The RIAA targets a Machinima site
All the while we were looking at the Rockstar debacle, we're now faced with a more foreboding situation. Yesterday, the RIAA went after one of the more popular Machinima sites, RPGFilms.net. The site now displays the C&D letter it received from the RIAA, with the obligatory DMCA blah-blah-blah.
It's an unfortunate situation. As Machinima grows in visibility, there are (and will be) these not-so-happy aspects to it. The unfortunate part is that the community is simply using these songs to develop Machinima, learning their craft and growing as artists.
Of course, this is mostly about the distribution of IP and there are valid arguments to it. However, the RIAA has set its sights on a small community of people that are hardly hurting their bottom line - a community could possibly even provide additional promotion for the musicians. That's the real unfortunate part - there's a potential for these to help the industry, yet it chooses to start the dialogue with "Hey, kids, just quit it." - standard operating procedure.
While I don't agree with the RIAA here (obviously), a move like this should encourage us to work with smaller artists who are willing to license their music and/or work with Machinima filmmakers. I worked with MTV on getting clearance with Hollywood Records/Breaking Benjamin for Still Seeing Breen, and it was a ton of leg work (I didn't even do the work myself, and I know how much work it was).
To that, working with lesser known musicians will help each other ten-fold. Newer musicians can gain additional exposure, and Machinima filmmakers will face smaller risk. Additionally, restructured IP licensing will also be a big help - Creative Commons, anyone?
It's an unfortunate situation. As Machinima grows in visibility, there are (and will be) these not-so-happy aspects to it. The unfortunate part is that the community is simply using these songs to develop Machinima, learning their craft and growing as artists.
Of course, this is mostly about the distribution of IP and there are valid arguments to it. However, the RIAA has set its sights on a small community of people that are hardly hurting their bottom line - a community could possibly even provide additional promotion for the musicians. That's the real unfortunate part - there's a potential for these to help the industry, yet it chooses to start the dialogue with "Hey, kids, just quit it." - standard operating procedure.
While I don't agree with the RIAA here (obviously), a move like this should encourage us to work with smaller artists who are willing to license their music and/or work with Machinima filmmakers. I worked with MTV on getting clearance with Hollywood Records/Breaking Benjamin for Still Seeing Breen, and it was a ton of leg work (I didn't even do the work myself, and I know how much work it was).
To that, working with lesser known musicians will help each other ten-fold. Newer musicians can gain additional exposure, and Machinima filmmakers will face smaller risk. Additionally, restructured IP licensing will also be a big help - Creative Commons, anyone?
posted by Paul
at 5:57 PM
2 Comments:
I think anyone who has been following the development of machinima could see this coming. One can argue the ethics of using someone else's music/voice until the cows come home. I think you put it in the right perspective: try to find music that you can get the rights to because it will make your life easier. I think the RIAA are predators. They know the little guys will just roll over. Or if they take them to court they'll lose. Still, it's time to start changing the content of our machinima so that we wont' have this problem. What a pain in the ass.
Additional promotions is right. For example, after watching your incredible "Still Seeing Breen" video about 400 times, I bought the Breaking Benjamin song off Napster. Seems the RIAA somehow still hasn't learned that exposure leads to dollars, and that they should consider the pros as well as the cons before sending out their threatening letters.
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