StaDj; A stable of DJ cuties or a slave-house?
I am going through an ugly dispute with a start up called StaDj. This is how it all started;
On August 16 2008 I visited an acquaintance of mine at a block party StaDj organized in Williamsburg Brooklyn. She was one of the several female DJ's performing at that party. I liked the minimal techno playing at that party, and as I danced I was capturing the dancing crowd interactively on video using a Steadicam. Towards the end of the party I was approached by a female in dark big glasses and colorful long dress, who wondered who I was and positively commented on my camera work. Later her husband took my contact info and said that they will call to discuss possible collaboration. She and her husband started this business of gathering cute girls to spin her husband's premade music at parties. The husband is a DJ from Israel and the wife an American (Phillipino mix with Native American, I think) who came to NY from the West coast.
Couple of days later I received a phone call from them and we met. They said that they loved my shooting style and wanted to have me on the team with them, describing their business model as best thing since sliced bread. They seemed optimistic and that feeling transferred to me. The verbal terms were that I would shoot and edit every nightlife event that they would play at and when they will start receiving money from clubs they will start paying me for my work as well. I told them that I have multiple art projects running in parallel most of the time, and I admitted that I hate editing. I can edit but I would rather shoot. We agreed that I will shoot and edit.
Over the past three months my relationship with StaDj was, for the lack of a better word, splendid. I shot eight events over this period, each event taking up to 4-5 hours to shoot, and delivered three videos, albeit the edit of the last one was stalled for almost a month due to my PC's running out of hard drive space. I told them to get an internal drive so that I would put all of their footage on it, (mere $130 for that drive), so that I can finish the third video. I am a starving artist, so, neither did I have the money nor it would be ethical to buy a drive for them since they never paid for any of my work yet. Their response was that they lack the money. Eventually they gave me a 150GB external drive which had viruses on them and I had to format it for usage. I delivered them the third video, I must mention that they always were pleased with my edits, and so was I. Then came Halloween and they offered to pay me $300 for a completed video. Although it is still too little for the time and quality I put into my work, I agreed. Couple of days later I received a letter from them written in all caps and demanding that I best complete four more videos within a week timing along with the Halloween one. That made me a bit uneasy, and I wrote back saying that if they wanted speed with a week turnaround for each video they then must pay so I drop all other projects of mine and concentrate on their videos. The asking rate I specified was $600/video, though for the quality of my work other videographers in NY charge $800 and up. We threw several verite emails back and forth, and within four days of such emails my desire to be associated with StaDj business faded away. They claimed that StaDj provided great exposure for my skills with thousands of views their web site/myspace/youtube/vimeo brought to these videos. A simple check for those numbers under each video on their youtube/vimeo accounts proved otherwise, and that StaDj has no world presence they paint themselves as, both online and off.
I wanted out, and dissociate myself with StaDj business. My numerous attempts to get paid for those completed three videos and all the footage I shot for them were met with their denial. I was only asking $300 per video, $100 per each event I shot for the raw unedited footage. I never asked them to promote my video skills, they offered themselves, and the youtube ratings evidently disprove any promotional work... And then it hit me, I walk away and they get to own these three videos that I worked hard for to create? Each one taking at least two full 10-hour days to edit, let alone 4 hours of shooting them. They use them for selling their business model to prospective corporate clients as well as show them on their site(s). This is not fair!
Tomorrow I am going to file a small claims lawsuit against this flaky start up. I truly suggest any videographer, or photographer, makeup/hair artist that ever gets into the hands of these sharks to steer clear. They want to benefit from your talents by getting a free ride, claiming that you will get exposure or whatever else they'd come up with in the future. No wonder why I noticed so many graphic designers/photographers leave them. Get all agreements with them in writing that clearly states the terms.
UPDATE: December 31st, 2008
The hearing happened on December 17. The arbitrator awarded no monetary reimbursement to me and cease and desist court order to the defendant. Should the defendant ever to use my videos from now on I will have a clear shot at filing a lawsuit again, in this case winning hands down. So, to me this whole situation is just another prisoner's dilemma.
