How Do You Report Someone Selling Bootlegs?

[nfrjikgovf]

Posted: 3/6/18 at 11:04am

I don't have a problem with trading bootlegs per se, I understand why it happens. My problem is people making money of other people's intellectual property. What is the best way to stop this?

[Sondheimite]

Posted: 3/6/18 at 11:06am

I don't mean this has a typical BWW b1tch.  And I also don't like the practice of selling bootlegs.  

But,

one rests better at night and has a generally more peaceful life when one learns to only be concerned with the problems that directly affect them and let the problems that don't directly affect them be solved by the people that the problem directly affects.

 

[nfrjikgovf]

Posted: 3/6/18 at 11:08am

Several of these bootlegs contain work of friends of mine. Do I go to Equity?

[bwayphreak234]

Posted: 3/6/18 at 11:14am

Good lord.

[Sondheimite]

Posted: 3/6/18 at 11:16am

nfrjikgovf said: "Several of these bootlegs contain work of friends of mine. Do I go to Equity?"

No.  You let your friends handle it if they want to handle it because you don't speak for them or fight for them unless you are their lawyer that they've come to for help in this matter.

Updated On: 3/6/18 at 11:16 AM

[rjm516]

Posted: 3/6/18 at 11:23am

Honestly I've alerted producers to their work being on youtube or being sold on dvds and they don't seem to care. Many seem to be okay with it because of the publicity? I don't know. But there's not much you can do since you don't own the IP

[JSquared2]

Posted: 3/6/18 at 11:25am

Cindy, you know by tattling on your friends you're really just tattling on yourself.   By tattling on your friends you're just telling them that you're a tattletale.   Now is that the tale you want to tell?

[BrodyFosse123]

Posted: 3/6/18 at 11:40am

As one with more than a handful of friends working in the Broadway community in different capacities, the stigma regarding bootlegs doesn't exist anymore.  This explains the countless full show bootlegs posted on YouTube that exist.  The show creators don't care and see them as free promotional advertisements to their shows.  This has been told to me by numerous people.  Actors actually are thrilled especially if their performances are captured as its a personal document of their work.  Also, these have become invaluable to countless understudies who have admitted to viewing these bootlegs as homework.  

Your complaint will go nowhere.  Anyone is free to try to sell whatever they want.  Its up to the consumer to pay for product, regardless of their personal belief.  

Updated On: 3/6/18 at 11:40 AM

[Kad]

Posted: 3/6/18 at 11:46am

I think many actors would object to money being made from bootlegs. Media and its restrictions and compensation is a major topic of discussion within Equity.

But I would imagine if you did feel that you needed to lodge a complaint, it’d be with the producers.

[haterobics]

Posted: 3/6/18 at 11:51am

I helped someone ensure no bootlegs of their stuff appeared initially, but then their take was like, once the OBC was gone, it was less of an issue giving people a chance to see the third replacement, etc.

As far as selling bootlegs, the way it usually works is the person who records it tends to sell it for a fixed period of time, and during that time, it can't be traded, only purchased. The idea being that they are recouping costs of the show, the equipment, etc., and it helps them buy more tickets to keep doing it, etc., and then after a specific date, it can be traded, and I doubt they ever make that much money on it again.

All that said, only someone associated with the show can lodge a DMCA complaint with Google (to get something off of YouTube), or whatever cloud storage provider is hosting the files.

Updated On: 3/6/18 at 11:51 AM

[boonanas]

Posted: 3/6/18 at 11:53am

Why are you trying to be a broadway narc?  People gotta make money somehow!!!

[newintown]

Posted: 3/6/18 at 12:01pm

Personally, I don't know any actors who feel that they have enough money (I'm not sure that I know anyone who feels that they have enough money, and I know a few very wealthy folks).

So of course, actors and (struggling) writers hate the thought that bootlegs = money "taken" from them. But it's a specious idea; the money in question ($5-10 per sale?) would never go to the actors and writers anyway, because no one commercially sells videos of closed theatrical productions (except for those very few that have been professionally [and often terribly] filmed for television).

We live, it seems, in The Age Of The Victim, where we're all being done down by someone. But we can all ask ourselves (and probably get different answers): which is more important? Paltry sums of cash changing hands between a minuscule number of rabid theatre fans, or having some record (amateurish as it may be) of that most ephemeral of art forms for people to enjoy?

