We secured permission from all of the music artists and labels involved before we shot the video. Then we heavily promoted their itunes stores in the video and in its description. The artists were very happy with the result, and with their new fans. I have nothing negative to say about the artist whose song triggered this claim. They are talented and I appreciate their generosity in granting us permission to use their music. I’m only upset that I can no longer promote their work to our fan base – even with permission – for fear of The Orchard Music Group. I would suggest that all music artists rethink working with The Orchard – because tactics like these leave a real sour taste in the mouths of potential fans and customers.  Not only were we forced to cease promoting the artist represented by The Orchard (despite that artist’s wishes), there were several other artists in this D*Con video that were enjoying the agreed-upon promotion, who’ve been negatively affected by The Orchard.  I should also note that we were not making any revenue off of that video.  And this was not a video that people would use to acquire the music.  For one, the music tracks were not used in their entirety.  Two, there were crowd sounds over top.  And three, the video was 25 minutes long.  None of those details are really relevant though, because we had permission to use all of the music.

If you try to contact Orchard Music Group over a concern like this, you only get an automated response – one that proved no help. If you’re a music artist, just be aware that there are not live employees helping to evaluate and avoid these types of misunderstandings. If you want to make sure the companies you work with don’t leave a dark stain on your band’s brand integrity – accidentally or intentionally – you may want to avoid The Orchard.

As a media creator, I understand the need to protect one’s work. But it must be done honestly. I explained to The Orchard that I had written permission to use the song and offered to forward the relevant emails. That I had permission is the reason the video existed on Youtube without conflict for nearly two years. If some circumstance had changed with the label I would have been happy to work with The Orchard to find an amiable solution – even if that meant re-uploading a different version without their music on my own accord. Instead of responding to me or acknowledging the written permission, The Orchard insisted (despite my available proof) that the permission didn’t exist and demanded that Youtube delete the video – a process which also resulted in our channel being threatened with deletion.

Ours is a channel that dozens of people have poured blood sweat and tears into for years. It is obvious how quickly a big faceless corporation like The Orchard can dismiss the hard work of small artists. And how little respect they have for people trying to do the right thing by actually securing permission to use music. Having dabbled in music production when I was younger, I am terrified to think of how the label’s artists might be treated. One things for sure, The Orchard is definitely not doing them any PR favors by harassing small artists.

Unfortunately Google allows labels like The Orchard complete control of what is allowed on Youtube. Any of these labels can claim the music in a video – even if their music doesn’t actually appear in a video – and that begins an automated claims process. This automated process occurred with each artist in our Really Really Long Dragon*Con 2011 Video. But each label showed integrity by acknowledging the written permission we received from the labels and artists. Each label showed integrity, that is, except for The Orchard Music Group.

I opened Youtube only to find it blocked. I faced a bright red message – Youtube was threatening to delete our channel and all our videos thanks to The Orchard Music Group. To proceed, I had to click an “acknowledge” button informing me I was required to delete the video. Instead of being able to go to my video controls, I was then forced to watch a child-like movie about copyright infringement and take a quiz. Talk about adding insult to injury. When I was finally able to access our Youtube Channel again – I realized that YouTube had already removed the video….so I don’t know why they gave me a message insisting that I delete it.

In the end, our ability to counter-claim on Youtube is an illusion. Because the big labels can veto and disregard any counter-claim – regardless of the facts – and Google will side with the big labels without question.

A lesson for other YouTubers – if The Orchard Music Group makes a claim against your video, just take down the video down on your own before The Orchard makes Youtube threaten to delete your channel and ALL of your videos.  It does not matter if you have permission – from our experience, The Orchard will ignore any proof and dismiss your counter-claim.  It is safer to just not promote any music or artists in their catalogue.

We make Dragon*Con videos for the participants of D*Con and fans of costuming, cosplay, and creativity world-wide. It is a shame that The Orchard had to put an end to one of the best expressions of this goal – despite us having permission to use the music.

We’re sorry to all the people who loved watching this video, especially with another D*Con coming up.  We’ll do our best to find the original files and re-do the music if possible.  Obviously we will never again feature or promote a band represented by The Orchard.  And for any video’s like this, we will be sure to put a warning about working with The Orchard, for the sake of all our fellow artists.

-MM

KICKSTARTER. After Episode 2, we ran out of money to make more Mario Warfare episodes. But we wanted to give fans the chance to see a complete saga! So we developed a Kickstarter project and it succeeded! Once a Kickstarter is complete, it actually takes a couple weeks for Kickstarter to collect the contributions and transfer them to the project.

WRITING. Because of the amazing Kickstarter support, we were able to expand Mario Warfare’s story to include new characters, locations, and scenes. This also meant we had to go back to the script and write a lot more.

RESEARCH. Even with funding, we have to base the script on obtainable costumes, props, and locations. Creating costumes from scratch might take too long, and building complete sets is beyond our budget. So before we could even write a new script, we had to research available locations, costume pieces, prop materials, etc..

SHOPPING. Once we had a script, we did a “script break-down.” We made a note of every item in the script and went shopping for it.

WAITING ON SHIPPING. Amazon Prime’s free two-day shipping is one of the best deals for filmmakers. However, not all items are available on Amazon, or offered under Prime. So we had to spend weeks waiting for certain costumes and props to arrive.

COSTUMES AND PROPS. As we received materials, we began assembling props and costumes. We built a giant barrel and a big warp pipe. We modified clothing, and painted armor and accessories.

LOCATIONS. Finding locations can be one of the trickiest tasks for a small film crew. We’ve spent days searching for interesting locations (physically and online), trying to find the owners, and secure permission to use them. We were super fortunate to meet a family of amazing artists that has allowed us to use a couple of their properties for Mario Warfare.

CASTING. Due to the Kickstarter support, we’ve been able to add several more Nintendo-inspired characters to the series. We’ve also been able to film bigger scenes with lots of extra actors. So we spent a couple weeks casting new characters and organizing extras.

SCHEDULING. With such a big cast of heroes and villains, scheduling can be tricky. But the cast of Mario Warfare has gone out of their way to make themselves available.

FILMING. We all have day jobs, so we can really only film on the weekends. Most film days include several hours of organizing, driving, and setup, then 9 or 10 hours of filming.

RAIN DELAYS. Much of Episode 3 and 4 happen outdoors, so we do have to contend with the weather. We’ve been rained out two weekends during the filming of Episodes 3 and 4.

Here’s some of the stuff we still need to work on.