MTV wants my footage

E

edinc90

Well-known member
Back in 2005 I was in high school and did a video for my friend. One of the people who was in the video has now become famous. Through the magic of YouTube, someone at MTV has seen my video and now wants to use it for a show that they are doing about this person. Should I give them the video outright, or ask them for money? Should I hand over all rights or allow them to use it on a per-show basis? How far can I push before I become too much trouble for them and give up?
 
Mtv doesn't give you anything for free, especially if you ask them for the rights to their footage. So If I were you, I would not even consider giving them a bloody second with out compensation. Believe me, if they want it bad enough they will make you an offer. Put it this way, If they can afford to pay the Jersey Shore goons millions, they can afford to kick you a few bucks for your footage.
 
The company that owns MTV makes on the order of 1 Billion dollars per annum in profit (the last time I checked).

What do you think you should do?
 
DO NOT GIVE THE FOOTAGE TO THEM OUTRIGHT! MTV will air it once, then keep it in a vault. That's what they did with a lot of Nirvana shows, and they'll do it to your footage too. Give them a COPY, not the original, and get paid for it. Oh, and retain the rights. That's what I'd do in your shoes.
 
You should have took it off youtube ASAP and if you have any other rare footages of this person then I would get in touch with TMZ or others that might give you big bucks. Now if its Justin Beiber touching other boys then I will buy it from you for $1000.lol ...of course ill flip it and sell it to NBC
 
This email just arrived today:
Because we are a news show, we do not pay for "stories," including footage, but we are always happy to give credit and say where it came from...
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Should I push back? I honestly have nothing to say about Taylor outside of stuff pertaining to that video, so an interview with them would be silly if they didn't have the video, too.
 
edinc90 said:
This email just arrived today:

Should I push back? I honestly have nothing to say about Taylor outside of stuff pertaining to that video, so an interview with them would be silly if they didn't have the video, too.
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take a gamble what the hell. nobody gives a damn about that kind of credit.

Because we are a news show, we do not pay for "stories," including footage, but we are always happy to give credit and say where it came from...
Click to expand...

"...because I am a filmmaker working for profit i do not give my footage away for free use"
 
That's bull. They pay their photogs to go out and shoot news.

Do not give them your footage for nothing. If you give it away for free, then it has NO VALUE.

Inform them that unfortunately your footage is not available for free. You might not make a sale; but that's no worse than giving it away and getting nothing.
You can inform them if you wish that you might be entertaining some other offers also; some of whom may be interested in an exclusive.

And if your footage really does hold value; then you really should be shopping it out to other outfits.

News is a business too. And nothing more.

- Mikko
 
edinc90 said:
Because we are a news show, we do not pay for "stories," including footage, but we are always happy to give credit and say where it came from...
Click to expand...

This is bull poo. I used to freelance as a stills photographer for the NY Times & the Associated Press in the mid 90s. They would regularly pay for stills and for video if they wanted to extract still from it (this was in the days before they could put video up on their websites). I can't see how anyone at MTV could claim higher standards than the Times or the AP.
 
as someone advised above.....i suggest you take it off youtube ASAP. if they're bold enough to piss on your head and tell you its raining then they may be bold enough to rip it off the site and not mention where they got it from. not like you watch MTV 24/7 and would know when they run the story anyway. nowadays anybody can easily rip video from youtube with freeware and anything in between and re-edit it with their preference of software if they wanted to be really grimy about it.
 
This brings up another point - what is the legal standing of using something posted on YouTube? Does the person give up any rights in the process? I have never posted anything myself, so I don't know the fine print, but wondering if something becomes fair use after a period of time etc. Just wondering out loud.

Michael
 
MichaelP said:
This brings up another point - what is the legal standing of using something posted on YouTube? Does the person give up any rights in the process? I have never posted anything myself, so I don't know the fine print, but wondering if something becomes fair use after a period of time etc. Just wondering out loud.

Michael
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YouTube Terms of Service Section 6 paragraph C:

For clarity, you retain all of your ownership rights in your Content. However, by submitting Content to YouTube, you hereby grant YouTube a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free, sublicenseable and transferable license to use, reproduce, distribute, prepare derivative works of, display, and perform the Content in connection with the Service and YouTube's (and its successors' and affiliates') business, including without limitation for promoting and redistributing part or all of the Service (and derivative works thereof) in any media formats and through any media channels. You also hereby grant each user of the Service a non-exclusive license to access your Content through the Service, and to use, reproduce, distribute, display and perform such Content as permitted through the functionality of the Service and under these Terms of Service. The above licenses granted by you in video Content you submit to the Service terminate within a commercially reasonable time after you remove or delete your videos from the Service. You understand and agree, however, that YouTube may retain, but not display, distribute, or perform, server copies of your videos that have been removed or deleted. The above licenses granted by you in user comments you submit are perpetual and irrevocable.
Click to expand...
 
Edinc90,
News programs are supposed to observe an ethical line about paying for interviews, but they expect to and have no problem paying for footage. Congrats on receiving interest on your stuff, sounds exciting. Giving it to a network for free probably equates to being taken advantage of ... unless you really, really want to see your stuff in the program at all costs.

They will plead poverty no matter what you ask for and there is no hard and fast number to what you could ask for. It all just depends on how bad they want the footage and how much they have to spend. Without having ANY idea what you've got, I'd guess that $500-$1000 for less than a min of footage is a reasonable ask on your part. They'll ask for all rights known (and unknown) to man throughout the universe in perpetuity... which is pretty standard. I'd only ask for a redline in their release if they ask to use your footage in other programs too ... as that is a backdoor for re-using your footage for whatever they want. while limiting years and territories can be a deal breaker, striking this clause should not.

good luck!
 
Curious about the result here as well.

I've dealt with MTV a few times for with music licensing contracts and it's never been pleasant.
 
I hate mtv anymore, The last time I was channel surfing I saw they were exploiting 15 and 16 yr old kids that have had babies.It was a reality show, so sad. This is what television has become, Thank god I only watch it on the rare occasion.
 
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