03-02-2010, 12:20
from rolling stone
![[Image: P63784P1ODN.jpg]](http://image.allmusic.com/00/amg/pic200/drP600/P637/P63784P1ODN.jpg)
If any band knows the power of viral videos, itâs OK Go. Five years ago, the band broke through when clips for âA Million Waysâ and âHere It Goes Againâ (the âtreadmillâ video) were passed around the Web. The band assumed the same would be the case for the first two videos from its new Of the Blue Colour of the Sky album (for âWTFâ and âThis Too Shall Passâ). But that was before the music business began groping for any additional ways to generate income in light of plummeting CD sales.
Thanks to a 2006 agreement between Google and the major labels, the two clips are officially confined to MySpace and YouTube and canât be posted anywhere else. In the Google arrangement, which was renewed with the labels last year, the four majors receive at least 50 percent of ad revenue based on streams of videos on YouTube.
OK Goâs response? Go around the system. In an open letter to fans posted on the bandâs site on January 18, singer-guitarist Damien Kulash explained the situation â and then provided a code so that bloggers and fans can embed both videos on their own sites. âWeâll put âem up anywhere we can,â says Kulash. âOur label is unlikely to start suing us for putting our videos up.â OK Go plans to make at least four more videos from Of the Blue Colour of the Sky, including one in which Kulash will be thrown across a room in a giant slingshot.
According to Kulash, OK Go didnât realize the restrictions until angry fan e-mails began arriving at the bandâs Website. âItâs kind of a stupid decision,â says Kulash. âIt doesnât matter all that much to me if people are passing around our videos on one platform over another. But if the casual person who just wants to stick it up on their Facebook page canât embed it, they send you a nasty comment and move on. Youâve just lost the two to 200 people who might have read that page.â
Although EMI declined to comment (but did not dispute Kulashâs claims), a YouTube spokesman confirms that the label made the decision to prevent those particular videos from being embedded elsewhere. OK Go manager Jamie Kitman says the band asked the label if they could skirt around the rules. âBut they said, âThatâs the policy â what can we do?ââ he says. âItâs unthinkable to us that they wouldnât want to spread videos virally, but they have a corporate policy.â
Kulash says he understands the industryâs rationale. âAs fucked up as the industry is, it does provide investment money for bands,â he says. âFor them to continue to do that, they do need some income.â But he also says thatâs about all he comprehends about streaming videos and additional income. âBasically I have no ******* idea how it works. The last accounting we saw said that for 600,000 streams, we got $31. How can that be worth this?â
If any band knows the power of viral videos, itâs OK Go. Five years ago, the band broke through when clips for âA Million Waysâ and âHere It Goes Againâ (the âtreadmillâ video) were passed around the Web. The band assumed the same would be the case for the first two videos from its new Of the Blue Colour of the Sky album (for âWTFâ and âThis Too Shall Passâ). But that was before the music business began groping for any additional ways to generate income in light of plummeting CD sales.
Thanks to a 2006 agreement between Google and the major labels, the two clips are officially confined to MySpace and YouTube and canât be posted anywhere else. In the Google arrangement, which was renewed with the labels last year, the four majors receive at least 50 percent of ad revenue based on streams of videos on YouTube.
OK Goâs response? Go around the system. In an open letter to fans posted on the bandâs site on January 18, singer-guitarist Damien Kulash explained the situation â and then provided a code so that bloggers and fans can embed both videos on their own sites. âWeâll put âem up anywhere we can,â says Kulash. âOur label is unlikely to start suing us for putting our videos up.â OK Go plans to make at least four more videos from Of the Blue Colour of the Sky, including one in which Kulash will be thrown across a room in a giant slingshot.
According to Kulash, OK Go didnât realize the restrictions until angry fan e-mails began arriving at the bandâs Website. âItâs kind of a stupid decision,â says Kulash. âIt doesnât matter all that much to me if people are passing around our videos on one platform over another. But if the casual person who just wants to stick it up on their Facebook page canât embed it, they send you a nasty comment and move on. Youâve just lost the two to 200 people who might have read that page.â
Although EMI declined to comment (but did not dispute Kulashâs claims), a YouTube spokesman confirms that the label made the decision to prevent those particular videos from being embedded elsewhere. OK Go manager Jamie Kitman says the band asked the label if they could skirt around the rules. âBut they said, âThatâs the policy â what can we do?ââ he says. âItâs unthinkable to us that they wouldnât want to spread videos virally, but they have a corporate policy.â
Kulash says he understands the industryâs rationale. âAs fucked up as the industry is, it does provide investment money for bands,â he says. âFor them to continue to do that, they do need some income.â But he also says thatâs about all he comprehends about streaming videos and additional income. âBasically I have no ******* idea how it works. The last accounting we saw said that for 600,000 streams, we got $31. How can that be worth this?â
