vidding_livejournal_ark2 | Fanvids On Vimeo (or an exploration of fair use in the online world)

With the Youtube vidder migration in full swing in response to Warner Brother's pulling their music licenses from Youtube, we're seeing an influx of 'new' vidders to alternative streaming sites such as iMeem and Vimeo (and yes here to Livejournal).

mranderson71 and I have blogged about Vimeo before and I've posted a few cautionary thoughts about whether Vimeo would be accepting to fan vidders. This week, I did additional digging into the Vimeo forums to see: Has Vimeo's attitude towards fanvids shifted?

The short answer: No one knows. Vimeo is a clubhouse and only the clubhouse owners know the rules.

The long answer: Some members of the Vimeo community are accepting of fanvids or mashups/remixes. The overall attitude of the moderators in the forums still leans towards favoring independently created film footage. But they themselves are not clear or consistent and their business model is undergoing rapid changes.

Here is the official response of Vimeo as to what type of footage is acceptable on Vimeo: You have to have been "involved" in the "creation" of the video. No TV footage can be reposted. No public domain footage can be reposted. Even having permission to post a video that you did not create is not allowed. They recommend that you add credits to document your creative involvement in the video. More here

Now on to the results of my additional research

1. A few months ago, Vimeo banned game playing videos, but decided to allow machinima videos.

Of course they have difficulty telling the two apart sometimes.

But then again, perhaps not:
“I restored the video. It would be cool if people would make more machinima that did not involve a story that is just "guys shooting each other."” ~ Vimeo staff member.

2. Tackling the issue of fair use head on: "What is Vimeo's policy regarding fair use? Is a short excerpt of a popular TV show considered a fair use?" The response was split between staff members.

3.Vimeo forum members like to point to editing teams like wreckandsalvage as examples of fair use 'mashups'. Here is a short video that this video editing group did in honor of Paul Newman using footage from Cool Hand Luke

4. One TV photographer asked about putting his video resume on Vimeo: "I'm a TV News Photographer who is looking at Vimeo to put his resume tape online. (I have a couple videos up now) The station I work for owns all the copyrights and all (typically resume tape falls under fair use.) If I put a copyright in the video info, am I safe from deletion on here?" Vimeo staff answered cautiously: "Please indicate your role in the credits portion of each video and if there is a copyright issue we will handle it on an as needed basis. "

5. And in November, a high school video editor put some of her video editing classwork online and asked: is this acceptable? After all, she said: I *am* involved in the making of this video. I am the editor! There was a split opinion among the forum members as to whether her video should be allowed, so in the end they directed her to the Vimeo moderators. It is unclear whether she ever spoke to Vimeo staff.

Which all leads me back to my short answer: Vimeo is a clubhouse. Proceed but be prepared for random bumps and deletions.