@athenaascot how is it possible? It hasn’t been released on DVD yet, must be an illegal pirated copy. Russell Crowe on Twitter 13 April 2014
When fans tweet celebrities like Russell Crowe on social
media like Twitter they can never be sure of how it will be received not only
by them but their fans as well. Russell Crowe now has over a million and a quarter followers
so fans should be careful of what they write. Time and time again I have seen
the most innocent tweets feel the wrath of Russell Crowe on a bad day. This time it is an innocent picture amongst a
collection on DVDs in an Italian bookshop that has been perceived as an illegal DVD
of one of his movies. From the photo it is difficult to tell whether it is a
poster or a DVD box containing an illegal copy of his latest movie Noah. The
fan is devastated and been supported by other fans. So devastated she is thinking about leaving
the Russell Crowe village.
The tweet raises some interesting points about people’s
perceptions of what is an illegal video and what is acceptable and unacceptable piracy including dare I say Russell Crowe. Many
people don’t really understand the concept of what is an illegal or pirate video. Fans were quick to jump on Twitter calling for other fans not to watch an
illegal copy of Noah, but had no qualms about watching bootlegged videos either
those recorded live at a concert and those copied from other professionally
made videos. They are regularly retweeted by Russell Crowe fans. There is a
perception because a video is on YouTube they are somehow legal videos. A
large percentage of them are not.
The fan should take heart. Russell Crowe is not immune
from watching and circulating a bit of piracy in the form of bootlegged concert videos or copies
of officially made videos. He has circulated pirated copies of content
he has copyright to, for example TOFG official videos but also other illegally copied
professionally made videos and bootlegs of other musicians, artists and
creators. (Although one cannot argue about the benefits of a bit of publicity for anyone whose work is retweeted by Russell Crowe, pirated or
not). To me it makes no difference as to whether the piracy is a video or a
movie. Movie piracy remains a significant problem.
Approximately a year and half ago I wrote a post about
bootleggers in the movies after Russell Crowe had retweeted some illegal
bootlegged videos by @lyndahere. (In the last four months @lyndahere’s
bootlegging at concerts has since been acknowledged by Russell
Crowe, the members of Great Big Sea and Alan Doyle. However, the extent of her bootlegging
and music piracy has not has not been determined).
Wednesday, 26
December 2012
….On your @russellcrowe Twitter site you have retweeted and provided a
link to a live recorded concert by @lyndahere. @lyndahere is a full time
bootlegger and music pirate known to you and your friends. She operates without
a licence to record live concerts or permission to reproduce copyrighted
videos.
@russellcrowe Merry Christmas My Hand, My
Heart, Russell Crowe and Scott Grimes Crowe Doyle NYC Indoor Garden Party 23
December 2012
@lyndahere MT @proguesofficial @russellcrowe
will NOT be performing this song at The Progues’ show tomorrow night at the
London 02. 19 December 2012
@russellcrowe @russellcrowe @youtube 26
December 2012
….Secondly, I am wondering why you think you and your friends need
publicity gained through illegal means. I mean aren’t the legal ways and the
activities of the paparazzi enough? Surely with the release of the film Les
Miserables and the presence of superstars like Sting and Hugh Jackman at your
concerts I am wondering why you think you need this illegal type of promotion?
Thirdly, I am wondering why you are promoting someone who doesn’t seem
to have any understanding of the concept of a ticket. @lyndahere has this idea
that she the consumer deserves more than what your offering for the price of
the ticket to a concert or movie. On Twitter @lyndahere wrote “Les Mis time. Slipped into prior showing to
catch the film’s end –sniffles and applause. Bodes well” @russellcrowe
@alanthomasdoyle 26
December 2012. She always wants more than what you and your friends
are offering for the price of a ticket whether it be live recordings of
concerts or the screening of a movie.
