I had a YouTube video go viral after my wedding. I’ve blogged about this a little bit already and monetizing your YouTube videos. When a video goes viral, it’s a good time to look into monetizing it as well as using it to continue growing your audience. But there’s something else to look out for too.
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We started getting contacted by media outlets specializing in viral content that wanted to use our video. LADbible was the first big company to reach out, asking if they could use the footage.
We emailed back and forth a bit, and I quickly looped in my videographers. Even though we had agreed before the wedding that I would own the rights and could share the content, I know that whoever physically holds the recording device has the strongest case for owning the content. So remember, whoever physically holds a camera owns the rights to that photo or video.
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The videographers and I agreed on the credit we wanted to include, and we also asked LADBible to include a link to the original video when shared (either in captions or comments, depending on the platform). LADBible agreed. We then signed a contract.
In the end, LADBible shared it with half of the credit we asked for, and they did not include the link as we had asked. I was disappointed, but also knew this could happen and didn’t think it worth asking to change.
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However, if you find yourself in this situation be careful before you decide to share it. It may not go the way you want – perhaps you won’t care too much like me – but you may care, so just be aware!
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