We know D.C. Get our free newsletter to stay in the know.
Good idea: Convincing Panda Bear to let you follow him on tour with a video camera.
Bad idea: Deciding to give away the DVD you lovingly made for free.
After burning and packaging hundreds of DVDs, a filmmaker who goes by Mike has decided that his art shouldn’t be free. Free turned out to be a lot of late nights in front of his burner. Free turned out to be a pain in the ass.
On his Web site he wrote about his charitable intentions:
“Shortly after hearing about Panda Bear’s tour for his latest album, Person Pitch, I thought it would be sweet if I were able to come along and film a complete (although short) tour. I got in touch with a highly psyched Noah [Lennox] and after some planning we were good to go. I went to Baltimore, Philly, and New York and complied an extensive collection of footage from all three nights. We decided it would be cool if we created a DVD from the videos.
Here is some further information on the DVD:
• Contains a full performance of Panda Bear’s set. I will take the audio from the best recording and edit the three sets’ videos together to make one cohesive performance.
• Also contains sound checks, a Panda Bear interview, and other random footage.
• One song by each opener.
• I am a firm believer that the greatest things in life aught to be free, music being one of those things. Because of this and my respect, appreciation, and gratitude for Panda Bear, there is no necessary charge for this DVD. It will be free.”
Unfortunately, the world—OK, in this case, the Internet-loving music nerds from Wham City and way beyond—responded in a way that he didn’t expect. The world really wanted his Panda Bear DVD.
And now the filmmaker wants some money. You can read his quite thoughtful, and quite understandable reasons for now charging for the DVD here. So give this guy a few bucks and pick up a copy of that Panda Bear DVD.