KISS Videos Removed Due To Copyright Claims

from the sue-'em-all dept

We noted recently that Kiss's Gene Simmons has (not for the first time) declared war on people who infringe on his copyrights, declaring that they should all be sued and that:

Every little college kid, every freshly-scrubbed little kid's face should have been sued off the face of the earth. They should have taken their houses and cars and nipped it right there in the beginning. Those kids are putting 100,000 to a million people out of work.

Of course, that resulted in the "group" Anonymous taking down his website, which resulted in more angry claims from Simmons. So, it's interesting to note, via THREsq, that the official KISS YouTube channel has apparently been taken down for copyright infringement, leading to videos embedded on the band's official website to show the following message: Oops. At first I wondered if this was more work of Anonymous, submitting bogus copyright claims to take down the videos, but the company involved, S'More Entertainment, does appear to be a legitimate company that supposedly holds the rights to a bunch of music videos, which suggests perhaps it has a claim on some of those videos. I'm not convinced that the takedowns are legit just yet, but that certainly would be quite ironic if Simmons and KISS got caught for copyright infringement themselves, following Simmons' own statements.

Filed Under: copyright, gene simmons, kiss
Companies: s'more entertainment, youtube

How Not To Connect With Fans: Let Them Vote And Then Ignore The Vote

from the nice-going-kiss dept

Someone who prefers to remain anonymous sends in this example of how the band KISS tried and failed (miserably) in its attempt to "connect with fans." Apparently the band held an online contest to get fans to vote for where KISS would perform -- calling it the "You Demand It Tour." Well, people voted, and the second largest vote getter was Manchester, New Hampshire. So what happened? The band ignored the vote and booked a show in Boston instead. In response, some local radio folks are starting a petition to try to get the band to actually live up to its promise to go where fans demanded:

Three months ago - when KISS launched their "You Demand It Tour", Buzz Lumpa's jumped all over it in an effort to bring KISS back to the Verizon Wireless Arena. The deal was that the band would rout their tour to the cities that wanted them most - and that meant the cities that cast the most votes. Manchester NH did just that - beating out EVERY major U.S. city! We cast more votes than New York City, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, and yes- Boston. Over 240 cities were vying for the band - and Manchester NH placed 2nd in the U.S.! And yet, when KISS announced their tour itinerary, Manchester NH was NOT on it. The band chose to play Boston instead. KISS lied to you.

Of course, given Gene Simmons' comments on new business models and the experiments of bands like Radiohead to better connect with fans (Simmons claimed it was killing the recording industry) perhaps this is no surprise.

Filed Under: fans, gene simmons, kiss, manchester, new hampshire, voting