I am sure many of you are aware that the Flatface DVD has been released to the public! So far it's been a big success, however there have been a few instances in which people are trying to undermine the original intentions of the DVD. The reason why we made a DVD is to provide the people who choose to buy the DVD with the highest quality of fingerboard video that we could possibly produce. The riders, myself included, put in hours of filming and editing over a year to make sure the parts were the best we could possibly bring. Mike also put in his own money to get this DVD produced professionally.
A few individuals have decided to rip the DVD and post a torrent as well as post some of the parts on YouTube. There are many people split on the issue and here are the reasons I have seen so far of people who think its fine to upload the parts for free:
- Why should I pay $15 for something I can get for free
- Mike is making a lot of money off the DVD's so it's fine if I want to watch for free
- Mike should share the money with his riders
- The riders gave permission to upload there parts
If $15 is too much for you to shell out for fingerboarding, I completely understand. It is your own opinion. But don't undermine the whole intention of the Flatface team. I have over 50 videos of fingerboarding of me on my own Youtube account. So do a lot of other Flatface riders. If you want to watch some free fingerboard videos, watch those videos until your heart is content. We encourage you to watch that footage all you want for free :D
Also, where do you think the money that Mike is getting from the DVD's is going to go? Right back into the company to provide the scene with better fingerboard products and to sponsor more fingerboarding events. Mike has sent countless sponsor packages to different events to help the community. Also, Mike has done a lot to provide the fingerboard scene with the highest quality products possible. I think many people take the quality of products in the fingerboard scene for granted. Without Mike, the American fingerboard scene would be nothing like it is today.
For those of you are using the excuse that Mike should provide the riders with a cut of the DVD money. Also, I'm there are a small number of Flatface riders who don't care that their DVD part has been uploaded on YouTube. I can see why they would want to share the part that they spent so much time and effort to perfect with as many people as possible. However, this is a bad precedent to set. First, Mike provides his riders with numerous sponsor packages in exchange that the riders represent Flatface. In exchange for the countless free products we have received, Mike asked us to film a part for the company video. This is how a sponsorship should work. A relationship between a sponsor and a team rider should be a mutual give-and-take, rather than the riders just taking and taking.
Second, the profit from the DVD is not as big as you might think it is after covering the variable and fixed costs of producing the DVD and the DVD cover professionally. Furthermore, spread the profit over about thirty people, and you can see how insignificant the change would be. Instead, Mike provided every team rider with a free copy of a DVD, and some people received a set of wheels, I think.
Should some random kid get all the credit for my Flatface video part by uploading it to YouTube? I won't let it happen. Especially a kid who deletes every one of my posts when I try to provide him with reasons why he shouldn't upload the parts in a civil manner. Try to delete this buddy.
Labels: Flatface
