The Crowd Sourcing and the Damage Done... or Not?

Bear with us as we attempt to justify the posting of the "crowd sourced" YouTube video above of Neil Young at Carnegie Hall, on 1/7/14.

First, from the video description:

Thanks to all those who contributed to the making of this video... ESPECIALLY, of course, NEIL YOUNG! Please continue to purchase from Neil's amazingly diverse and expansive catalogue of music (http://www.NeilYoung.com)

This video is a testament to my lifelong love of Neil's music and I strongly encourage you all to explore and purchase ALL of his officially published music ... but for the next 1hr 52min and 54sec, please enjoy this heavenly acoustic solo performance at Carnegie Hall...

Video recording & editing by http://www.ReelifeProductions.com

additional video: Jersey Nola, Tino Bekkering & Jefftgvid

Audio recording location: DFC 4th mezz ledge, mics split 12" placed inside small openings at foot level.

Thanks to the online communities of:
Rusties on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/groups/RustP...)
Rusties (https://www.facebook.com/groups/rusted/)
Thrasher's Wheat (https://www.facebook.com/ThrashersWhe...)

also check out this radio show that I produced called "A Palace in The Gravy- The Best & Worst of Neil Young": http://youtu.be/QT5lE2eJgeU
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Neil Young Carnegie Hall, January 7, 2014 - FULL SHOW - a crowd sourced concert film

Set 1:
01 crowd
02 From Hank to Hendrix
03 talking
04 On the Way Home
05 Only Love Can Break Your Heart
06 Love in Mind (piano)
07 talking
08 Mellow My Mind (banjo)
09 Are You Ready for the Country (piano)
10 Someday (piano)
11 talking
12 Changes
13 Harvest
14 talking
15 Old Man

Set 2:
16 crowd
17 Goin' Back
18 A Man Needs a Maid (piano)
19 Ohio
20 Southern Man
21 Mr. Soul (pump organ)
22 talking
23 Needle of Death
24 talking
25 The Needle and the Damage Done
26 talking
27 Harvest Moon
28 Flying on the Ground Is Wrong (piano)
29 talking
30 After the Gold Rush (piano)
31 talking
32 Heart of Gold
33 - encore break -
34 Comes a Time
35 talking
36 Long May You Run

Now, we admit that we struggled with what to do about this situation, but after a bit of reflection we realized that we simply could not ignore the video and the associated controversy. Hopefully, out of all of this, maybe some good will prevail.

First, you'll note above that our website is listed as credit. 2nd, the video was posted to our Facebook page last week and it created quite a stir. Third, the Wall Street Journal picked this up and interviewed not only the video editor Tom Adams, but Neil Young's manager Elliot Roberts, as well.


When Neil Young is Playing, You Shut the Fuck Up
Backtracking just a bit, recently we wrote about Etiquette At A Neil Young Concert after there was all sorts of complaints about social media behavior at the Carnegie Hall concerts. Over the years, we've blogged on numerous occasions about etiquette at a Neil Young concert, here, here, and here.

So here's the situation, per Bernie B Shakey:

A couple days ago a so-called "crowd-sourced" Neil Young Carnegie Hall video made its way to YouTube…and went viral, or close to it. In less than 48 hours, the video, which captures the complete 1.7.14 show, generated an impressive 16,000+ views (and counting), but that's nothing compared to what's about to happen to it.

You see, the video, expertly created by my Facebook friend Tom Adams, not only caught the eye of rabid Neil Young aficionados, but the powerful and mighty Wall Street Journal also somehow stumbled upon it. And the WSJ deemed the video so noteworthy they opted to publish a story about it (which I've posted below).

In a nutshell, Neil's camp ain't too thrilled with Tom's amazing work: "We find this sort of practice to be incredibly rude toward both the audience and the artist," says Elliot Roberts, who was quoted in the article (which I've posted below).

These days, the practice of people snapping photos and video at any event, not just concerts, is as common as a yellow taxi in NYC, as turkey and mashed potatoes on Thanksgiving, as Neil Young wearing a plaid shirt. *Snap!* People have a want, desire to make a digital copy of their life, their entire life - we record EVERYTHING now. *Snap!* Ironically, Neil made a now-famous "Selfie Rant" at the 1.9.14 show. But, hey, Neil this is the world we live in today, rightly or wrongly. *Snap!*

So what's the harm in recording some video at a show, as long as you do so in a respectful, unobtrusive manner…and don't sell it for profit? And think of all the amazing amounts of wonderfulness this video has brought to peoples' lives worldwide? Carnegie Hall seats roughly 2800 people, so over four nights that's 11,200 paying customers. So, consider all the people who wanted to be there, but couldn't, for various reasons. Tom's video allowed my friend in Singapore to see Neil work his magic at an incredibly anticipated show that was near-impossible to get tickets to.

I think that's GREAT!

