ago, a competition organizer complained to me about people uploading to YouTube a number of videos shot at his annual event. "What, you don't like the publicity?" I asked. He hadn't thought of it as publicity because he was so focused on the legal issues of who owned the "rights" to the footage.
While shooting pictures of my daughter at the Crystal Leaf competition in Toronto recently, some goons came up to me and told me to cease and desist because they had exclusive rights to take pictures. I talked to organizer Oleg Yedlin and informed him that the IDSF actually published a document decrying these kinds of exclusive photo arrangements because they inhibit publicity and awareness of the sport. The best publicity possible for any business or organization is the free publicity that comes from people sharing with others, like taking pictures or videos and posting them on YouTube or Facebook. These are essential marketing tools for the digital age.
Dance event organizers need to get with the program and not only allow photography and amateur videos but encourage them.
In a study of online behavior, book publishers found to their surprise that when books were available on the Internet as free files, the number of physical copies sold of those books actually increased. Music publishers have found that offering DRM-free music has actually increased legal downloads. In contrast, those who inhibit these activities are feeling the pain of the outcry against them. The most popular YouTube clip about Prince the other day was a rant by a "former Prince fan" attacking the artist's tactics. That's bad for business! When you allow people to be fully part of the events you hold, they become even more involved. That's been proven by the success of events where photography and video are allowed. People still buy just as many of the shots taken by pros as they do now. They still buy the video footage taken by the official vendor, just as they do now.
