All Things Digital

BoomTown was the first to put up the hugely popular spoof video called “Here Comes Another Bubble,” by the San Francisco-based Richter Scales.

And, the first to report on the controversial story of it then being taken down by YouTube (GOOG), in a fight the group had with a local photographer, Lane Hartwell, who objected to the use of a photo she took that was in the video without her permission or payment to her for its use.

The Hartwell photo was removed, and the copyright controversy eventually died down. And the video still remains very funny and even more realistic than ever, given the series of crazy Web 2.0 funding valuations of late.

And now “Bubble”–which opens with a BoomTown interview with investor Peter Thiel, who denies such a thing as a bubble in tech–has won a Webby Award for Best Viral Video.

Well, congrats to the creators of the video, which mocks the current Silicon Valley culture with affection, set to the tune of Billy Joel’s “We Didn’t Start the Fire”:

While “Here Comes Another Bubble,” the hysterical but copyright-controversial online music video created by San Francisco’s Richter Scales got all the attention, the folks over at JibJab Media also made another video set to the tune of the same Billy Joel song, “We Didn’t Start the Fire.”

Except JibJab actually asked for and got permission from Joel for the use of the song for its parody. (Props for that, I say!)

Techwise, the review of 2007 includes, the Wii, Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg, SuperPokes and his Digital Holiness Steve Jobs of Apple and the instrument of his glory, the iPhone.

In any case, we still love “Bubble,” but here is the JibJab’s offering, which was shown on the still-writerless “Tonight Show” last night on its first night back after the writers’ strike shut it down. It is the 11th time that the Venice, Calif.-based online video-maker has appeared on the show.

So the famous “Bubble” music video seems to have survived another potential preholiday take-down.

Despite copyright woes, it is getting kudos: The Economist has selected “Here Comes Another Bubble” by the the San Francisco-based Richter Scales as the best musical number on YouTube in 2007.

So, here is the video one last time:

What a slimy mess the “Here Comes Another Bubble” is leaving in its wake as it travels all over the Web.

Today, Daryl Lang of PDNPulse, a blog from Photo District News, reported that it contacted more photographers whose pictures were used in the popular Web 2.0-mocking video by the San Francisco-based singing group, the Richter Scales.

Four of them responded that they also did not like the use of their work one bit, some objecting to the credit given, others to the non-payment and still others to not being asked for permission to use their photos.

Some objected to all three issues, all of which have to do with “fair use” under copyright law.

“I’m totally against the unauthorized use of my image,” said Ramona Rosales, whose picture of TechCrunch blogger Michael Arrington was used in the video and who said she was going to ask that the photo be removed, to PDNPulse. “I was never asked permission nor have I received any compensation for its use; furthermore I don’t feel it is justified simply because they gave me credit.”

Read more »

The take-down of the popular Web 2.0 music video, “Here Comes Another Bubble,” didn’t last too long. The Richter Scales, a San Francisco singing group that did the piece, have posted a new one–Version 1.1–that it hopes is copyright safe.

They have a full list of credits here and also on the video, and have a blog post on the problems related to the music video here.

Here’s the new version of “Bubble”:

Read more »

So, it turns out YouTube actually can protect copyright!

In this case, that’s too bad, since the video-sharing service just took down the very popular music video parody called “Here Comes Another Bubble,” by San Francisco’s Richter Scales, which we first posted here and which has taken off like wildfire around the Web.

The video opens, in fact, with a BoomTown video of an interview with Facebook investor Peter Thiel, who talks about there not being a bubble (of course there is, Pete!).

But we did not mind the use of a snippet of it without permission, since it seemed like fair use in a parody.

So what’s the problem? Well, someone sent YouTube a take-down request and the company honored it without contacting the Richter Scales first.

Here’s the video:

By way of background, the hysterical video is sung to the tune of Billy Joel’s “We Didn’t Start the Fire” and perfectly nails the Web 2.0 mania better than pretty much everyone in Silicon Valley.

I ran into Richter Scales’ Tom Shields at a conference this morning in Mountain View, Calif., and he told me about the video takedown by YouTube of the popular “Here Comes Another Bubble.”

The music video parody by the San Francisco singing group has wowed the Web.

I posted about the removal here.

Shields defends the use of all material in the very funny video, noting it is a satire and they are not making any money it, pointing to the Electronic Frontier Foundation’s explanation of fair use rules in place:

A Wide Berth for Transformative, Creative Uses: Copyright owners are within their rights to pursue nontransformative verbatim copying of their copyrighted materials online. However, where copyrighted materials are employed for purposes of comment, criticism, reporting, parody, satire, or scholarship, or as the raw material for other kinds of creative and transformative works, the resulting work will likely fall within the bounds of fair use.”

Here’s an interview with Shields that BoomTown did today (and posted on YouTube!):

Sung to the tune of Billy Joel’s “We Didn’t Start the Fire,” this music video by the San Francisco-based Richter Scales is pure genius.

And so, as the song asks, we sure will blog about it (plus it uses our interview with Facebook investor Peter Thiel, also below, at the start).

In fact, it’s an honor to, as these guys get the Web 2.0 mania better than pretty much everyone in Silicon Valley.

And a warning to all: The video was so hysterical, it apparently made Robert Scoble spew Diet Coke through his nose. That’s, of course, not such a funny image.

And here is our original Thiel interview: