Payback a la YouTube: Blink 182 Returns the Favor of Thieving Fans
I go to Youtube.com to check out my favorite band’s singles. But before even getting hold of the official music video, I often come across numerous fan vids—a variety of multimedia creations that’s sometimes better than the original. This art becomes a peculiar thing on YouTube—creating a masterpiece video using a song without permission and then gather thousands, or even millions of hits.
But instead of lashing out on their followers, pop punk bank Blink 182 returns the favor. The California-based group follows the mantra: what goes around comes round, as they harness fan vids and put these together to make a full-length music video for their new song. Sweet revenge, if you can call this revenge!
Together with AT&T, Blink 182 collected a few videos of their fans that used their music illegally and patched these up to give birth to the “Up All Night” official release. AT&T was responsible for diving through the mass of Youtube information, uncovering the most relevant pieces to include in this act. Big Data in the house! That’s what we call the new media age!
The video was composed mainly of failed I’m-a-skateboarding-freak attempts, amateur animations, undressed groups playing instruments on snow-covered pavement, weird copycats, the usual I-will-push-you-into-the-water pool scenes, head-banging friends squeezing their faces into camera’s frame, daredevil stunts that are bound to fail from the onset, and many, many more.
YouTube has become an avenue for piracy. The video streaming site has already cracked down on pirating acts, having taken off a number of submissions and postings that were found to violate copyrights. Nevertheless, YouTube has also been a stage for those who just want to liberate their imagination, grab attention through senseless or show-off talents and be the next “YouTube sensation.” The video site is a staple gauge of virtual and real world popularity, especially amongst celebrities and wanna-be’s respective of the number of views.
This is a way for Blink 182 to leverage all of this for deeper engagement with fans, gaining a certain respect from some, while others would call it a marketing ploy. Whichever way you look at it, it’s clear that many brands continue to seek out ways in which to leverage this growing mound of web data to market themselves and learn from consumers.
Since you’re here …
… We’d like to tell you about our mission and how you can help us fulfill it. SiliconANGLE Media Inc.’s business model is based on the intrinsic value of the content, not advertising. Unlike many online publications, we don’t have a paywall or run banner advertising, because we want to keep our journalism open, without influence or the need to chase traffic.The journalism, reporting and commentary on SiliconANGLE — along with live, unscripted video from our Silicon Valley studio and globe-trotting video teams at theCUBE — take a lot of hard work, time and money. Keeping the quality high requires the support of sponsors who are aligned with our vision of ad-free journalism content.
If you like the reporting, video interviews and other ad-free content here, please take a moment to check out a sample of the video content supported by our sponsors, tweet your support, and keep coming back to SiliconANGLE.
