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Monty Python Banks On the Long Tail Via YouTube
JTRipper writes "Monty Python seems to have done the right thing. Instead of issuing take down notices of their videos on YouTube, they are doing it better themselves with their own YouTube channel. They are putting all their clips (including snips from their movies) up in a decent resolution, with the only caveat being a link to buying the movies and TV episodes from Amazon."
They are putting all their clips (including snips from their movies) up in a decent resolution ...
Um, that's kind of misleading. There are 24 clips as of this posting. That's not to say there isn't more to come but the channel description clearly states:
What's more, we're taking our most viewed clips and uploading brand new HQ versions.
Their announcement video shows more video clips than they have up right now (man with a recorder up his nose from And Now for Something Completely Different, etc) so hopefully there's more to come. I'm a bit disappointed the general populace doesn't watch The Flying Circus more often ... it's a shame every time I see a banana at a corporate function I have the urge to hand it to someone while instructing them to "come at me with that banana like you really mean it!" And they just continue to treat me like I'm insane.
And where's The Crimson Permanent Assurance (opening feature to The Meaning of Life)?! That single skit was probably more expensive than all other Python works combined--and a gold mine for office humor to send to your coworkers!
My work here is dung.
I had no problem getting a few ads to watch something online. Much like Hulu's service. If they want to start something like this, go for it! This is how it should be done.
The greatest revenge in life is massive success.
That's just a link to amazon.
A caveat would be a warning or proviso indicating terms of use, like that you have to pay them $1 million if you don't buy the video from Amazon.
All your old business models are dead... it's time to find a better way and stop treating potential customers as the enemy.
(I have the entire flying circus on DVD bought and paid for... what a wonderful waste of time.)
Nooooobody expects the Monty Python clips on Youtube! Our chief weapons are . . .
Why is this thus? What is the reason for this thusness?
Are you suggesting that cononuts migrate to online services??????
I have been a user for about 10 years. This ends Feb 2014. The site's been ruined. I'm off. Dice, FU
Who is Monty Python and why should I care? Is it a band? From what I can tell they're just a bunch of fat Australians who need shaves.
I wonder who had the power to make this decision since most artists sell their work to a label/studio. According to Wikipedia for example, The Holy Grain is currently produced by Fox and EMI in the UK and Cinema 5 in the US (who I've never heard of). But the others seem to have other distributors. It's strange that they would upload portions from the entire collection when it seems that different parts are owned by different companies....
But it's welcome news. Maybe it will set a precedent for others to do the same.
I have left slashdot and am now on Soylent News. FUCK YOU DICE.
Sir Lancelot: We were in the nick of time. You were in great peril.
Sir Galahad: I don't think I was.
Sir Lancelot: Yes, you were. You were in terrible peril.
Sir Galahad: Look, let me go back in there and face the peril.
Sir Lancelot: No, it's too perilous.
Sir Galahad: Look, it's my duty as a knight to sample as much peril as I can.
Sir Lancelot: No, we've got to find the Holy Grail. Come on.
Sir Galahad: Oh, let me have just a little bit of peril?
Sir Lancelot: No. It's unhealthy.
Sir Galahad: I bet you're gay.
Sir Lancelot: Am not.
A man with twenty-four Monty Python clips!
... oh come off it!
'es watching youtube
Oh.. uh... a man with three legs!
'es run away
Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, watch it -- I'm huge!
I was a huge fan of the way id released their games back in the day, first episode is long and free, the next two will cost you something. Now with Monty Python, the last show went in the can years ago and they're not likely to produce anything new. But for newer shows, I think the PBS model would work. Give the content away for free but let the fans who really like it become direct patrons to support the arts. Let's face it, stamping out piracy is pretty much impossible and not every pirated copy is really a lost sale to begin with. Better to support the culture of patronage and count on the real fans to help you turn a profit.
One thing the networks are struggling to contend with right now is gaining an accurate measure of just how popular a show is. We know about Faux's surprise when Family Guy was canceled for poor ratings and the DVD set went on to become the #2 selling show ever. This sort of performance gap is continuing with geriatric-targeting CBS having great Nielsens while shows skewing towards younger demographics seem to be under-performing but this does not reflect the interest on p2p sites. ITunes only depicts a portion of the overall success online. And DVD sales aren't figured until long after the current season is over.
