Deep Thoughts On Vidding And Going Mainstream

[morgandawn]

In recent weeks there have been some exciting changes filtering through the vidding community. More and more fan made vids are making the news and coming to the attention of web culture enthusiasts. This is not such ‘new’ news: In some communities (anime) vidding has enjoyed a long history of  lassiez-faire relations with the content creators (even going to so far as to pay one time license fees for the music used in vids in order to show them at conventions).

Live action vidding has been more cautious - and with good reason. Hollywood and the RIAA are not kind to their fans.   Every month some vidder is told to take their vids down - or is sent a C&D letter (or even a demand for payment of royalties). And many of us are not in position - personally, professionally or emotionally to fight any battles over IP rights. Particularly over something that is, for most of us, intended to be a hobby.

Having said all this: I would like to see fan vids becoming more mainstream. Both as a vidder who wants more recognition, more viewership and the ability to impact (in a small way) the hearts and minds of popular culture. As a consumer, I want more to see, I want it to be easier to see  (streaming) and the ability to see what I want, when I want and at no cost. Balanced against this is my understandable caution/fear/distaste of becoming entangled with a media and music industry that, as one commentator explains: ""So you need to understand that [the music industry] people are really and truly crazy. They imagine that their industry is not, as you might have thought previously, merely a conduit for a specific type of product. Rather, they believe that their industry is the avatar of music itself, and flush with this knowledge they gesture from their litter, seeking tribute."

Which leads me to iMeem - a small video music sharing service that like Youtube, allows people to upload content and then stream it. It is better than Youtube in that the quality of the files are better - which is why (I suspect) many vidders are testing out the service.

But keep in mind:

1. Our fannish needs are not the same as iMeem 's goals.  Their website has many technical limitations (some of which we’re exploring  over here).

2. iMeem is (to me) an experiment. Can imeem handle the disk space/ server load? Do we fit into their business model? Will they want to continue hosting such large video files?

3. Also on the experiment front - will we face greater exposure as individuals  on iMeem  vs. some other site? I know (personally) several vidders who have been asked (by the media owners) to remove their vids from Youtube. Whether that happens on imeem is anyone’s guess.

But even if fandom vidding and iMeem turns out not to be a good fit - I think that it is a worthwhile attempt to branch out and stretch our wings to try new methods of distributing our vids and reaching new fans. And even if fandom vidding hits the ground - well, we all know that it takes most birds a few tries to make it aloft.

How far each of us is willing/able to venture out of our nest is up to each of us individually. More discussion of the pros and cons (and don't doubt for a minute that there are many cons to this question as it applies to our vidding community) is here: http://community.livejournal.com/vidding/893694.html