In case anyone missed my article in the most recent issue of the Jewish Entertainment Magazine, you can download it here as a PDF.
Posting full length clips from a video production on youTube is:
1) against the law
2) against halacha
3) breaking the agreement you make with YouTube when you click agree to terms and upload the file
4) STEALING mamash from people’s pockets.
5) just plain wrong.
A person shouldn’t fool themselves into thinking it’s ok just because:
1) I asked my rav one shabbos afternoon while he was eating a nice piece of herring and he said sure no problem.
There is a good chance your rav doesnt know what YouTube is and if you told him more details he’d say absolutely NOT.
Putting these videos on youtube is the same thing as making copies and standing outside the stores handing out bootleg copies before they enter.
An old teacher of mine used to always say. “If you ask half a shailah, you’ll get half a tirzteh”
2) The artists are sooo rich. How will it hurt them??
You know what? They aren’t rich and neither am I. Every time a person can watch even specific songs and segments from a DVD online for free they don’t have to pay for it. It means they don’t have to buy the DVD and that number multiplies quickly. It means the stores don’t make money, and that means my boss doesn’t make money, which means producers don’t get asked to do jobs and it means there are less CD’s and that means there is no reason for me to go to work anymore because there are no cd’s or dvd’s to design.
3) The industry won’t ever shut down, it’s all just baloney hype.
Nope – its not. Ever wonder why there aren’t more Jewish DVD’s? It’s simple, because it’s just too expensive and the risks are too great. It cost A LOT more money to create a DVD then a CD. The hits the industry takes on CD’s being copied are bad enough, people can’t take those same risks with DVD’s. Thats why there are just concert DVD’s and the random children’s DVD (i.e. uncle moishy/agent emes)
Don’t think it can’t happen – the industry may not ever go away, but it can easily get to a point where many less concerts are recorded and less DVD’s are made. The same goes for CD’s, and it very realistically can get to a point where the industry does indeed collapse.
Here is a sample e-mail I received from someone after asking them to take down videos which were uploaded to youTube (5 full songs from a recent Sameach concert DVD)
To Sameach Music
You requested from me yesterday to remove the **** and **** videos and i complied.
However, I will not take down the ***** videos, after speaking to a rav he told me that there’s no issur in posting a video which i bought with my money.If you choose to take it down via Youtube, I will keep om posting it plus alot more of the ***** and ***** videos again and again through different accounts.
We are living in a youtube generation where people do post all types of videos.
P.S. keep in mind that i only posted videos which came out about 2 years ago and not recent videos. – Gut Shabbos
I try to keep up with the most recent design trends in the graphic design world. Right now the web 2.0 look has made the jump from internet only design to print design. I dont know if it works with this poster though. Tell me what you think. There is a white gradient glow over the cd’s and the top part of the blue oval. Which version looks better?
This was was fun to write, I’d like to write another one like this, but it’s not so easy without leaving people out.