-
Videography/DVD/Distribution question
Hi everyone. Hope you’re well. I’m a videographer. I shoot for a lot of schools as well as dance companies and theatre companies. For over 10 years I would shoot, edit, and put the work on dvd and then sell them to parents or provide them to the theatres if they were just wanting them for archival purposes. It’s always been an understood thing that “OK, yeah, this is not technically cool, but hey, they’re kids, it’s for their parents and grandparents or it’s for the teachers to have a record of what they’ve done, and I’m not making a bundle off of this or anything like that.”
Sorry, to get to the point, I want to go digital. What I’d love to do is just upload the shows somewhere and they would pay to watch or download it. For dance shows, there’s no way these teachers cleared the rights for all of the music they used. For the plays, it’s copyrighted material as well. I checked with vimeo and, of course, they said if I don’t have the rights, it’s not going to happen. I knew that going in, but I wanted to check. The other thought was subscribing to a large file-sending service, collecting digital payments and then sending them the files. Yes, I hate that someone could just then share a link or send it around, but it is what it is. Obviously, though, this would likely fall under distribution, which again, is not cool.
Anyways, ultimately, I know I’m not the only video guy who films plays and recitals, so what do you folks do? How do you distribute this stuff? How do you get it out there and is there any other option besides dvds?
Thanks in advance for any help. -
1 Reply
-
Your best option: Custom printed cheap usb sticks. 2 Gig or less should be very cheap. It’s easier to sell physical content unless you’re Netflix or Amazon 🙂
The copyrighted stuff is a much tougher one.
If it’s in the background or not the original tracks, it might not get picked up.Your best option here would be to pick a simple video based WordPress template and find plugin that allows you to setup a paywall. There are a few out there. That way you have control over the content.
Other option, create a private video, use Quickbook online or other accounting software that allows to send a digital invoice and send a password for a private video on Youtube, etc. after payment. The problem here is that parents can start sharing the password.
Vince Becquiot
San Francisco Bay Area
Reply to this Discussion! Login or Sign Up