Or we can put it in perspective by comparing it to mass murders in schools, the persistence of poverty, opioid deaths, climate change, nuclear threat, etc., etc., etc.

Updated On: 3/6/18 at 12:01 PM

[Broadway Joe]

Posted: 3/6/18 at 12:05pm

Nobody likes a rat.

[adamgreer]

Posted: 3/6/18 at 12:13pm

Some of the biggest buyers of bootlegs are equity actors.

[Brian07663NJ]

Posted: 3/6/18 at 12:21pm

Have you ever purchased and listened to a bootleg...it is one of those experiences you do once and realize - This is SH*T quality, don't do that again. However, for shows that do not capture either the show or specific stars my opinion is - mind your own business.

[haterobics]

Posted: 3/6/18 at 12:50pm

Brian07663NJ said: "Have you ever purchased and listened to a bootleg...it is one of those experiences you do once and realize - This is SH*T quality, don't do that again."

Yeah, the need to see a bootleg has to be very high to sit through the experience of seeing one. 

[Elfuhbuh]

Posted: 3/6/18 at 12:55pm

Brian07663NJ said: "Have you ever purchased and listened to a bootleg...it is one of those experiences you do once and realize - This is SH*T quality, don't do that again. However, for shows that do not capture either the show or specific stars my opinion is - mind your own business."


As far as I know, most people seeking bootlegs don't have any other option of seeing the show or cast they're aiming to see. Pretty much everyone who watches bootlegs would rather see the show live, it's just not a possibility at the moment. 

[dramamama611]

Posted: 3/6/18 at 1:00pm

Broadway Joe said, "Nobody likes a rat."    

 

I hate these kind of comments.  While I don't personally feel like THIS is something to rat on, that sentiment is why the Harvey Weinsteins get away with what they do.  (And many other instances, people,. etc.)

 

 

[JSquared2]

Posted: 3/6/18 at 1:08pm

dramamama611 said: "Broadway Joe said, "Nobody likes a rat."

I hate these kind of comments. While I don't personally feel like THIS is something to rat on, that sentiment is why the Harvey Weinsteins get away with what they do. (And many other instances, people,. etc.)

So I take it you now intend to highjack EVERY thread and somehow turn it into a #METOO moment?    
 

 

[Phantom4ever]

Posted: 3/6/18 at 1:08pm

Nobody likes a rat is commonly heard as snitches get stitches and it's one of the main reasons why some communities cannot break the cycle of violence---the minute anyone speaks up, they are either shouted down, killed, or like the OP, intimidated into silence. 

I surprised so many on here are saying "well my friends don't mind it so why should you?" argument with bootlegs. I hope you all get to sit next to a bootlegger with his cam out at every show you attend. 

[newintown]

Posted: 3/6/18 at 1:10pm

On the other hand, I can understand the benefit behind the general philosophy "nobody likes a rat." I well remember my parents teaching that part of becoming an adult was learning how to take care of yourself and your problems without immediately running to Mommy, Daddy, or Teacher.

Of course, some problems do require pleas to higher authority; but we certainly do see a Millennial philosophy in popular play these days, that says that everything bad about our lives is somebody else's fault.

[dramamama611]

Posted: 3/6/18 at 1:20pm

JSquared2 said: "dramamama611 said: "Broadway Joe said, "Nobody likes a rat."

I hate these kind of comments. While I don't personally feel like THIS is something to rat on, that sentiment is why the Harvey Weinsteins get away with what they do. (And many other instances, people,. etc.)

So I take it you nowintend to highjack EVERY thread and somehow turn it into a #METOO moment?


"

Sure, because that's how I roll.   I didn't hijack anything...I responded to a comment.   I could have used any number of examples, but kept to one that was involved in the arts.  

[Elfuhbuh]

Posted: 3/6/18 at 1:21pm

The responses trying to equate bootlegs with sexual assault and violence are astounding. Relax. 

 

[dramamama611]

Posted: 3/6/18 at 1:24pm

NOT what I was trying to do at all.    Sheesh.

[Elfuhbuh]

Posted: 3/6/18 at 1:29pm

You said the "Nobody likes a rat," mentality is why Harvey Weinstein's actions were covered up, even though the mentalities applied to bootleg circles and Hollywood sex scandal circles are drastically different ideas. 

Updated On: 3/6/18 at 01:29 PM