I'll be happy when the middle-men are completely done away with and first-run shows are produced with no need for networks. We're already seeing quirky comedies doing well on Youtube but those are extremely low-budget. It'll take some bucks to put together something like Firefly on a fan-funded basis.
Kwisatz Haderach
Sell the spice to CHOAM
This Mahdi took Shaddam's Throne
Why did you have to tell me that. Bang goes the rest of the week...
Once I was a four stone apology. Now I am two separate gorillas.
I hate laugh tracks.
No, scratch that -- I am annoyed by laugh tracks. Partly because I'm used to them, and when I notice a laugh-track it's often too late.
Please, Pythons -- your sketches are funny (on albums) without the degrading use of laugh tracks. Do you still have the masters from which to make better video clips, without them?
timothy
jrnl: http://tinyurl.com/c2l8yr / foes: http://tinyurl.com/ckjno5
YouTube will be inundated with spam.
The "Long Tail" is a retail concept. Normally, business make 80% of their profit/sales off 20% of the items that they sell. Which is why "Big" retails are well stocked with the latest Hollywood film, but not that obscure DVD with British humor. The Internet is supposed to change this. Because adding an additional piece to inventor does not take up an additional retail "space" a store can offer unlimited holdings. So one would expect that fewer sales of the "Big" hits and more sales of the more odd titles. It's is a nice theory, but it not true. 80% of Amazon's sales come from just 20% of their inventory. I mean, sure, they have a much larger inventory then most stores, but they don't expect the long tail. The numbers are bigger but the ratio stays the same. I have always wondered if Apple's Itunes has escaped into the long tail.
Going WAY back on this one...
http://xkcd.com/16/
I'm afraid you'll have to do with the laughter.
No, I'm pretty sure this is abuse...
MP3 Search Engine
hit refresh a couple times and it usually comes up...
dunno why though.
whois gawk date unzip strip find touch finger mount join nice man top fsck grep eject more yes exit umount sleep dump
I'm as big a Python fan as the next, but let it not.
No one expects the...
Oh, bugger.
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"What's it called?" he asked.
"My Name Is Earl."
"I thought your name was Steve?"
"THIRD BASE!"
Bow-ties are cool.
to wit: "with the only caveat being a link to buying the movies and TV episodes from Amazon."
caveat? -caveat-? Holy crap. The people behind the actual stuff can't put a f'ing "BUY THIS NOW" link with their videos without being chastised for it now?
The "me me me" generation needs to move along and die - the sooner the better.
I've always said (search my comments - I'm sure I've ranted on this topic here before) that the content owners should have a two-part strategy..
1. yes, by all means, send DMCA takedown notices of clear rips (if for no other reason than that I am tired of the leading title sequences for clips saying "video made by GangFunksta!!!!" in bright yellow on blue put together in windows movie maker, followed by the actual video overlaid by "made with unregistered hypercam" in the corners all over, and the sound too quiet to hear without setting the volume to 11)
( Note that I say 'clear rips'; somebody playing some stupid song in the background of their kid dancing shouldn't get a DMCA takedown. Somebody putting up a still image with the artist name and title of the song with the music in good quality -should- be DMCAd left right and center. )
2. Make an official and -good- quality version available themselves. Doesn't even need to be high quality or HD - leave that for sales if you want, but just set up good quality versions, add links to other productions of yours, add links to amazon, to swag, insert special promo codes - whatever you think would bring you more customers instead of driving them away (and to those crappy rips).. heck, put in an actual ad at the end of the video.
I think the best model that any show has come up with is South Park's. Every episode from every season posted online, full, without commercials. The newest episodes are posted the week after they air.
This policy has encouraged me to watch South Park. And what do you know: I even watch it on TV sometimes. +1 viewership by enlightened understanding of digital distribution.
'Every story, if continued long enough, ends in death.' --Ernest Hemingway
OH, oh I'm sorry, but this is abuse. You want room 12A, Just along the corridor.
The way Detroit is going, soon they'll be pining for the Fords...
Actually I believe that Python was produced at a time when the BBC was opposed to using any canned laugh track. The exterior shots laugh track were presumably recorded while playing back the tape to the audience as a prelude to the interior, live filming.
Under the original terms of US copyright law (14 years with optional 14 year renewal if author is still alive, and zero copyright protection for foreign works), most monty python material would already be in the public domain in the USA.
Just something to think about...
It's people like you what cause unrest.
I watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhauser gate.