No More Broadway YouTubes

[PalJoey]

Posted: 1/2/08 at 4:22pm

http://www.playbill.com/news/article/112559.html

[Wanna Be A Foster]

Posted: 1/2/08 at 4:23pm

This is old news.

[mateo]

Posted: 1/2/08 at 4:24pm

"Actors' Equity and other unions do not enjoy these clips"

Is that why some actors have said clips on their myspace pages?

[morosco]

Posted: 1/2/08 at 4:27pm

Many people are getting around this by simply not making their videos easily searchable.

[artscallion]

Posted: 1/2/08 at 4:29pm

There goes most of there free advertising too. I think they're cutting off their nose to spite their face. Sure they have the right to control use of their 'property'. But I wonder how maintaining that control balances against the loss of rabid teen stirring those videos do.

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 1/2/08 at 4:33pm

How does this affect the BWW Policy?

[Craig]

Posted: 1/2/08 at 4:36pm

Message Board Guidelines excerpt:

Posting of copyrighted material is prohibited. Posting of links to websites with copyrighted material that do not have permission or hold copyrights for the material in question is also prohibited. For written material you may post an excerpt if available, please include a web link as well if one exists.


The posting of YouTube links (and similar websites) which contain copyrighted material is prohibited. You may post links to material on these sites which do not violate copyrights.

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 1/2/08 at 4:38pm

Then why does no one delete all these threads linking to copyrighted material on YouTube? Virtually EVERY YouTube Link is a copyright violation.

[Craig]

Posted: 1/2/08 at 4:43pm

As with youtube itself - when threads are noticed or reported, the offending threads are deleted.

[morosco]

Posted: 1/2/08 at 4:51pm

oh lord.

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 1/2/08 at 4:52pm

I just never understood why BWW rescinded the edict in the first place. Almost every link posted here to YouTube since then was a copyright violation.

[son_of_a_gunn_25]

Posted: 1/2/08 at 5:23pm

It is there because it protects BWW from litigation.

I wonder what percentage of people will go see a show based on clips they've seen from YouTube or had an influence on it. My guess is it would be higher in the tween to college age ranges.

This age group is all about media consumption. The more media you can get out for a show, the more likely youth are to go see it in my personal experience. A lot of word of mouth goes on online. I know YouTube is problem ridden, but it makes a point.

Broadway productions do not come close to releasing the amount of media that modern youth expect. If Broadway wants to court younger audiences as their older audience dies off, they need to address these issues and bring in people just getting out of college to help them understand this mentality.

[nitsua]

Posted: 1/2/08 at 5:41pm

And then you have Spring Awakening which released a freakin' music video.

(Which I love watching!)

[SueleenGay]

Posted: 1/2/08 at 5:43pm

Damn Unions. Now I will NEVER see Donna Vivino as Elphaba. Shoot!

[best12bars]

Posted: 1/2/08 at 5:47pm

Very nicely said, son_of_a_gunn_25.

I'm guessing producers are getting less and less worried about illegal clips being posted on sites like YouTube. You're right. It's free publicity that gets the youth market excited about seeing a show. They stare at these clips (or full show DVDs) and say, I really want to see that "live." It hasn't hurt Wicked or Legally Blonde or Spring Awakening. The clips have made a lot of new fans.

I think producers "act outraged," but generally are turning a blind eye these days.

The proof is in the popularity of their shows.

BUT... the people who are more nervous about the "YouTube Free-For-All" are the creatives: actors, directors, authors... who aren't getting a dime for this "free publicity" for the show. They want due compensation.

What they don't understand is that without the clips flying around illegally, less people know about their show. Less people care about it, or want to see it. Which means the show closes a lot earlier than it would have if the clips remained available for the world to see.

So, they should think about that for a while. Trading a few hundred bucks of "legal" compensation (which isn't ever going to happen, so the end result will be to pull the clip down) vs. lots more weeks of employment, royalties, and full salaries.

Sounds like a bad idea, when you look at it that way.

Even if it isn't legal.

Updated On: 1/2/08 at 05:47 PM

[spiderdj82]

Posted: 1/2/08 at 5:51pm

I think BARE is a perfect example. Due to bootleg audio and videos of the NYC production of bare floating around, there is a pretty big following of the show. When the complete recording was being released, the creators and producers of the album thought they would get about 20 people ordering every month or so. When the day finally came to order the album, they had THOUSANDS of people placing orders at the same time. Illegal, yes! But, whether they want to admit it or not, it really does help the shows.

[son_of_a_gunn_25]

Posted: 1/2/08 at 6:04pm

"According to Broadway observers, the habit is primarily a status issue. "They're swapping them, they're trading them," like baseball cards, said Hauptman. "I was on the train the other day and I heard someone say, 'I've got a brilliant copy of Spring Awakening. You've got to come over and watch it.'"

"We think it's a benign occurrence," said Lotz. "They're traded back and forth. It's a fad. It's their social network."'

http://www.playbill.com/news/article/112559.html

Does this mean they just observed youth rather than ask them through surveys or interviews? Having someone outside these youth's paradigm interpret their actions is going to skew the results. Especially if the observations were done in a non-scientific way. If someone could provide a link to an empirical study that supports this assertion on why youth trade these videos, I would appreciate it.


"Edit: I feel the watching of full length bootlegs and short clips on YouTube are two completely different animals though they have a few similarities. It would seem that the two have been combined in this article.

Updated On: 1/2/08 at 06:04 PM

[winston89]

Posted: 1/2/08 at 6:37pm

This is going to hurt those shows that cator to a younger demographic.

It seems like the league is forgetting the idea that there is no such thing as bad press.

If there are clips on youtube that are going to help people want to go to the show more then let them be there.

The basic feelign I am getting is that it seems that this is only affecting shows that cator to a yougner audience. Shows like Wicked, Spring Awakening, Rent, Legally Blonde and Hairspray.

I know tons of people who might be adverse to seeing those shows or any show on broadway for that matter. But, seeing a clip on youtube might change thier mind.

The people at Equity are speaking for ALL there members. When in fact there aren't a lot of thir members on Broadway that agree with them. I would say it is a bout fifty fifty.

[Jon]

Posted: 1/3/08 at 2:30pm

They aren't doing too well at policing so far. There are over a dozen RENT bootleg clips online right now.

[maya5892]

Posted: 1/3/08 at 6:20pm

Yeah, they really aren't doing a good job...there is SO much from Wicked. It's not even funny. You can watch the whole show pretty much.

They shouldn't just be checking youtube though....they have full bootlegs on google video..

[morosco]

Posted: 1/3/08 at 6:24pm

I think Google bought YouTube so they are one and the same.

[best12bars]

Posted: 1/3/08 at 7:42pm

"Yeah, they really aren't doing a good job...there is SO much from Wicked. It's not even funny. You can watch the whole show pretty much."

...and that has just destroyed their box office intake, worldwide, hasn't it?

[SueleenGay]

Posted: 1/3/08 at 9:16pm

Yea, in fact Chicago's company just broke the one week record for sales for a theatrical event. Its only been running 2+ years. It has officially become a must see for all out of towners.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 1/3/08 at 9:23pm

If you find a YouTube of James Barbour having sex with a minor in his dressing room on Broadway, you can break two laws at the same time--and start one HELL of a thread on the main board!

[SueleenGay]

Posted: 1/3/08 at 9:27pm

Was he the guy in Hard Candy?