I roared with a belly laugh when I read this headline. Could Capitol Records truly be this misguided? Do they not realize that if you were to sort Internet brands by those most emblematic of creativity — not piracy — that Vimeo would line up at the top? Lip-dubbing is harmless and perfectly fun, and ultimately will define the aesthetic of an Internet generation. Other than for some petty legal jockeying towards a greater strategy can I imagine why this record company would try to sink such a potentially valuable lifeline — Lip-Dubbing and Vimeo create tremendous relevance and usefulness for their catalog!
If anything better underlines my point it’s an email I received from Sean Nelson, the frontman of the band Harvey Danger, whose song Flagpole Sitta we’ve now infamously lip-dubbed:
That Flagpole Sitta video made me incredibly happy, just when I thought there was NOTHING that could make me listen to that song again. A thousand thank you’s.Capitol, you’re a bunch of goof-balls. This lawsuit is the tactical equivalent to pooping on someone’s birthday cake.
I, for one, am willing to boycott Capitol artists unless they reconsider, and I implore other labels to work with Vimeo to determine a simple process to make copyrighted music available for personal video.
Please reblog, or honk, if you agree.
Wow. This has to be one of the more ridiculous things record companies have to tried to do to drive a stake right through the heart of the point of music…which is to feel connected to a piece of art, to have fun, to be creative, and to ROCK the hell OUT! Bring on the lip dubs.
