While it's nice to have a video, keep in mind that anyone recording and selling video of performances using copyrighted music is in violation of the law. And unless the dancers are using music composed by themselves or something that is in the public domain, it's pretty much all copyrighted and technically not legal to record and sell.

I'm not saying you can't do it, but I am saying that people doing this need to be aware of the laws they are breaking. Of course, I'm willing to bet many festivals don't know that either they or the venue are usually responsible for getting the right licenses to play most popular music (by that I mean anything published, which is pretty much everything) at the festivals. Publishing companies such as ASCAP and BMI have been known to crack down on clubs using music they're not licensed to play... wouldn't be surprised if a major BD festival got nabbed at some point.

But to answer your question...I bring my own camera and ask a friend to videotape for me.

As an event organizer...I have not sold video of the shows we've produced precisely because of the issues Gibson has raised. Last year we had a professional 2-camera crew that taped the performances for the people dancing and everyone bought their unedited raw footage (roughly $30). The video was never offered to the public. The cost included the cds, etc. and we did the editing of the individual performances ourselves to keep the costs down. Even still, I don't think we even covered the expense.

We did purchase music rights for the show, but not rights to use the music on a video to sell to the public. So the video was essentially a personal copy of the performance for the individual troupes/dancers. Artists could use have the video for personal use, but not sell it.

If I could find an affordable way to have our shows shot & edited... and then sell copies of the shows...(including all the necessary music rights.)..and still hope to make a profit, I'd consider it. Frankly, I wouldn't even care if I made a profit. If I could guarantee the videographer could make a profit then I'd probably do it. I'm not in the video business, but a lot of my attendees would like to have a souvenier to take home with them and others who cannot attend would like to see the shows also.

I know other festivals that tape individual performances on the open stage and sell the video to the dancers only. It seems very similar to what we do with our shows. I know that this happens at ballroom dance competitions as well...but the video costs a pretty penny. Around $25-$35/ an entry. It is not uncommon for most competitors to have 10+ entries. So videos often cost over $200 each. Ridiculous, I know.

I hope that's helpful.

some replies & comments (both as a performer and a festival producer)

Questions for dancers:
1 Do you get a discount for buying extra copies (ie: $30 for the first one and $5 for each additional?)
Tribal Caravan has always had our videographers charge $25 for the first copy and $10 for additional copies

3. Do you expect your DVD to be burned on the spot and available that day? Do you expect to pay more if that is the case?
This was the case at an event last year and there were many complaints about the quality. And why would someone pay more for that, I wonder? A superior product can be produced once the media is taken back home and edited down.


Questions for event organizers:
1. Do you pay a flat rate for a camera person for the day or are they a private vendor? Do you get a percentage of the profits?
Tribal Caravan considered our videographers a private vendor. Why would we get a percentage of their profits?

2. Do you provide the blank DVDs, cases, labels, and DV tapes?
Why would we supply anything other than the original tapes, since the content cannot be owned by an outside individual (due to copyright laws and artist release contracts). At Tribal Caravan, we insist that our videoraphers provide a DVD with our icon on the case and label, establishing shots of the venue and titles at the head of the recording. But we are in Los Angeles where film production is the pervasive industry. We are demanding when it comes to video media presentation. Plus, I will never forgive the shoddy "quality" of my very first dance performance from Rekkasah. Half the time the camera was holding on an empty stage - there were 13 of us!!! And the wide shots were SO wide, we could have been anyone on the planet for all the clarity in the shot. Shame on them and their lack of quality control!


"I think most dancers have paid up to $40...." I have never seen anyone charge that high of a rate. I can only imagine some event where the producers do not allow personal video cameras in the door (Rekkasah) and then offer an inferior product which dancers have no alternative to if they want a record of their performance. I don't agree with that policy.

" and I'm going to be stuck behind the camera for 10 hours each day."
Being stuck behind the camera is pretty much what the job entails - just like a henna artist is stuck painting henna or a jewelry vendor is stuck selling their wares.

As stated by others, the selling of an entire show is illegal under festival circumstances due to the mountain of release forms from each and every artist that would be required, along with music licensing. So, the only thing we have ever allowed is the selling of a copy of one's own performance and copies to other troupe or band members.

This is good information and I hadn't thought about the music rights. I don't know if it matters, but I would only be selling the individual their own performance. I thought of it as paying for the service of being filmed, but I will look into the music rights legality. I wonder if I could put something on the release form that would somehow cover me legally?

I should add.... the video will be edited with titles and also burned to disc that day. It is a 2 person job, one is editing and burning (we'd have 2 laptops going) and the other is filming, which is why I was wondering if people would consider paying extra for the fast turn around. It is way more work to do it that way and I was wondering if it is something that people would value.

I always buy a video of my performance at events. In the ones where my troupe performed, there was not an option (at least, not that I knew of) to buy multiple copies. (Rakkasah and Summer Caravan.) To my knowledge, my only option was to buy one copy, and then it was up to me to make more if I wanted them.

I've been accustomed to paying something in the ballpark of $25-$30.

I was okay with either having my DVD burned on the spot and given to me that day or being mailed to me later. I have experienced it both ways. I expected to pay the same either way. I guess if I went to Rakkasah, I'd expect the DVD to be burned on the spot, but only because that is what I experienced at Rakkasah in the past. I wouldn't be upset if I were told by the video vendor that things had changed and this year it was going to be mailed to me.

I do know how to convert a DVD to an avi or mpeg file, though I haven't bothered to figure out how to post it on youtube. But I'm confident I could figure that out if I wanted to. I wouldn't pay to have someone put my video on youtube sight unseen, because I'd want to view it first and make sure I'm satisfied with how it turned out before allowing it to be posted so publicly. As for whether I'd pay someone to put it on youtube after I approved it, I personally probably wouldn't, just because I believe I have the skills to figure that out for myself. But I can easily see how others might want to buy such a service, so I think it's a valid one to offer.


From the event organizer's point of view, I've experienced a couple of different scenarios.

In one, the video person was hired as a contractor. Meaning, we paid the video person to do the taping and DVD production/duplication, and the pay was based on hours of work. In this scenario, we did not charge any vending fees to the video person, and we provided all the media, cases, labels, etc. Sales revenue came to us as the event organizer.

In the other, the video person was a vendor. They paid us a normal vending flat fee, and they kept 100% of all sales. They provided their own media, cases, labels, etc. In one scenario, we didn't charge the video person a vending fee at all, in exchange for them arranging for our show video to be played many times on local cable access station. (The local cable access station figured out the music rights issue.)