Sony Insider Removed From Vimeo; Looks Like We’re Moving To YouTube

vimeo_logo

After posting more than two dozen videos we personally shot at CES, it appears that Vimeo is not the place for us. We recieved some rather scolding words from “dalas verdugo,” the Community Director for Vimeo.com. He informed us that our exclusive clip Sony and Pixar showed at Sony’s 2009 CES Keynote was being removed from the site. Apparently the rest of our videos violated their terms of use and our account will be removed in “72 hours.” Here’s the conversation we had with dalas:

Vimeo: Dear Sony Insider:

Your video ‘Exclusive Trailer For ‘Up’ (2897615)’ has been removed from Vimeo because it violates our Upload Rules.

Vimeo does not allow TV shows, movie trailers, stuff you found on the web, or any other video you did not create yourself. “I have permission from the creator” does not count as making it.

If you believe this was an error, please send a civil response to this email and we will work with you, assuming you are correct.

Regards,
Vimeo

..and:

Vimeo: Due to your content, we will be removing you from Vimeo and refunding your purchase of Vimeo Plus in 72 hours. Please take that time to move your content to a different video host.

dalas verdugo
Community Director

I was stunned, and very disappointed because Sony Insider videos have been embedded many places and now all of those links will be broken. That means that all of those incoming links and knowledge of our website through those videos will be gone. That is a huge blow to what we’re trying to do here – show off the best of Sony. So I replied:

Sony Insider: I’m sorry, I was just really excited to share this clip from Sony’s 2009 CES Keynote for my website, Sony Insider. Vimeo is my favorite video website of all time, and I love the community you have fostered. It’s like the flickr of video. However, I am very sad after reading a private message I recieved stating that they were removing my account and refunding my Vimeo Plus account. Why? Because of the Up clip? Please forgive me, Vimeo has been such a great experience and I don’t want to stop using it.

Regards,

Christopher MacManus
Founder, Sony Insider

http://www.sonyinsider.com

They said:

Vimeo: I’m sorry, but we are not going to continue hosting your videos. Vimeo is for personal moments and creative filmmaking. You run a site that promotes commercial products and obviously generates some amount of income for you. In addition, you are posting videos that you did not make yourself. You need to find a service that was designed for the type of use you are interested in. Vimeo is not that service. Try wistia.com

Best wishes,

dalas verdugo
Community Director – Vimeo.com

Wow. Can you believe this? This is harmless stuff (well, the exclusive ‘Up’ footage might have been pushing it), and I paid $59.99 (per year) for a Vimeo Plus account.

Sony Insider: I shot all of those videos with my HDR-SR10 Camcorder – were you just referring to the Up video? What other videos did I shoot that break the rules? Can’t we find a compromise?

Regards,

Christopher MacManus
Founder, Sony Insider

http://www.sonyinsider.com

So they drop the hammer:

Vimeo: I’m sorry, we are not going to compromise on this account. Please make other arrangements by Monday.

Best wishes,

dalas verdugo
Community Director – Vimeo.com

Well, adios Vimeo. It’s amazing to me that they wouldn’t find middle ground with Sony Insider – things we going so well and I truly appreciated the professional aesthetics of their video hosting service. I uploaded videos no one else in the world had anywhere – to inspire the consumer and show things from CES and beyond that captured the essence of the electronics industry. These turn of events are very disappointing, and means I will have to reupload all of those video – Vimeo really screwed us. Thanks alot, and I will never recommend your site to anyone looking for a video host again.

So keep an eye out for another post discussing our new Video links this weekend.

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23
Jan 2009
POSTED BY Christopher MacManus
POSTED IN

Opinion

DISCUSSION 22 Comments
  • http://www.steveweb.eu Steve

    Very disappointing indeed. I got a Vimeo account myself because their site looks great. Too bad they could not find a middleground somewhere.

  • http://www.steveweb.eu Steve

    Very disappointing indeed. I got a Vimeo account myself because their site looks great. Too bad they could not find a middleground somewhere.

  • Pingback: Pixar Shows Off Exclusive ‘Up’ Trailer During Sony’s 2009 CES Keynote | Sony Insider

  • http://gagadget.com Technoslav

    Well, what is your address on YouTube now?

  • http://gagadget.com Technoslav

    Well, what is your address on YouTube now?

  • http://www.sonyinsider.com/ Sony Insider

    Keep an eye out for another post discussing our new Video link this weekend.

  • http://www.sonyinsider.com Christopher MacManus

    Keep an eye out for another post discussing our new Video link this weekend.

  • Kherlen

    It is a bad new, but in some ways its good because Vimeo load slow in my country. So Youtube would be a great option.

