All-Star Get Our Sport Back: Flocheer And Varsity Video Policy

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Mar 10, 2017
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I just found this on instagram and that nobody here has talked about it yet, so I thought I should post it here. I'm not an expert in this topic or a native speaker so I will post a video that breaks it down:



And also the link to the petition:
Petition Flocheer: Get our sport back Change.org

If anyone knows more about the situation feel free to explain it better.
 
This is in response to Stingrays creating a youtube channel to post videos of their teams performances for the parents and athletes to view. They did this so that we'd put the phones and ipads down and cheer the athletes on. We don't have to worry about getting that video b/c someone else has it already. They also plan on putting behind the scenes stuff on there too. I guess Flocheer took offense to this. I have to agree with the above poster and according to the response from SR, they do t00 - https://twitter.com/letsgorays?lang=en

I just went and looked. All of the video that they posted this weekend of the routines have been taken down.
 
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I thought all of these rules about filming have been out for a while. I remember talking with people about it last year. Taking video and texting it to your friend was OK, but facebook live-ing for a gym website was not OK. Has some new rule been teased?
 
Last year I tried to be an inbetween to help my former varsity coworkers and friends that what they were doing with that media policy was a dangerous gamble. None of them wanted to listen or heed the warnings about the potential issues caused in the future. And here we are
 
I think it's time for business mediation if the industry really can't figure this one out. Varsity has a Moody's credit score of B2 from their latest acquisitions and leveraged buy out (Moody's is public information and gives the exact reason for their ratings online). Translation: They have acquired a lot of debt from those recent acquisitions and their lbo, their income is not yet supporting that debt and they need more revenue coming in. If your customers can't afford to pay more and you can't get long term loans to help subsidize, one option is to allow other businesses to come in and provide a service to your customer and take a percentage, but those businesses determine the fine print. Hello FloCheer.

The cheer industry needs to stop pointing fingers, it's useless . If Varsity and gym owners can't get the revenue they need with what the customer can afford, they're just slowly closing the doors on themselves. Cheer doesn't control city venues, the hotel industry, or airlines, and all of those businesses are booming right now with the good economy and that's bad for AS. Cheer is at a disadvantage because those convention centers are built specifically to get tax revenue from hotel stays and tourism (if you enjoy political finance reading- Convention Center Follies by Heywood T. Sanders). Between hotel, gas/flight, comp entrance fees and food these travel comp weekends are about $800-$2500 for two people to attend. Half or more of what an AS customer spends is going to the hotel and airline industry. This really isn't that hard to figure out, every cheer business (including Varsity) is needing more revenue and every year more customer money is going for travel.
 
As much as I disagree with this policy, if they are going to choose to implement it, they need to do it evenly. Cheer Extreme (JTV) and Top Gun (TGTV) have had these type of channels for at least the past year. Have there been issues with those channels as well?
 
From what I saw on Twitter yesterday, our very own @BlueCat , Brad from CA, and CSP all responded to Stingrays and are calling others too action as well.

@Hmack They havn't, but this would explain why Cheerleaders from Awesomeness stopped showing footage from comps a few seasons ago, and also why the videos from JTV and TGTV usually only ever show practice footage or footage from the gyms own showcases or camps.
 
@Hmack They havn't, but this would explain why Cheerleaders from Awesomeness stopped showing footage from comps a few seasons ago, and also why the videos from JTV and TGTV usually only ever show practice footage or footage from the gyms own showcases or camps.

Varsity doesn't let them in the back to record anymore. V either wants too much cash for access, or requests final cut approvals, or didn't like the previous vids and didn't want them to compete with Flo aka them/VTV
 
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here's what I don't understand, and I'd love for someone with better knowledge on the legalities of this to explain it to me

So FloCheer/VarsityTV records a routine. Their recording of the team is copyrighted, so any reposting of said video will 100% result in a copyright claim (and rightfully so).

