Offbeat said:
Everything is going to end up on Youtube whether you like it or not. This reminds me of fruitless battle the music industry has been waging to protect their music bundling stuff (10 bad songs to sell 2 good songs) on CDs while people continue to swap, steal, download, etc songs of their choice on the Internet.
I don't think the situation with videotaping can be compared to the issue of the music industry. First, in the case of the music industry, in same cases people have violated the laws and then applying the law unto them is fine. And second, the music industry directly started to use available legal tools to stop the violation. But in the case of videotaping, you have people asking for respect to their request and not anybody applying a law.
Offbeat said:
The instructor has got paid (hopefully) for giving the lessons at the congress. People tape the workshop to
But where does that money came from? It's the money that the organizer earned from the people who attend the congress and the workshops. And there's a fair chance that with more clips of workshops showing up for free on the internet, less people will pay for a congress. So there's less money available for instructors, meaning that either less instructor or not well-known instructor or maybe even non will be available for teaching workshops.
Offbeat said:
remind themselves of what they learnt. So far so good. Now someone decides to put it on the youtube. So what? Is anyone profiting from it? No. Are less people going to attend the next workshop because they can watch the end of workshop on the youtube? No. Are the instructors going to lose money becaue video went on youtube? No.
Pardon, but the answer to the first question is in my opinion rather a 'yes' since everybody who watches the clip on the internet is profiting by getting some new combination and/or a new move for free. As to the second issue, I'm not sure if one can assume that free workshop clip will not have an impact on the attendance of workshops. Considering how much money you spend on a congress weekend, I can see how there's a fair chance of less people attending in the future because of this.
Offbeat said:
For the students who paid, is the money they paid to take the workshop or attend the congress going to get devalued? No. Are the instructors offering the some workshop as paid content? Unlikely. Is someone going to
So, let's say when you just bought a new electronic gadget for 500$ and your neighbors shows you he just got the same for free (as it's fallen off a truck
will you still be happy about this?
Offbeat said:
In earlier days you had to pay to advertise your services. The instructors should think of opportunity to have snippet of their workshop being put on youtube by someone else without costing them money or time as free advertising. It is free publicity. It will get you known. If you are not known, no one will bother to
Well, if they would see it as opportunity or would like to publish some, they can always bring their own camera along and ask somebody to record it for them or send them the record clip. But do neither, because it doesn't seem like an opportunity for marketing. And personally I'm having some doubts that workshops clips will be an important part of the marketing mix, especially advertising.
Offbeat said:
attend your workshop when you are in their city. E.g. to best of my knowledge Magna has never been to SF and many around here probably haven't even heard of her. Only reason I know her and admire her dancing is because of youtube and Internet. I rarely take workshops. But if she were to give one around here, not only would I try to go, but also convince 4-5 of my other friends to take it. Those who never heard her name.
But those clips on the internet, which made and still make people famous or well-known are those of social dancing and not those of workshops. A 30 second clip showing a combination/pattern will not give you any or only a very slight idea of that dancers style. But watching people dance with various other people will give you good impression and will guide your decision in taking a workshop with them. Or which instructors can you name that got famous because of their workshops clips and only because of it?
In the end, it's about respect for the instructor and his request to you, as workshop participant. They are not asking you or anybody else to pay additional money, sign any contract or something, but instead they offer you the possibility to tape them doing the combination so you can remember it back at home. So why not simply respect the request and the instructor, but instead ignore the request? It the end this kind of behavior will in my opinion not be helpful but rather lead to less and (maybe some day none) instructors allowing videotaping anymore.
Also I know and have experienced one instructor, who isn't going to offer the possibility of videotaping at the end of the workshops anymore, because of people ignoring requests. And I seriously hope that we don't end up with nearly all instructors denying us the chance to videotape workshops, just because some people out there have not respect for the requests of instructors.
