Since I made my objections to Kutimans Youtube video, Give it Up public here on Facebook and in a blog post, I think its only right that I post an update. Kutiman got in touch with me yesterday, and addressed my concerns in detail with grace and understanding. Firstly, the album to be released on 1 October is not an album at all in the traditional sense. It is an upload to Youtube and a share of the upload on his own site. There is no revenue share on Youtube, and no advertising on his own site. There is no means of *officially* downloading it for free or otherwise (that wont stop people from downloading it via mp3 search engines, but that is an unrelated issue). Secondly, the descriptions of the video on numerous news and viral sites referring to the included artists as amateurs, while regrettable and inaccurate, are out of Kutimans hands, and are down to the bloggers, journalists and posters on the sites. Last, but by no means least, the issue of permission for use of clips. Kutimans ethos is to find videos that he likes enough to use in his mash-ups, but dont have a lot of hits. The idea is to give the artists exposure, and for them to be pleasantly surprised when they see a sudden upward spike in their views and discover that theyve been included in a viral video. Its a nice idea, but this is where I differ. My view is that it is dangerous to assume that every selected person wants to have their material used in that context, and that given the misleading information surrounding the video (e.g. album release, amateurs, etc), not everyone would be as thrilled with their 5 minutes of Youtube fame as Kutiman might have hoped. Having trawled through a lot of the (mostly semi-literate) comments on the video and responses on the blogs and posts about the video, it is clear that Im not the only one who holds this view. Kutiman took my view to heart and has agreed to review his selection process on future videos. The outcome is that I have retracted my copyright complaint. I have a much better understanding of Kutimans ethos behind his mash-up videos, which are done purely as a labour of love in his spare time when he isnt earning his living as a musician and producer. They are done in the spirit of mass collaboration with no commercial intentions, and every intention of providing more exposure for the artists involved. My initial reaction was arguably an emotional overreaction, but I reacted based on the information to hand, and Kutiman both understood and respected my point of view as well as Dans. If I hadnt reacted at all, my initial anger would have simmered down to a niggling irritation and no dialogue with the creator of the project. And they all lived happily ever after. :D
Posted on: Thu, 18 Sep 2014 17:20:29 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015