Rocker Creates App To Better The Bootleg Video Experience
from the connect-with-everyone dept
Techdirt has been writing about artists and bands enabling concert-goers' use of smart phone video since its article URLs still ended in numbers. But this has always been something of a gray area, where for every band that likes amateur films promoting them, there's another band (or copyright holder) who hates it.Perhaps that's about to change. Business Week has a fascinating story of a new smart phone application being created by Joe Sumner, bassist for the rock band Fiction Plane, to sync multiple crowdsourced movies into a single experience. The idea came to him when his band was touring Lithuania and he noticed that there was a ton of amateur video of the previous night's concert up on YouTube. A ton as in 450 or so videos. And, rather than freak out about people being able to see the band for free on the video site, he created a company, Vylcone, to design an application that would empower and enable those same fans by creating something to link all that footage together and make something awesome.
"Its free program debuted in Apple’s (AAPL) App Store on July 18 and lets two or more people in close proximity shoot video with their iPhones, upload the clips, and view a movie automatically spliced together from different angles. To recognize that multiple users are filming the same scene, Vyclone tags each video with the location where it was shot using GPS. To synchronize the clips, it lines them up by the date and time they were shot, regardless of when they were uploaded. A simple-to-use video editor lets users play director, toggling from one angle to the next with the tap of a finger."If you're feeling that tingling sensation in your naughty bits, don't worry, that's normal. As music moves through the digital age and bands recognize that the concert experience is where they need to really be making significant money, they and the music labels that will now want a piece of that action had better get on board concepts like Sumner's. Commenters often ask why people would continue to pay the rising costs of concert tickets; this is why.
Concerts have always had the draw of the social experience, but now you're talking about deepening the social aspect of a concert by encouraging fans to contribute to a crowdsourced concert movie. Something they will feel a part of. Something that will create a connection between the concert goer, the band, and other concert goers. And the app is (GASP!) free!
And it does look as though people in the entertainment business are paying attention:
"The startup is based in Los Angeles and London, and has 13 employees. Lassman is chief executive; Sumner, chief creative officer. They’ve raised $2.7 million from [Guy] Oseary and [Ashton] Kutcher’s fund A-Grade, along with movie studio DreamWorks, concert promoter Live Nation (LYV), and VC firm Thrive Capital."Technology that helps artists connect with fans and gives fans a reason to buy (concert tickets, merch, etc.). Concerts may have just gotten more interesting.
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Filed Under: bootlegs, connecting with fans, fiction plane, joe sumner, videos
Companies: vylcone
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Extra Angles to This
And not a dime goes to the RIAA if you keep a gimlet eye on their contracts. Talk about revenge as an art form! :)
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This could go beyond concerts
Obviously, this kind of app/social networking site could apply to much more than just concerts. I'm thinking of things like he Occupy protests first up, but that's just the tip of the iceberg. We should strive to make this invulnerable to corporate/government censorship though, move it to the darknet and keep the servers distributed, because the big commercial interests will probably try to squash it.
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Combine this...
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Re: Combine this...
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Any news is good news...
Some of the bands even ask their fans to send them links to the videos or recordings online, and then send out emails with links to everyone on their mailing lists. Sure, these bands don't make millions of dollars, but they seem to be quite successful and they are doing what they like to do.
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audio quality?
You could take the highest quality, best produced concert dvd, and if its audio quality is comparable to something recorded on a smartphone, I'm not even gonna bother with it.
But I might be in the minority when I say I go to concerts for the music, not for the staging or the lighting or the theatrics or the video projections or the communal experience of it all. Just the music.
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Re: audio quality?
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Do An Android Version—Quick
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https://torrentfreak.com/young-pirates-evicted-from-festival-for-giving-out-free-waffles-1 20722/
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it's not clear that this would end up being a reason to buy. Why pay for a ticket for a concert and get a single seat, when you can enjoy it for free, on other people's dime, from 400+ different seats in the house?
It's a basic lesson that major league sports learned a long time ago: When the television coverage of an event is TOO good, better than the real thing, there is a point where people start choosing to watch at home rather than attend the event.
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Whatever social benefits you get out of the camera aspect would seem to be worn out by people seeing the same concert being redone on a daily basis online. Seeing the same show 160 times before it gets to your town doesn't seem to be something that would encourage participation. Part of the value of a concert (to me anyway) is that it's a unique event that I may not get to enjoy for a long time to come. Instead, this project seeks to destroy that magic, and make it as mundane as watching a local weather report.
Short term thinking in a long term business? Perhaps yes.
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Re: But I am not clear that it's a long term selling point.
Is that “long term” enough for you?
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Re: Re: But I am not clear that it's a long term selling point.
It should also be said that the Dead were an exceptional case, not a rule by which the world can run.
Pointing to an exceptional case and acting like it's normal doesn't help your arguments very much.
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Through YouTube I saw "Weird Al" Yankovic perform his latest polka medley "Polka Face". I live in a sector of Asia that is extremely unlikely to get him in concert. (Actually, aside from maybe Japan where a limited edition single of another polka medley was released I don't think he's ever been to Asia.) Watching the videos of him performing in no way diminished my desire to catch him live in concert. I even have a legitimate copy of "Alpocalypse" with Polka Face on it, DVD with music videos and all (which can't run on the computer due to copy protection).
But noooooo, as long as we don't agree with copyright maximalism we're all filthy chubby pirate chicken littles to you shills.
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No, you aren't watching someone else watch a concert, you are watching a concert from all of the best seats in the house, with perfect sound, in the comfort of your home. It's the perfect combination.