But, hey, i'm just a fan……Elliot's a music mogul businessman protecting his client. I get it, I get it. There are two sides to this coin, and both sides can be argued fervently until you're blue in the face. But I know where I stand:

GREAT work Tom Adams! I hope you win an Oscar for Best Musical Score!!

*Snap!*

You can read the full story here:

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A Historic Neil Young Concert, Captured by a Crowd
Cobbling together a Carnegie Hall show for online–with some help

http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702303448204579338600817194242

By JOHN JURGENSEN
Jan. 23, 2014 5:59 p.m. ET

On Jan. 7, Tom Adams went to see a Neil Young concert at Carnegie Hall by himself. It wasn't until days later that he made a connection with a group of other fans who attended. Like him, they had all secretly videotaped the solo acoustic performance, part of a four-night stand by Mr. Young, in his first return to the famed New York venue since 1973.

On Tuesday, Mr. Adams uploaded to YouTube a video of the entire two-hour show, which he had stitched together from footage captured by fellow concertgoers seated around the theater. Most of the video was shot by Mr. Adams, a video producer from Williamsburg, Mass., on a compact Canon camera perched on the railing in front of his $150 mezzanine seat (102, Row AA). All the videos were edited to match a single audio recording made at the concert, which Mr. Adams downloaded from an anonymous source on an online-sharing site.

With most everyone who goes to a concert now packing at least a camera phone, more fans are taking the next step to pool their shots and produce so-called crowdsourced concert videos. Though the legality of most of these projects is murky, some emerge with at least tacit approval from the bands. In 2006, the Beastie Boys helped popularize the concept by handing out cameras to audience members, with the resulting concert film released in theaters. A few years later, Radiohead fans cobbled together their scenes of a show in Prague, which was enhanced by a high-quality audio recording supplied by the band. And Nine Inch Nails devotees have slavishly produced multiple collaborative videos of their own.

Mr. Young views video recording as a scourge of the concert experience. "We find this sort of practice to be incredibly rude toward both the audience and the artist," says Elliot Roberts, the singer's longtime manager. Mr. Adams says he's sensitive to how disruptive hoisted phones and glowing screens can be, and that he's careful not to annoy other fans with his camerawork.

The main reason Mr. Adams sought out other people's footage was that there were holes in his own. During Mr. Young's delicate cover of the Phil Ochs song "Changes," he recalls, "I got a little too adventurous with the camera and one of the ushers came over and told me to put it away." After that, he positioned the camera more discretely on the floor, aimed through railing slats.

At home, he found fan-made videos of songs he was missing or wanted to supplement, then sent the users messages through YouTube asking their permission to borrow them. Then he wove the various clips into his own with editing software, making do with some glitches. During an anecdote by Mr. Young about a guitar with a bullet hole in it, the image is blurry and an on-screen message reads, "Stay tuned...video will return shortly."

Mr. Adams, 44 years old, says sharing the video with fans who couldn't attend the sold-out concerts (which some critics predicted will go down as a landmark in Mr. Young's career), takes him back to his pre-Internet days of trading cassette tapes of the singer's concerts by mail with like-minded fans.

To avoid raising the ire of Mr. Young's camp or coming across as "a creep doing this for financial gain," Mr. Adams prefaced the video with a note encouraging viewers to purchase the singer's official releases. He said he has already declined several email offers from people seeking to buy the video for bootleg concert DVDs.

Write to John Jurgensen at john.jurgensen@wsj.com

So. The moral of the story?

We asked TW followers on ThrashersWheatNeverSleeps | Facebook and here's a sample:

Michael Ma: There are thousands of fans that didn't get tickets to the Carnegie show but would have paid decent money to be able to watch a HD stream of the show. I don't think that it would reduce ticket sales either. I couldn't afford to buy a ticket and then fly to NYC but I would have paid $20-30 dollars to watch one of them. Embrace the technology, don't fight it.

Kevin J: it's a double edged sword. if you're holding up a camera in front of me at the concert, fuck you. if i'm at home watching the concert on youtube, thank you.

Paul K: Spent an entire day on the phone and computer trying to get a ticket. No luck! Thought I might have a ticket through a friend and then that fell through. then tried to get a ticket for the balcony throught the secondary market for the final night show. $1,000 for a balcony seat? uh, no thanks! Thanks to Tom for posting this incredible show.

Scooter V: In his book he goes on quite a bit about youtube. I wouldn't film him based on that and I sure wouldn't release an entire concert. Part of this is about the cost of going to see him, he's priced some fans out of attendance. My attitude is it would be cheaper to buy every recording he's ever made than to go see him. It's expensive for him to tour but that's his business. It's interesting but I won't watch it.

So what's a blogger to do?

Ignore the reality and not post?

Or embrace the social media and share?



So while we ponder the dilemma, we'll just make a little donation to Athabasca Chipewyan First Nations legal defence fund.



Afterall, it's all about "The Kids", right?

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