If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!

Videos are very popular, and most don’t think twice before uploading their own films to sites such as YouTube or Vimeo. Those are popular and very convenient – you just upload your video, they transcode it to a webfriendly format, give you the code to easily embed your video in your blog/website, and they handle all the traffic. But the downside is that you have to give away some rights.

Vimeo is becoming quite popular amongs independent film makers, for Vimeo has an exceptionally good quality. But reading their legal text, I stumbled upon this mumbo: 

you hereby grant [...] a worldwide, perpetual, non-exclusive, irrevocable, royalty-free, sublicenseable (through multiple tiers) and transferable license (with a right to create derivative works) to use, copy, transmit or otherwise distribute, perform, publicly perform and display your Submission for any legal purposes whatsoever now known or hereinafter becomes known. 

In other words: While you still own the copyright to the film, you have now given Vimeo and its partnes the right to make new films out of your work. And even if you change your mind and remove the video, Vimeo still has the legal right to use your video. Forever. And it doesn’t stop there. Vimeo can license your film to another company. And that one could again sub-license it. You’ve essentially lost control of your video.

Distraction

Another downside is that your visitors might easily get sucked into watching other videos offered. And suddenly your visitor becomes YouTube’s/Vimeos’ visitor.

Not to forget that those video services also have to make a living, which usually boils down to advertising on your film.

Solution

So what to do? Bite the bullet, spend a few dollars on your own hosting (I can recommend Media Temple) and serve your video from a source your have control over.

Over the years I have tried a couple of different hosts. Last year I briefly gave one.com a try, but found their services too restrictive and moved the one web site I had with them (they only allow one) to my favourite host. So I was surprised when I received an invoice for my upcoming renewal for my hosting plan at one.com. I sent a friendly e-mail explaining that I have stopped using their services a long time ago, and that I had moved the domain name as well. One.com replied that I had to pay anyway, even though my account was now closed – because you have to terminate your account 45 friggin’ days before the renewal date. That’s like half a digital year. Obviously that clause is there for the sole purpose of extracting money from disgruntled customers.

Well, it served its purpose. I paid the bill, and I am now an (annoyed, bad-tempered, beefing, bellyaching, cranky, critical, disappointed, discontent, discontented, displeased, dissatisfied, griping, grouchy, grousing, grumpy, irritable, irritated, kicking, kvetching, malcontent, malcontented, peeved, peevish, petulant, put out, sulky, sullen, testy, uncontent, ungratified, vexed) ex-customer. Now effectively I had to pay 24 months for a service I used maybe two of.

One.com is neither the cheapest, the fastest, the friendliest, the most open, most flexible hosting provider out there. I for one (sorry for the cheap pun) recommend Media Temple.

For Norwegian google users: Ikke bruk one.com; one.com suger.