Taylor Swift, Apple, and US...

Taylor Swift slammed Apple for wanting Artists to not be paid royalties and commissions on their music, during a "free" preview period Apple proposed for its new music service. Taylor Swift told Apple to pay her, or Apple wouldn't have her latest album. http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/22/bu...vice.html?_r=0

Within milliseconds, Apple changed course.

Brings to mind the same situation we studios have been in for the past 5-7 years: VOD sites, Tube sites, et.al. want to give consumers "free" previews of our work, because it is "advertising"!!!

I've never bought that concept. I've never agreed with anyone giving away my work for free because a consumer needs a "free" preview to be enticed to pay.

It is a bogus argument. The true argument is that the more you hold back, the more excited the consumer will become to see how big or how uncut - or not - the model is. A few screencaps will suffice.

But the operators of VOD and Tube sites give away free previews of studios' work, because VOD and Tube sites make money from the other form of advertising on their pages, the advertising sold to other sites to have banners on the pages that feature the free previews of studios' videos.

A couple of years ago the historic megasite Badpuppy/Doggone Video had to sell. Apparently, I got paid for free-previews of my videos on Doggone Video, before the sale. After the sale was when I found out that Doggone Video honestly paid us for playing our videos for "free," but hadn't properly budgeted for that expense.

I'm glad Apple took Taylor Swift's wake-up call, that artists' work is Intellectual Property, and not subject to being used free to advertise.

It is time for Tube Sites and VOD sites to do the same.

After all, the more non-studios give our work away, the less consumers pay, the less consumers spend, and the less studios earn to produce more.