FAQ
* why google video?
i chose google video as the streaming host for the video files because i felt that the values behind their service aligned with the values behind acousticvids. there are a few reasons i feel this way. first, they are committed to unobtrusive promotion - the logo in their player is small and does not cover any of the screen area in the video itself. secondly, google video supports downloading - if you have the google player installed, you can download movies directly from google. finally, google as a whole supports small and independent webmasters in easily monetizing their sites through programs like adsense, and this is directly in line with the spirit of supporting independent musicians behind acousticvids.
* why won’t the streaming video clips play on my computer?
jesus, i don’t know…
just kidding. 
chances are you need to install the latest version of flash.
(i’ll go back and link that when i have time…in the meantime, google is your friend)
* i am an artist. will you come to my show and take video clips and put them on the site?
yeah, probably.
first off, i live in LA, so you probably need to be playing in LA. also, not to be mean, but…if you are not an artist i normally go see, but rather, i am only going to the show because you contacted me and asked me to come tape for the site…probably i’m going to need you to get me on the list.
dude, i teach junior high. there’s only so much money! lol.
* i’d like some of the clips i’ve taken to be featured on this site. how can i do that?
check out the contribute page for more detailed info…but basically, yousendit or megaupload me the clip and tell me how you want your attribution to read, if you want one.
that’s it! 
* where did all these clips come from?
a lot of them, particularly the ones i am starting out with, are from my personal collection - clips i myself have recorded. there is a process set up for people to contribute clips , however, and i hope it will be growing quickly! clips that were contributed by someone else are attributed to that person (if they wish) on the clip’s page as well as a panel in the clip itself.
* who designed this site?
that would be me. melanie. everything from the logo to the menu setup to the attribution panels in the clips to…everything. i did use a joomla template. check out the “thank you” page for more info on that. but other than that, i didn’t outsource anything, it’s pure me, start to finish.
* why can i hear you laughing in a lot of the clips?
well…i was laughing. and my mouth was by the camera. you do the math. lol.
seriously, i try to keep in mind that i’m taking clips for the site and be as professional as possible…but sometimes shit is funny! lol
* i see a clip here that’s named wrong.
first of all, let’s just note up front that i will be deleting any emails that include the words “dumb”, “bitch”, “idiot”, or any other term that is in any way derogatory - or even if the email has a tone that is condescending and not respectful of the fact that i put a TON of time and money into this site for no return aside from the joy of serving the singer/songwriter community - and ALSO that sometimes song titles are just damn hard to find online. i am not bryan from MSM and i will NOT be nice to your ass regardless of how you treat me.
that having been said, if i put the wrong title on your favorite artists’ clip, i am sorry - just email me and i’ll fix it as soon as time permits.
* i’m an artist, and i don’t like some of the clips that you have for me on the site.
(i apologize in advance if this sounds snippy and bitchy, but i have been utterly overwhelmed with requests lately, and i can’t even remember the last time someone said “thank you” as anything other than a lead up to asking me to do something for them. so i’ll probably edit this later, but for now…i am FRUSTRATED!)
you can feel free to email me and let me know, but i do not make any promises about having time to take them down any time soon. acousticvids is INCREDIBLY time-consuming to maintain. shooting the videos, processing the videos, uploading the videos, coding the pages…it takes a LOT of time. not to mention, the point of acousticvids is not to PROMOTE artists, although that is a great side effect. the point is to accurately CHRONICLE the music scene. those are two very different things. letting all the artists handpick which videos go up and which don’t kind of defeats the point of providing a true-to-life record of the music scene for posterity.
that having been said…by the same token, i AM very pro-independent artists, and i DO want the exposure that you receive here to be of benefit to you. so like i say, if you really hate the way you sound in the clips, email me and i’ll see what i can do, time permitting.
ps - as a side note….you know, we are WELL into the digital age now. digital cameras, digital video cams, cell phone cams…they are ubiquitous now. anything you do in public might be taped and put up on the net. car accidents, fights, ANYTHING. let alone when you intentionally go out to PERFORM in public - there’s a good chance it’s going to be taped. it might be a smart idea to start thinking about bringing your A-game EVERY time you perform. i’m just sayin’
pps - as an additional side note…not to toot my own horn, but acousticvids is pretty much the premier singer/songwriter portal on the net. it gets over 50,000 hits a month, some months as high as 100,000. the vast majority of those hits are from serious singer/songwriter fans. being included is an honor, i get multiple emails from artists every day that would LOVE to be included, but i don’t have the time to go tape them. if you HAVE been included, you might not want your very first contact with me to be adversarial. that might not be the relationship you want to form with me. also, the site is probably on the front page of google for your name or very soon will be. do you really want a page about you on the first page of google being maintained by someone you’ve pissed off??? again…i’m just sayin’.
ppps - if you decide you want your shit off the site, do NOT subsequently contact me wanting an introduction to a producer or club owner you heard i know, or for me to send an email to my list promoting your cd release show, or to be a featured artist, or any of the other things that i do for artists that are actually PART OF THE SITE. again…just sayin’.
UPDATE - dealing with all of these special requests and basically having people act like i was their personal admin assistant was bumming me out and kind of making me hate doing the site, so i have solved that by actually hiring an admin assistant to deal with requests. if you have anything special you want, email seth@acousticvids.com and he’ll see what he can do.
* isn’t it wrong to have a website that profits from artists’ work?
yes, that would be very wrong, and i would never do that. acousticvids takes a lot of money to run…well, to a person on a junior high school teacher’s salary, it seems like a lot at any rate. my goal is that it will one day be self-supporting - meaning, it will take in enough money to cover hosting, etc. to that end, there is some (hopefully!) unobtrusive advertising on the site. however, even the goal of self-sufficiency is quite a ways off…and i would NEVER keep a profit from this site! if it ever WERE to take in more money than it cost to run, i would pour the money straight back into making the site better for all of us. that’s only right.
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