I have a friend whose kids produced a charming video about family life. It involved dad producing some kind of show in which the kids were somewhat willing participants. Funny stuff. The kids roll their eyes as dad assures them that this is one great production. The video had lots of the media savvy editing we see from the You Tube generation. These are kids who have grown up living on both sides of the fourth wall. They are aware of production value from an early age and both respect and distrust it intrinsically. These are the kids that Lawrence Lessig is talking about in his book, Remix. This is the generation that will take content, use readily available technology and create something new. Using Lessig’s terminology, the are part of the Read/Write (RW) culture - the culture that allows and ecourages creative input from its members. As predicted in Remix, good luck viewing a video like this on YouTube because it was pulled by the content owners. They’ve got other videos that haven’t met the ax yet, but this one is gone.
I was reminded of the video as I viewed the presentation and response to another video that dominated the net last week. If you haven’t seen it, make sure you check it out. The video of the wedding couple joyfully dancing down the isle has been viewed by millions and is the latest pop culture sensation. It’s also a great case study on how everyone involved in viral marketing responds to the emerging model of the RW culture.
You can’t write compelling side stories that outmatch the reality of the RW generation. In this case, beleaguered pop star Chris Brown turns out to be a beneficiary of the couple’s joy. It is his song “Forever” that is used in the video. Brown hit a rough spot in his career recently with the domestic abuse charge after an altercation with another pop star, Rhianna. The wedding video has boosted sales of his song. As a result, SONY has now appropriated the video as a marekting tool. No longer is it just a video uploaded by the couple to share with family on the net, it is now tagged with the “buy now at iTunes” box and become a fundraising vehicle for a domestic violence foundation. In short, it has entered the marketing machine.
So why pull my friend’s video and not this one? Well, a difference of about 14 million views helps to make the choice . But it does raise the question of the use of intellectual property in the YouTube era - or moment of an era. Does the content producer get credit? How do you monetize the content? The aggregators have certainly figured out the new model. The likes of YouTube and other content providers like the Huffington Post aren’t losing much money with the traffic to their sites. In this case, it looks like the recording industry is learning how to play the game. Think of the bad PR they would have had pulling this one! But even though the couple and the wedding party got a free trip to NY and the Today Show out of this, let’s see who gets the biggest cut.
The new IP model is beginining to look somewhat familiar in a different sort of way… In the new Read/Write culture sure, we can write but what’s it worth?