I am going through an ugly dispute with a start up called StaDj. This is how it all started;
On August 16 2008 I visited an acquaintance of mine at a block party StaDj organized in Williamsburg Brooklyn. She was one of the several female DJ's performing at that party. I liked the minimal techno playing at that party, and as I danced I was capturing the dancing crowd interactively on video using a Steadicam. Towards the end of the party I was approached by a female in dark big glasses and colorful long dress, who wondered who I was and positively commented on my camera work. Later her husband took my contact info and said that they will call to discuss possible collaboration. She and her husband started this business of gathering cute girls to spin her husband's premade music at parties. The husband is a DJ from Israel and the wife an American (Phillipino mix with Native American, I think) who came to NY from the West coast.
Couple of days later I received a phone call from them and we met. They said that they loved my shooting style and wanted to have me on the team with them, describing their business model as best thing since sliced bread. They seemed optimistic and that feeling transferred to me. The verbal terms were that I would shoot and edit every nightlife event that they would play at and when they will start receiving money from clubs they will start paying me for my work as well. I told them that I have multiple art projects running in parallel most of the time, and I admitted that I hate editing. I can edit but I would rather shoot. We agreed that I will shoot and edit.
Over the past three months my relationship with StaDj was, for the lack of a better word, splendid. I shot eight events over this period, each event taking up to 4-5 hours to shoot, and delivered three videos, albeit the edit of the last one was stalled for almost a month due to my PC's running out of hard drive space. I told them to get an internal drive so that I would put all of their footage on it, (mere $130 for that drive), so that I can finish the third video. I am a starving artist, so, neither did I have the money nor it would be ethical to buy a drive for them since they never paid for any of my work yet. Their response was that they lack the money. Eventually they gave me a 150GB external drive which had viruses on them and I had to format it for usage. I delivered them the third video, I must mention that they always were pleased with my edits, and so was I. Then came Halloween and they offered to pay me $300 for a completed video. Although it is still too little for the time and quality I put into my work, I agreed. Couple of days later I received a letter from them written in all caps and demanding that I best complete four more videos within a week timing along with the Halloween one. That made me a bit uneasy, and I wrote back saying that if they wanted speed with a week turnaround for each video they then must pay so I drop all other projects of mine and concentrate on their videos. The asking rate I specified was $600/video, though for the quality of my work other videographers in NY charge $800 and up. We threw several verite emails back and forth, and within four days of such emails my desire to be associated with StaDj business faded away. They claimed that StaDj provided great exposure for my skills with thousands of views their web site/myspace/youtube/vimeo brought to these videos. A simple check for those numbers under each video on their youtube/vimeo accounts proved otherwise, and that StaDj has no world presence they paint themselves as, both online and off.
I wanted out, and dissociate myself with StaDj business. My numerous attempts to get paid for those completed three videos and all the footage I shot for them were met with their denial. I was only asking $300 per video, $100 per each event I shot for the raw unedited footage. I never asked them to promote my video skills, they offered themselves, and the youtube ratings evidently disprove any promotional work... And then it hit me, I walk away and they get to own these three videos that I worked hard for to create? Each one taking at least two full 10-hour days to edit, let alone 4 hours of shooting them. They use them for selling their business model to prospective corporate clients as well as show them on their site(s). This is not fair!
Tomorrow I am going to file a small claims lawsuit against this flaky start up. I truly suggest any videographer, or photographer, makeup/hair artist that ever gets into the hands of these sharks to steer clear. They want to benefit from your talents by getting a free ride, claiming that you will get exposure or whatever else they'd come up with in the future. No wonder why I noticed so many graphic designers/photographers leave them. Get all agreements with them in writing that clearly states the terms.
UPDATE: December 31st, 2008
The hearing happened on December 17. The arbitrator awarded no monetary reimbursement to me and cease and desist court order to the defendant. Should the defendant ever to use my videos from now on I will have a clear shot at filing a lawsuit again, in this case winning hands down. So, to me this whole situation is just another prisoner's dilemma.
Labels: deceit, deceitful, dispute, DJ, Edan Miller, flaky, girls, Israeli, lawsuit, makeup artist, models, music, PC Miller, photographer, StaDJ, video editing, video editor, videographers, videos
posted by Renat | Sunday, November 09, 2008
1 Comments:
Hey get ahold of me!!!! they did the same thing to some of the girls and the funny thing is i was friends with this sneaky woman pamela for 8 years. get ahold of me. shawnmichaelharris@gmail.com... we can discuss!
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