I was more than a tad annoyed a couple of weeks ago to find that YouTube had pulled my Jarrow Song video down, on account of Warners Media Group getting antsy about the copyright issue. The Jarrow Song was one of the best videos that I created, and clearly, this kind of treatment is just not on.
I’ve stated before that copyright controls are necessary, and it is right and proper that artists (not meeja suits) receive credit and remuneration for their work. That is why I’m one of the handful of people who actually purchase my music from legitimate sites such as Amazon.co.uk (don’t ever try to use the useless American version) instead of following all the teenies onto the free illegal sites. Although if the free sites offered anything other than music to inject drugs by, I might be tempted.
Once I’ve got the music, I feel quite justified in using it on Grumpy Git Productions films as these videos are for pleasure; I am not attempting to profit from them, always credit the artists and composer and feel that the videos actually publicise the music in a positive way. You’ve seen the film – now buy the soundtrack .
Sony has just such an agreement, to everyone’s advantage. If you upload any of their tracks, they simply place a discreet advert on the start of the video that permits the viewer to purchase the track through itunes. What a simple and brilliant idea! Everybody benefits, and nobody’s enjoyment is spoilt. So why do Sony and Warners take such a different stance? Simple. Sony is Japanese, Warners are American. The Japs are inventive and intelligent, whereas Americans are best summed up by an incident covered in a Top Gear programme. Whilst attempting to film a sequence on location in America and being forbidden from doing so, a policeman told Jeremy Clarkson that "you don’t need commonsense when you’ve got rules." This sums the mentality of the alleged Land of the Free perfectly. In the great US of A, you can’t upload a video, but you can buy very large guns and shoot people. Glad that they’ve got that the right way round.
I once had the misfortune to fly into Miami (long before 9/11) and was treated like a terrorist even then, in an environment that was clearly a rehearsal location for Guantanamo Bay Holiday Camp, simply because I hadn’t ticked one of the boxes on their incredibly ambiguous immigration form in the correct shade of aquamarine. I wasn’t informed what was wrong on the form, or how to correct it – just an imbecile with a big gun shouting, “Suh, this form is incorrect. Do not proceed. Return and re-submit a correct form.” I wanted to tell him to bugger off and get a life, but his buddy had a fresh pair of Marigolds hanging off his Smith & Wesson, so I quietly capitulated. I swore then that I’d never return to America, and never will, unless I get extradited for hacking into the Pentagon’s airtight secure website when all I was trying to do was get into the Penthouse site – and that’s Hobson’s choice when you’re trying to explain it to ‘er indoors after the arrest. I’ve travelled behind the former Iron Curtain to Belarus and the Ukraine, and received far more respect from customs and immigration in those feared Soviet bastions than I ever had from the Land of The Cheese. America gave us the litigious society, and the litigious society gave us Health & Safety. Think about it.
Anyway, back to filmmaking. The Jarrow Song is a British tune, about a British event in a British town that no American has ever heard of; composed by a British composer (Alan Price) – so there was no way I was going to let any descendent of Dubya tell me I couldn’t use it. The Jarrow Marchers didn’t roll over and give in, so in the spirit of the original participants it was time for good old British inventiveness. Off I went into the nether regions of cyberspace to find a live concert recording of Alan Price performing the Jarrow Song at The Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester (England).
Not surprisingly, the live version differs considerably from the studio recording, so it wasn’t going to be a case of simply swapping over the tracks. Although both versions work out to be about the same running length, the timing is different, and the instrumental break in the middle is much shorter in the live edition. Conversely, the instrumental end to fade is a lot longer on the live performance, and has a bigger finish. I started tweaking the film, but soon found out after the first couple of scenes that it would be easier to start from scratch. So here is the all-British version of Alan Price performing the Jarrow Song at The Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester (England), featuring a new video by Grumpy Git Productions (UK Ltd plc) to provide a visual perspective of Tyneside, then and now.
I’ve stated before that copyright controls are necessary, and it is right and proper that artists (not meeja suits) receive credit and remuneration for their work. That is why I’m one of the handful of people who actually purchase my music from legitimate sites such as Amazon.co.uk (don’t ever try to use the useless American version) instead of following all the teenies onto the free illegal sites. Although if the free sites offered anything other than music to inject drugs by, I might be tempted.