Fourthly, I am wondering why you are promoting and encouraging illegal
activities on your Twitter site. I hope you seriously don’t believe that
members of the public believe bootlegging and piracy are victimless crimes. On
Twitter @lyndahere wrote to @BevyJean72
“You’re very welcome Beverly, you and anyone who’s enjoyed the videos. I love
sharing great shows and great music 21 December 2012. It is illegal under US and Canadian law to
record and distribute live recordings of concerts without permission.
Live concerts are not the only activities bootlegged. Movies are also
bootlegged as they are screened in a theatre. Research shows bootlegged movies
were a phenomenal problem in New York city. That is a problem distinct from
being pirated movies. “About half of
all the bootlegged films recorded live in a theatre, duplicated thousands of
times and sent around the globe originated in New York city according to the
MPAA (Motion Picture Association of America)” (as sited in ‘Cracking
Down on Bootlegged Movies’ by
David Caurso in 2009).
In an episode of the American comedy Seinfeld one of the characters
Kramer becomes involved in video recording movies in theatres and distributing
them on the street. He takes it upon himself to change the original
presentation of the movie and in the process becomes a celebrity artist in his
own right in that industry. A bootlegged video or cam movie is a video
recording of a movie made by a moviegoer while sitting in the theatre.
Bootleggers do it for a number of reasons to make copies, distribute it and
make money, to make copies so that people who can’t see it can or don’t want to
pay the price to see it.
In an article in the New York Times in 1997 titled ‘Bootlegged Videos Piracy with a
Camcorder’ journalist Linda Lee investigates the activity of
bootlegging movies in theatres, their distribution in New York city and their
negative impact on the entertainment industry. The journalist investigated how
video recorders were being smuggled into screenings of movies, copies made and
released. “Using a $500 videocamera
and a tripod and occasionally making use of theatre’s audio jacks a bootlegger
can go to the movies and make a $1000 or more…he makes copies and sells
them…and that’s tax free” said Bill Shannon, the head of Motion
Picture Association of America’s New York anti-piracy office. These activities
were thriving in America and in particular New York city. Some of the copies
made and released were done by industry employees as well as members of the
public however, regardless of who is bootlegging there remains a problem…“The growing sophistication of technology and
the cachet of seeing something first are combining to intensify a persistent
problem”. Not only seeing something first but missing out on seeing
something altogether.
So I gather it would be alright then in your view if someone went into
the Les Miserables movie premier, recorded it and put it up on Internet? People
could then download and watch it for free. Universal Pictures and its
shareholders who finance your creative endeavours do have something to say
about these types of activities as they and other movie studios lose millions
of dollars per year to piracy of all kinds. Or perhaps you don’t really care as
you have your money and quite a lot of it. More money than you and your
children will ever need in their live times.
Some people may ask with all the technology around for movie pirating is
bootlegging movies in theatres still being done. In a 2009 article ‘Cracking Down on Bootlegged Movies’
the journalist discusses new laws being introduced in New York city to outlaw
bootlegging in theatres. In New York it is illegal to film in a movie theatre
and offenders can face a fine of $250. New York has been identified as the
worst city for bootlegging and has some of the worst penalties for offenders.
The Motion Picture Association of America and others have been pushing for
tougher penalties. While there is debate on the Internet about
bootlegged movies and whether they are still being made there is still an
audience for them in particular for people wanting to watch rare or unusual
movies will resort to obtaining a bootlegged movie.
While there may be not a consequence for people bootlegging, the person
selling or watching it, with little chance of being traced, caught and prosecuted
Linda Lee’s ‘Bootlegging Movies with
a Camcorder’ finds there are huge threats to the entertainment
industry who fund these projects for example financial loses. It is difficult
to know how much bootlegging costs the movie industry but it is estimated at
hundreds of millions of dollars every year. The article states “One problem is that blasé New Yorker’s tend
to see bootlegging, like counterfeiting Rolex watches as, a victimless crime”
which of course it is not. From my experience of social media I don’t think
that attitude is exclusive to New York but in America in general. @lyndahere is
definitely blasé about the impact of bootlegging and music piracy and has no
conscience about what she does. Michael Murray in his article‘Why Pay for
Anything?Movie Bootlegging and the Evolution of Media’ writes about the
evolution of the media industry. He regularly purchases bootlegged (as distinct
from pirated copies) of DVDs “I have
to admit to feeling some excitement if the DVD I brought is going to be a dud
or not…maybe you are going to beat the system or the system is going to beat
you”.