Someone records the same routine at the same competition, uploads it to youtube. This video isn't owned by Varsity/Flo. And most times these videos are not being monetized on youtube. UNLESS it's a competition where FloCheer/Varsity prohibit video, how is any of Flo/VTV's actions legal? Varsity clarified the video policy last year saying personal videoing was 100% allowed, they just meant that videoing for commercial use (think Smoed's series) was prohibited.

I honestly believe if Stingrays got copyright claims on their routine videos they could easily dispute them with Youtube. Someone brought up a good point that routines are technically copyrighted in nature, since it is creative work (correct me if I'm wrong). I know choreography can easily be copyrighted. Does competing at these events give unwritten permission to Varsity/Flo to profit off of copyrighted work? Is this written anywhere in registration for events? Can teams opt-out of having their team livestreamed/recorded by Varsity for profit?

I'm just thinking out loud here so please correct me on anything that's wrong. I just don't understand how Flo/Varsity can copyright claim/copystrike Stingray's Youtube when the content of the video is Stringray's creative work.

Regardless of all of that legal crap, it's still outrageous to me that they charge like $30 a MONTH for their content. So ridiculous.
 
I honestly believe if Stingrays got copyright claims on their routine videos they could easily dispute them with Youtube.
Flo lies and claims they own the entire media rights to the competition and have the copyright for it.

I was going to dispute back once but did some research and found out that Flo hasn't 'lost' a dispute with youtube yet, meaning that YT takes their side of the argument. Digging through the US Copyright office, you can find evidence where Varsity used to pay to copyright their old events, but stopped doing so several years ago.

If I was Rays, I would have a media lawyer calling youtube asking why fraudulent takedowns were allowed to occur. That is illegal.

Varsity clarified the video policy last year saying personal videoing was 100% allowed, they just meant that videoing for commercial use (think Smoed's series) was prohibited.
Rays' page is commercial. Sting ray allstars is a commercial business. This exact reason was why many were up in arms because the policy is too heavy handed and takes away from gyms/teams wanting to promote themselves. Everyone just let it slide and here we are lol.
 
Varsity’s 2018-2019 registration form does state that commercial recording of any kind is prohibited, not just Flo Cheer’s recorded/streamed video specifically. Flo Cheer has commercial rights to your team’s audio and video and any filming done on property at the competition. As a parent/athlete, you sign that over on registration. What this means is video/audio/pictures from the competition can NOT be used for financial gain.
So then you argue that, without a monetized channel, you’re not putting out a “commercial” product, and you can argue it’s for personal use/entertainment. The problem is, if you were to ever go to court, you are now cutting into Flo Cheer’s ability to profit on an agreed upon filming and distribution of the material. Preventing the company from profiting/providing the same material for free would (most likely) go in Flo Cheer’s favour in a court of law.
Essentially, if Flo Cheer is at the event, you releasing a free video of (for example) CA Panthers is preventing Flo from profiting from putting out a video of Panthers for a charge. A privilege (though the greedy a**holes at Flo would consider it a right) YOU signed over to them as a coach/athlete/parent.
Now the real issue at hand here:
Flo Cheer is in bed with Varsity. Varsity runs the vast majority of events that teams participate in throughout the season. Going against Flo Cheer or Varsity does not end well for your teams. As much as we’d like to assume that subjectivity is NOT an issue here, the judges behind the table at NCA, Cheersport, UCA, Worlds, and EVERY other competition are aware of these teams (I’m speaking mostly of level 5/6 Worlds level cheerleading). They know which teams have struggled, they know who’s won 3 years in a row, and they know the coaches behind the teams (sometimes on a deeply personal, familial, or romantic level). Unfortunately it is VERY easy for the highest powers that be in cheer to bow to ridiculous behaviours, overcharging, maltreatment, etc., in the name of success for the kids who bust their butts for hours a week.
The industry needs a legitimate, not-for-profit governing body, focused SOLELY on the advancement of the sport, the safety of athletes, and the integrity of all involved. The industry does NOT need to be run by the people with the fattest wallets and the most connections whose main motivation is the betterment of their bank account.
Apologies if this is jumbled, it’s late
 
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