VODO means ‘Voluntary Donation’
p2pnet news view P2P:- Music sales are down. DVD sales are down. Box office receipts are down. And it’s all because of filesharing.
All filesharers are criminals, thieves, and pirates who never pay for anything and would prefer it to stay that way forever.
That’s the type of rubbish television, film, and music producers (as well as some artists, and creators), have been feeding the lamescream media for a decade. And they’ve gone out of their way to make sure everyone is brainwashed into believing it — even “teaching” copyright and anti-p2p lessons starting with elementary school children.
But none of that is true. None of it. And their indoctrination tactics have failed. Music sales are up, according to the BPI, and DVD sales and box office receipts couldn’t be better, according to showbiz bible Variety – “Record summer at global box office ”
The U.K. market saw the greatest increase in Europe, despite the almighty US dollar’s lowest value in decades.
Filesharers have always been willing to purchase what they like after first sampling it — even at the extortionately high prices demanded by the MAFIAA. It’s just that all too often, what they’re selling isn’t worth it, and people are no longer willing to line the pockets of the fat cat cartel CEO’s while artists, performers and technicians receive next to nothing for their work.
Now things have changed, drastically and for the better.
On October 13th, 2009, VODO was launched. The first-ever service that strives to help content creators and artists get their works to the public — and earn cash at the same time.
VODO is a free service for content creators and artists to get their works distributed for free through all of the major BitTorrent networks, such as Mininova, Pirate Bay, and Isohunt, as well as download services such as Rapidshare.
And what’s more, creators and artists can earn money doing it. VODO brings filmmakers together with the distribution power of the filesharing community. It aims to offer fresh, quality films on a free-to-share basis, promoted and distributed through a ‘coalition’ of filesharing partners.
VODO means quite literally, “Voluntary Donation”, and it’s the brainchild of film-maker Jamie King (”Steal This Film”).
Just a few years ago this might have been an unattainable pipe dream. They said it could never be done. But we have news for them. It is being done. Right now.
“Together, the filesharing community has a distribution capacity that rivals and even exceeds that of the mainstream media,” says Jamie. “VODO aims to leverage that power for the benefit of filmmakers and other creators. By sharing films freely through the most popular and fastest growing filesharing sites, we’re building audiences in the hundreds of thousands for artists. That has material value for these filmmakers, through raised profile, donations and marketing. It’s a win-win situation and it’s the future of distributing media.”
“We have been working on VODO for almost two years. We really had the idea after `STEAL THIS FILM’, which some of us were involved in making. Others were involved in Piratbyran and other projects around sharing.”
“We felt there were a lot of benefits artists could be seeing from filesharing and we wanted to help them access these,” he tells p2pnet.
The first film out of the chute is an independent documentary called “Us Now”, by Ivo Gormley, which looks at how ‘user’ participation could transform the way that countries are governed. It tells the stories of the online networks whose radical self-organising structures threaten to change the fabric of government forever.
“Distribution of information has changed completely,” says film-maker Ivo Gormley. “To fight that change seems completely futile. VODO is a new way of making this type of distribution work for everyone. I like the idea that P2P is actually a bit more like what happened in the old days: telling stories around fires rather than some sort of cyber-terrorism.”
How can VODO afford to do this? “As things stand, VODO doesn’t take any cut of donations. They go straight to the creator. VODO is funded by Channel 4 BRITDOC Foundation, Emerald Fund and the Arts Council”, King says.
So who is VODO for? “It’s open to creators of all kinds”, Jamie explains. “We’re finding interesting films (and soon) music and books, and distributing them, for-free, through P2P networks. And we’re encouraging people to donate to creators who share their films this way.”
Besides independent artists and labels, Jamie tell me, “We’re also interested in working with ‘big producers’ who want to experiment with models around (file)sharing. We’re open to collaboration with anyone who thinks they can benefit from VODO. That allows for a spectrum of interactions with various creators inside and outside big and small labels.”