I am wondering if you have thought about what you are saying to your
followers by providing links to and retweeting @lyndahere’s videos on Twitter.
It is of course up to you what you tweet and retweet but what are you saying to
others in particular to children and teenagers about the laws created to
protect creative artists and their work. Children and teenagers read your
Twitter page. Your children and their friends read your Twitter page. Most
people only make a small number of recordings at concerts for personal use and
that is okay. However, @lyndahere records everything she attends with no regard
for the quantity or quality and puts it on Youtube. And you and your friends
are encouraging it. You are trivialising copyright, music piracy and
bootlegging laws that protect creative endeavours of individuals and
corporations.
What are you saying about the quality of goods people are listening too
and peoples creative work being presented? In a tweet to @alanthomasdoyle
@lyndahere writes “I thought the
nose looked rather familiar. Distinctively Doyle – it’s why I didn’t crop it
out of the frame” 20 December 2012. It seems okay to her to make
adjustments to others creative work and present them to the public in the way
she sees fit. Like live recordings of concerts, live recordings of movies
capture a range of activities in the immediate environment for example people
talking, eating popcorn and candy interfere with the quality of the sound. Like
live recordings of concerts those skilled in editing can alter the original
copy of the movie. Michael Murray in his article‘Why Pay for Anything?Movie
Bootlegging and the Evolution of Media’ who purchases bootlegged DVDs as
against pirated DVDs writes about the editing of bootlegged movies “The Craziesin which a theatre goer’s
shoulder was visible at the bottom of the screen and the copy of Alice in
Wonderland I brought curiously devoid of what I would call colour. (Personally
I kind of like interpretations of the filmic experience, seeing them as a kind
of mash-up or a piece of found if degraded, art’)…
@lyndahere is being encouraged and rewarded for committing illegal
activities like bootlegging and music piracy. She is engaged in music piracy
and illegally copying DVDs and making them available on her YouTube sites. It
is difficult to know how much illegal activity she is involved in. She
demonstrates little constraint when bootlegging then why would she show constraint
when engaging in music or other types of piracy. Some of those people whose
work is being pirated are friends of yours. I am wondering why you are
promoting illegal activities on your sites when you have blocked people whose
only “crime” is to say something you don’t agree with. They have remained
blocked. Yet here is a person who breaks the laws and commits crimes like
bootlegging and music piracy whose activities you and your friend @scottgrimes
promote and reward.
“Regardless, the experience
of attending a movie and seeing it in a theatre cannot be duplicated. To have
everything dissolve around you and fade to black, and to see a world-so much
larger than life-unfold before you just as the artists intended is unique. And
without even knowing it, the mood and expectations of the rest of the crowd,
like weather blowing in, passes through you and then a rare but unforgettable
moment of shared transcendence might emerge, and for that, well for that we
will always return” (Michael Murray in his article‘Why Pay for
Anything?Movie Bootlegging and the Evolution of Media’). And that is why I
enjoy paying for goods brought legally whether it be a concert, movie, CD or
DVD. I enjoy the experiences offered to me as the artist intended.
References
Caruso, D. B 2009 ‘Cracking
Down on Bootlegged Movies’ viewed 23 December 2012 at
www.cbsnews.com
Lee, L 1997‘Bootlegged Videos
Piracy with a Camcorder’ viewed 23 December 2012 at http://www.nytimes.com/
Murray, M ‘Why Pay for
Anything?Movie Bootlegging and the Evolution of Media’ viewed on 27
December 2012 www.pajiba,com/think_pieces/why-pay