It's a key question, because the concerts are suppose to be the "upsell" that pays for the free music, remember? This is another case where the problem continues to move upstream. If you start to give part of the concert away for free, will fewer people actually pay for it?
"But noooooo, as long as we don't agree with copyright maximalism we're all filthy chubby pirate chicken littles to you shills."
For that, all I can say is too bad for you. Clearly you aren't able to accept that there are two possible outcomes (and neither proven), nor are you willing to consider that the answer you don't like is possible. Narrow mindedness isn't a good thing.
PS: I'm not a shill, I just don't agree with your point of view. Can you accept that simple concept?
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I can, but I'm afraid I just don't understand your viewpoint. Watching a video mashup of a concert, even assuming great video/audio quality (which phone recordings don't have, btw), absolutely does NOT replace the experience of attending a concert. Concert DVDs are somewhat like this and yet people still go to concerts.
All this should do is add value to the concert experience by injecting both a social aspect to it and a connection with the band, assuming they're the ones making use of these mashup videos on their own sites to market future concerts. This seems wholly like a win/win for everyone...
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Ever notice that official concert tour videos are never released until the tour is over, even if the tour runs for a couple of years? Generally they are not released in the middle of tours because they are not a positive. Rather, they reveal many of the things that we go to a concert for, from the set list to the staging and special effects that might happen. Concerts aren't just about the music, but about the surprises that can happen at them - things you don't expect. Most people these days are smart enough to understand that those "surprises" (just like encores) are generally VERY well scripted, and repeat every night in every show.
The positives (promotional) may be offset by ruining a big part of the concert experience for many, making the shows themselves less desirable. No, the videos don't replace the experience, but my feeling is that they may reduce the value of the experience, perhaps making buying tickets less desirable to at least some fans.
The "win/win" you speak of isn't quite so obvious.
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Years ago I saw the video for Linkin Park's Live in Texas concert - with multiple camera views of the audience, close-ups of the drummer, etc. I have no idea how you think that the average bootleg video even comes close to that level of video production, and that the bootleg video is a full and complete replacement of a tour video. Does a bootleg video "cheapen" the tour video? Maybe, if you think that it being of lower quality doesn't really feel quite right. Does it "replace" the video experience? I really don't know how you come to this conclusion. Especially if bootleg videos tend to get filled with nothing but shaking and blurred laser light shows. (And, again - "perfect" sound? Really? You really think that the average video camera or camera phone can capture sound at the same level of quality and fidelity matching an official tour video?) And what if said artist doesn't even have official tour videos, or even go to a country to perform?
No, I'd say the one who is unwilling to consider the other answer is you. You're the one who's dead set on thinking that bootleg video equals bad, because it completely eclipses and cheapens the concert-going experience to the point that nobody will ever want to see an artist perform live. Do you really think that people go to concerts after seeing videos of artists performing, and say, "No, wait a minute, I've already seen this on a video. That has completely fulfilled my desire to see you in person. Don't bother with the encore surprise at the end either; I know you already scripted this and I completely don't want you to perform another song!"
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My wife and I eagerly watched all of the video clips for the last San Diego Comic Con. There were so many movie stars, artists and other fans there. I would have loved to meet Robert Downey Jr. (my wife too but for differing reasons I suspect.) and all of the other movie stars there.
So even though I could not fly cross country to go, watching the clips of the happenings there has convinced me and my wife that we will go as soon as we can.
You are missing not only the point of this discussion, but also the profit to be made of showing the fan why they should go next time. This type of advertising is far better than just a newspaper review or some other static means.
This is the ultimate form of advertising and excitement inducing hype. Money to be made in the future, not just now.
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You want to feel the ambient, you want to feel the space, the sounds, smells, vibrations and other stuff.
Why would anybody go to a theater today when everybody have 50 inches and projectors at home?
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The major league blew it on many other aspects. Replacing "Being there" is in no way one of them.
The only reason I would want the video is if there was no way I could go. Travel to costly, distant, etc. Then I would seek out the video but at that point:
1. I am becoming a bigger fan watching the video because one day, I know I will go to be part of that scene. Think of it as excitement to be there delivered to my screen. Or free advertising to a die hard fan.
2. No sale was lost because I couldn't go anyway, no matter how badly I want to go.
Like I said, I know that being there is a far better, more exciting venue to participate in and I in no way can confuse the two.
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Re: Sound and video quality
As far as the audio it should be a simple thing for the band to pull the audio off the mixing board using the same time sync.
I can see why they might not want to do that, but if they made a high quality version available for each show for a buck download, they would probably sell one to everyone that went to each show.
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Re: Re: Sound and video quality
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Most hilarious part
So, to create not-so-complex iPhone program they need 13 (sic!) people?! Really? And result is gonna be free? Maybe I'm missing something here, but - WTF?
Looks like some investors have some spare money ...
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Re: Most hilarious part
So your point is what exactly?
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Re: Re: Most hilarious part
That is even more funny.
My point is that it's too much fuss around some guy who (maybe) wrote somewhat-above-trivial program.
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Say whatever you want, OoMPAA LooMPAAs and other shills, nothing.. NOTHING.. replaces the experience of being there, live, in the middle of the ppl singing with your artist till your voice fails you.
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Rocker Creates App / ConcertTronix the future of live concerts
This is the future of attending, listening, recording live concerts with your smartphone that is patented under US patents 7,995,70 and 8290174 with other patents pending. The user will be able to do whatever they want while at the show for recording and listening to the show, audio and video all depending on what the band allows them to do. ConcertTronix turns your phone into a live recording studio and listening device live at the show and then remix it all and record your self on top of it while playing with the band later if you want!!
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