Once I’ve got the music, I feel quite justified in using it on Grumpy Git Productions films as these videos are for pleasure; I am not attempting to profit from them, always credit the artists and composer and feel that the videos actually publicise the music in a positive way. You’ve seen the film – now buy the soundtrack .
Sony has just such an agreement, to everyone’s advantage. If you upload any of their tracks, they simply place a discreet advert on the start of the video that permits the viewer to purchase the track through itunes. What a simple and brilliant idea! Everybody benefits, and nobody’s enjoyment is spoilt. So why do Sony and Warners take such a different stance? Simple. Sony is Japanese, Warners are American. The Japs are inventive and intelligent, whereas Americans are best summed up by an incident covered in a Top Gear programme. Whilst attempting to film a sequence on location in America and being forbidden from doing so, a policeman told Jeremy Clarkson that "you don’t need commonsense when you’ve got rules." This sums the mentality of the alleged Land of the Free perfectly. In the great US of A, you can’t upload a video, but you can buy very large guns and shoot people. Glad that they’ve got that the right way round.
I once had the misfortune to fly into Miami (long before 9/11) and was treated like a terrorist even then, in an environment that was clearly a rehearsal location for Guantanamo Bay Holiday Camp, simply because I hadn’t ticked one of the boxes on their incredibly ambiguous immigration form in the correct shade of aquamarine. I wasn’t informed what was wrong on the form, or how to correct it – just an imbecile with a big gun shouting, “Suh, this form is incorrect. Do not proceed. Return and re-submit a correct form.” I wanted to tell him to bugger off and get a life, but his buddy had a fresh pair of Marigolds hanging off his Smith & Wesson, so I quietly capitulated. I swore then that I’d never return to America, and never will, unless I get extradited for hacking into the Pentagon’s airtight secure website when all I was trying to do was get into the Penthouse site – and that’s Hobson’s choice when you’re trying to explain it to ‘er indoors after the arrest. I’ve travelled behind the former Iron Curtain to Belarus and the Ukraine, and received far more respect from customs and immigration in those feared Soviet bastions than I ever had from the Land of The Cheese. America gave us the litigious society, and the litigious society gave us Health & Safety. Think about it.
Anyway, back to filmmaking. The Jarrow Song is a British tune, about a British event in a British town that no American has ever heard of; composed by a British composer (Alan Price) – so there was no way I was going to let any descendent of Dubya tell me I couldn’t use it. The Jarrow Marchers didn’t roll over and give in, so in the spirit of the original participants it was time for good old British inventiveness. Off I went into the nether regions of cyberspace to find a live concert recording of Alan Price performing the Jarrow Song at The Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester (England).
Not surprisingly, the live version differs considerably from the studio recording, so it wasn’t going to be a case of simply swapping over the tracks. Although both versions work out to be about the same running length, the timing is different, and the instrumental break in the middle is much shorter in the live edition. Conversely, the instrumental end to fade is a lot longer on the live performance, and has a bigger finish. I started tweaking the film, but soon found out after the first couple of scenes that it would be easier to start from scratch. So here is the all-British version of Alan Price performing the Jarrow Song at The Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester (England), featuring a new video by Grumpy Git Productions (UK Ltd plc) to provide a visual perspective of Tyneside, then and now.
Incidentally, the original Jarrow video may still be seen on my Vzaar page, as they’re not as scared of corporate suits in the way that YouTube are (on a very selective basis). I trust that viewers find this new film entertaining. Happy viewing!
Have you seen Vimeo? That seems to be a very tolerant medium, plus there is a community and comments. Very sorry to hear you have had troubles with Youbend and the licencing mafia. They took most of my music favourites off my account for the same reason.
ReplyDeleteI was refused entry into the US five years ago, no reason given, but I figured that as I had been a member of Greenpeace all my life and had taken part in some anti nuclear dumping protests (in 1976!!) that was it. Land of the free, eh? Your blog post, as always, was very funny...what a breath of fresh air your writing is!
It had to happen sooner or later, just a pity it was one of the best films - however, I'm pleased with the new version. Banned in 1976 - give it another 150 years and they'll probably calm down a bit. Glad it's not just me that they don't like at least - and Jeremy Clarkson's American experiences are well worth a read. I'm just so glad that the Americans are our 'special friends.' Wonder how they'd behave if we were enemies? Reckon anyone would notice anything different? Thanks for your comments, Iain - much appreciated.
ReplyDelete