Here’s how it works:
When a creator submits their work for distribution, they can include any details about themselves and their work they want to let people know about. This information is then posted into the torrent details sections on the distributors’ websites.
Payment and donation options are entirely up to the creator. For instance, if a creator wants to include a donation link through their preferred payment service, such as PayPal or Google, that link is included in the torrent listing. If they prefer to receive donations via check, money order, or credit card, this is also possible.
VODO has absolutely no affiliation with PayPal, eBay, Google, or any credit card companies, banks, or other financial institution that may offer online or offline payment services. Neither VODO nor any of its distribution partners (Pirate Bay, Mininova, etc.) take any cut of the donations, and it’s up to the creator to decide if/how they wish to receive donations. More specific details and instructions can be had by contacting VODO directly.
Jamie also explained that they’re interested in letting people donate in other ways besides financially. For instance, in the future it might be possible to “donate” a service, or a trade of some sort. Or perhaps if one’s favorite artist needs a bed for the night while on tour, and a fan would like to put them up in their own home, these are things that could be feasible at some point.
VODO has made deals with Mininova, Pirate Bay, EZTV, and others, to highlight and promote these works for usually one or two days on their main listings page for free — invaluable marketing real estate, to be sure. That means VODO is able to put creators in front of millions of potential downloaders —- and donors. For free!
While speaking to Jamie at length, he’s enthusiastic about the future and the endless possibilities. VODO is in talks now with musicians, actors, and comedians to distribute their works and promote their gigs with online streaming videos and music, as well as filesharing. “We are working on an advertising/sponsorship model for VODO creators who want to explore that source of revenue.”
VODO aims to release at least one film per month during the rest of 2009 and 2010. Forthcoming titles include the premiere of “In Guantanamo”, a documentary by first-time director David Miller that provides unprecedented access to the Guantanamo prison camps – but Jamie says that fiction titles, animation and shorts will also be on the distribution list. “During 2010 VODO will build out a series of revenue opportunities for its creators, with the free-to-share model at their core.”
Jamie’s newest film is, “Dark Fibre”, a “fictional documentary” revolving around the 2009 elections in India, that sees a `cablewallah’ who moonlights as a programmer, unofficially outsourcing to the tech companies of Bangalore, and who uncovers a conspiracy. The film had its trailers shown at Cannes this year, while a complete rough cut was previewed at the AND festival in Liverpool. (Cablewallahs are “cable guys” whose small gangs build and operate their own cable TV networks.)
Teasers and trailers for “Dark Fibre”are scheduled to be streamed on Babelgum www.babelgum.com in November, then shown in segments in early 2010 on Babelgum and iPhone, while the film should appear on P2P networks in Spring 2010.
“Babelgum have been pretty progressive in understanding how there can be synergy between p2p and other forms of distribution, like we pointed out in STEAL THIS FILM.”
VODO collaborators include Nils Hellberg of Piratbyran (Sweden, Design) and Rama Cosentino of BurnStation (Argentina, programming), with programming support by Dan O’ Huiginn (UK).
Members of the advisory board include Ashwin Navin, ex-CEO of Bittorrent Inc., and Peter Sunde of The Pirate Bay.
VODO, which has been in development since 2008, has been produced with the support of the Arts Council UK, Emerald Fund and the Channel 4 British Documentary Film Foundation.
Filesharers have been looking for a new business model that cuts out the major label, studio, and publishing middlemen completely.
VODO is the new model. The movie and music cartels are so far behind, it used to be laughable. Now it’s just pathetic.
The future is bright.
The future is P2P.
The future can be profitable.
For all creators and artists.
Artists, writers, and creators, don’t wait for the trickle-down effect for your royalties after your masters grab the lion’s share of profits from your talents.
Go VODO. Get noticed. And start earning.
That sound you just heard was the “ka-ching” of the creators’ cash registers, followed by the collective scrunch and moan of RIAA and MPAA sphincters everywhere.
catflap – p2pnet
First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win ~ Mahatma Gandhi
October, 2009
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