Ceremony
I often dance before making art. It’s important to me, part of my ritual in the creative process.
I made a pre-art making dance video last January that Warner Music Group completely blocked on youtube. I get it, they gotta make money, I didn’t ask for permission, eventually it gets shut down. On the other hand, Roky Erickson and the 13th Floor Elevators have never been “huge” – and from Roky’s story, Warner Music Group didn’t exactly take care of him financially.
I have a lot of videos on youtube that have copyright claims – I cover a lot of songs, or I dance to music in my living room. And youtube’s way around that is to offer any revenue to the owner of the copyright. I am happy about that. I am happy that is even happening – maybe it actually works. Artist’s should get their work out there, and, they should make money for their creativity. That is as it should be.
Going forward, I am going to try to make sure my silly dance videos are using music made by myself, or by friends who maybe don’t get their music out there enough or aren’t represented by huge corporations. There are so many artists out there who don’t get seen or heard enough!
In the meantime, here is the silly video that got blocked – the song is Miss Me, written by Roky Erickson and performed by the 13th Floor Elevators:
Here is the same song, as performed by my band, the Halfbreeds in 1995 – at the Funhouse, in Bethlehem, PA.
A little while back, I created Music Monday post featuring Roky Erickson. All the music posts are meant to honor the artists and maybe turn you on to songs you haven’t heard before. Enjoy! (while you can).
Peace and love,
Holly
Flagstaff, AZ
June 27, 2021
holly troy ~ sacred folly 
I got a license from Sony to use music for parodies, so I have not had any parodies blocked recently, other than one that is restricted in certain countries. It’s a little less complicated when you are only using the music and not monetizing it. Getting permission to use lyrics is a whole other process. It’s really frustrating when people who wrote and recorded the music get blocked by YouTube because they didn’t retain the copyrights. It’s all so very complicated.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Hey! In the meantime, artists who don’t have big corporations backing them – can’t even get stuff removed from youtube. I created a meditation cd – and sold the cd. then, someone made videos of the meditations (not me) – and the attempt to get those removed has been a years long issue that was never resolved. So weird.
I don’t have my youtube set for monetization – but we will see how this goes. 13th floor elevators are relatively obscure, but I suppose not obscure enough. That’s ok – I can get more obscure and more weird – and I like it!
Hope you are doing great! It’s super windy today – hoping it doesn’t thwart the efforts to stop Rafael fire. 65,000 acres and finally, 11% contained today. But watching the skyline is spooky – a wall of smoke to the west.
LikeLiked by 2 people
We are cloudy and cool today. I know the 13th-Floor Elevators. Even if you take the trouble to register a copyright, without big guns and money, the process of getting bootlegged videos taken down can be a nightmare. I’m putting up a new parody tonight. If if doesn’t get restrictions on YouTube, I’ll embed it from YouTube so I don’t have to use space on my WP account. WP is really chincy went it comes to space for uploads. I make photos small, but videos are always big files unless you totally compromise the quality.
LikeLiked by 3 people
Yay! A new video! I have so much catching up to do in regards to your posts, I love them so much – lately my life has become so busy!
LikeLiked by 3 people
Busy is good. I hope you’re making some money out of your business? Are you staying in Flagstaff or are you still thinking about moving on?
LikeLiked by 3 people
I’m up in the air about flagstaff – I have to move by august 31st from my current living space. I am waiting til July to really worry about that.
Sometimes I make money! And hopefully I will be assistant director of photography for a film project toward the end of July – discussions have been happening but no contract materializing . . .
LikeLiked by 4 people
Assistant director of photography sounds like fun. I know they’re making lots of movies out here in Tamalewood, but I don’t know how many local jobs those movies create.
I just posted the parody.
LikeLiked by 3 people