Spiff WoW Video – “Live”

Our ongoing campaign to be Jonathan Coulton continues apace…

Spiff has made numerous music videos for Jonathan’s songs, using images from World of Warcraft. (Find all his videos here) Well, now he’s done a WoW video for our song "Live". (Which is appropriate, seeing as the song was meant to sound as if Coulton had written it)

The video is currently entered in a contest to be judged by the folks at WeGame. Spiff says he’ll post it on his YouTube channel once the contest ends.

Not only did he perfectly capture the spirit of the song, but Spiff managed to add an extra layer of pathos to the ending. Plus a big fight scene. (Fight scenes are awesome) Now we feel that much more like geek rock stars. Kudos—both the conceptual and the granola bar versions—to Spiff!

Also, there’s some references to a previous video he made for JoCo; go watch that, and then feel extra-proud for getting all the inside jokes.

14 Comments

  1. JoAnn in VA
    Posted August 18, 2008 at 11:37 am | Permalink

    I just watched it, three times over to try and catch all of the jokes- it is brilliant, I think it is his best so far in fact. I already loved the song- this made me love it even more though!

  2. Posted August 18, 2008 at 12:40 pm | Permalink

    Another brilliant machinima video from Spiff!
    I love the song, too. Great job, guys!

    There is a little dispute going on at the WeGame website, though. Apparently you need to tell the folks over there that it’s okay for Spiff to use your song (but really, could you say no to such a well-made video?).

  3. Posted August 18, 2008 at 12:52 pm | Permalink

    No, P&S don’t need to do anything. It says very clearly on the P&S “Songs” page that all their music is released under the Creative Commons license, so there won’t be any problems. There are other videos which have used music from Zelda and other places that I’m sure didn’t give their permission, but the judges have said even that’s OK. So I’m sure I’m fine.

  4. Posted August 18, 2008 at 1:05 pm | Permalink

    Yeah, I figured you were fine, Spiff.
    It’s a shame that creativity is stifled so often by legal issues. Good thing I don’t plan to get paid for my so-called infringing content, or else I’d never have any ideas come to fruition. 🙂

  5. Posted August 18, 2008 at 1:20 pm | Permalink

    Turns out that P&S went and posted their unequivocal permission for me to use their song over at WeGame anyway. It’s like getting into a playground fight with a bully and then having your big brother show up to back you up. Thanks guys! 🙂

  6. Posted August 18, 2008 at 3:20 pm | Permalink

    Thanks for posting this guys! I’ve raved about the video elsewhere already but yay! How exciting!
    Now we just need the long awaited P&S do Big Dick Farts a Polka and JoCo does Live!
    Then all will be complete!

    /taps her foot waiting for the next podcast!

  7. Posted August 19, 2008 at 3:52 pm | Permalink

    I like it when Spiff adds a twist ending that I hadn’t thought of when I’ve listened to the song. I really liked the ending he put in Live.

  8. Posted August 25, 2008 at 7:22 am | Permalink

    @Spiff/Paul/Storm – Excellent job with the freedom and the protection of it, at least part way. It’s no GNU though.

    It should be noted that there’s no such thing as “THE” Creative Commons license, per se. It should always be clarified that it’s “A” creative commons license, and which one (with a link).

    CC GNU and CC NoAtrribs, NoDerivs, NoCommercial are very very different in nature.

  9. Posted August 25, 2008 at 7:52 am | Permalink

    Don’t worry buddy, no GNUs were harmed in the making of my video. And are you *sure* it should always be noted that it should be “a” and not “the”? The definiteness or indefiniteness of the article doesn’t seem to be the most important part of that sentence. 😉

  10. Posted August 25, 2008 at 9:25 am | Permalink

    Source: http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/license-list.html#which-cc

    “Creative Commons publishes many licenses which are very different. Therefore, to say that a work “uses a Creative Commons license” is to leave the principal questions about the work’s licensing unanswered. When you see such a statement in a work, please ask the author to highlight the substance of the license choices. And if someone proposes to “use a Creative Commons license” for a certain work, it is vital to ask immediately, “Which one?””

  11. Posted August 25, 2008 at 11:52 am | Permalink

    I don’t get it. Where’d the GNU stuff come into the equation? As near as I can tell, my video is a video, not an operating system.

    Anyhoo, glad you loved the video so much! Stay cool. 🙂

  12. Posted August 25, 2008 at 6:44 pm | Permalink

    The GNU General Public License can apply to anything, not just software, though the definition of source code isn’t always the same as that in software.

  13. Posted August 25, 2008 at 6:45 pm | Permalink

    See “Licenses for Works of Practical Use Besides Software and Documentation” on that page.

  14. Brett Glass
    Posted July 11, 2010 at 7:56 pm | Permalink

    Permission to use songs can be obtained in a number of ways. P&S have already given blanket permission for not-for-profit uses. Copyright law provides for compulsory mechanical licensing for for-profit uses. Also, if P&S belong to a performing rights organization such as ASCAP or BMI, they’ll get royalties for airplay and live performances. I just hope they don’t give away too MANY of their rights, because they deserve to be rewarded for their work. It’s not easy to make a living as a musician. (I know; I’ve tried it.)

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