- Feb 4, 2010
- 481
- 592
So someone can correct me if this is wrong. The reasoning given several years ago is that the music producer retains the rights to the music. The competition then has the rights to play it live at the competition, but the producer has to give them permission to use the music for any replay videos. It's like how in 2019, New Level/CMP gave permission for USASF to play their music over videos for Worlds, which is why those routines have music for Worlds 2019 routines on FloCheer.
I'm not sure what the difference is for CheerMatch. I was thinking since it's the gym's videos that it can have sound. I know I have seen videos from Varsity virtuals that have music, but not all of them. And it seems that after some time, that audio goes away.
I wonder how/if this problem can be solved so that routines can actually be enjoyed aside from Live Broadcasts. Wouldn't it benefit music producers if more people actually heard their work and were like, "I love so-and-so team's music, let's use that producer for our own routine"? What if the producer's name appeared somewhere on the Varsity videos to give credit to them? I don't see how it benefits anyone to have everyone watching competitions as if we are deaf. What's the point of producing music if you don't want anyone to hear it? And more people would actually watch VarsityTV if there was sound. It's sad they've been unable to work together to come up with a solution.
I'm also curious about VarsityTV's sudden refusal to make their routine videos free after 5 days, as they had promised. I don't know if this is on purpose or just forgetfulness on their part, but videos from Feb 20-21 are still behind a paywall even though all the previous weeks' competitions can be viewed. I'm surprised parents trying to watch their kids from that week haven't complained and gotten this fixed yet (or maybe they have and it's fallen on deaf ears). Considering that ads play before viewing routines, you would think VarsityTV would want more people to actually watch their videos. They've stated that the NCA Nationals videos will be available for free on March 11, and let's see if they keep their word. There's something about Flo that just feels off.
The cheerleading fandom is never going to grow much further than the moms of the competitors and former/current cheerleaders if they continue to make it this inaccessible and difficult to watch. Compare this to a sport like gymnastics that has a ton of fans who have never put on a leotard. And even that sport unfortunately has recently partnered with Flo, much to the dismay of fans. But I've yet to see a gymnastics event where the floor music was on mute.
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