  • Kherlen

    It is a bad new, but in some ways its good because Vimeo load slow in my country. So Youtube would be a great option.

  • http://wistia.com Adam Zais

    Christopher, we would love to talk with you about whether we could help you out. Adam Zais, Wistia.com.

  • http://wistia.com Adam Zais

    Christopher, we would love to talk with you about whether we could help you out. Adam Zais, Wistia.com.

  • Xbot

    The only reason i got an account on vimeo was because of this website. now its pretty useless for me..

  • Xbot

    The only reason i got an account on vimeo was because of this website. now its pretty useless for me..

  • rah

    What’s the problem? It sounds like you clearly violated the Vimeo’s terms of agreement, so they canceled your account and agreed to refund your money. They even suggested another service you could use geared toward business clients. They have a brand to cultivate and protect, and clearly don’t want to become another youtube.

  • rah

    What’s the problem? It sounds like you clearly violated the Vimeo’s terms of agreement, so they canceled your account and agreed to refund your money. They even suggested another service you could use geared toward business clients. They have a brand to cultivate and protect, and clearly don’t want to become another youtube.

  • http://robbiemitchell.com Robbie Mitchell

    “Wow. Can you believe this? This is harmless stuff…”
    None of your messages actually responded to the Vimeo TOS violations–you simply said how much you like using Vimeo and asked for compromise without addressing the problem. That means you lose.

    “That is a huge blow to what we’re trying to do here – show off the best of Sony.”
    Your videos are used for commercial purposes, which is not what Vimeo is for as a free hosting service. There are paid services (e.g., Brightcove) for that stuff.

  • Robbie

    “Wow. Can you believe this? This is harmless stuff…”
    None of your messages actually responded to the Vimeo TOS violations–you simply said how much you like using Vimeo and asked for compromise without addressing the problem. That means you lose.

    “That is a huge blow to what we’re trying to do here – show off the best of Sony.”
    Your videos are used for commercial purposes, which is not what Vimeo is for as a free hosting service. There are paid services (e.g., Brightcove) for that stuff.

  • http://www.sonyinsider.com/ Sony Insider

    Without addressing the problem? You obviously don’t get it. I was willing to delete whatever they wanted and would even pay more money. I had already paid for a pro account. The fact of the matter is that I was doing just fine until I uploaded that “Up” clip from Pixar which got 50,000+ plays in a matter of days. Pixar wasn’t obviously cool with the clip being up, hassled Vimeo, who in turn was like hey, time to go.

    What’s really funny is that there are other websites out there that use Vimeo to host their videos that are very similiar to what I offered.

    The real loser here is Sony, not me. Thousands of blogs across the Internet embedded videos I had on Vimeo of Sony at CES. Now that they deleted my account, all of those legitimately good videos are no longer displaying in the embed. That means broken video links everywhere.

  • http://www.sonyinsider.com Christopher MacManus

    Without addressing the problem? You obviously don’t get it. I was willing to delete whatever they wanted and would even pay more money. I had already paid for a pro account. The fact of the matter is that I was doing just fine until I uploaded that “Up” clip from Pixar which got 50,000+ plays in a matter of days. Pixar wasn’t obviously cool with the clip being up, hassled Vimeo, who in turn was like hey, time to go.

    What’s really funny is that there are other websites out there that use Vimeo to host their videos that are very similiar to what I offered.

    The real loser here is Sony, not me. Thousands of blogs across the Internet embedded videos I had on Vimeo of Sony at CES. Now that they deleted my account, all of those legitimately good videos are no longer displaying in the embed. That means broken video links everywhere.

  • dewaynerose

    Hello,

    I am very disappointed in Vimeo for not making the situation work. I think they have made tons of money from independent creators and should give back. I have personally launched a site that will be going live globally that gives independent content makers the ability to make $10 per CPM and upload unlimited HD videos. I am also currently looking for affiliates to partner with me.

    Best
    drose@directorslive.com

  • dewaynerose

    Hello,

    I am very disappointed in Vimeo for not making the situation work. I think they have made tons of money from independent creators and should give back. I have personally launched a site that will be going live globally that gives independent content makers the ability to make $10 per CPM and upload unlimited HD videos. I am also currently looking for affiliates to partner with me.

    Best
    drose@directorslive.com

  • Paolo Tramannoni

    I’m surprised you pretend Vimeo to host your videos, despite going against their rules. And I’m happy the Vimeo Team is working so hard to keep this place free from commercial (i.e., YouTube) stuff, and a ‘clean’ place for video creatives. Good luck with your new site.