Warning about Vimeo for those that make tutorials

[Bullit]

Now it is forbidden without a Plus account either you make money or not.

From Peter Quint who makes Houdini tuts:

Vimeo have started enforcing the rule that if you make tutorials for a product, even if you are not associated with the product's owner, and don't make money from the tutorials, you need a PRO account. So after six years on Vimeo I have a choice: to charge for videos to help meet the high cost of a PRO subscription, or move off Vimeo. I've decided to do the latter, so do search for PQHoudini at youtube if you want to stick with me.

https://vimeo.com/153607340

[Draise]

Oh.. there is a lot of great SI material on Vimeo. I hope it gets ported over to Youtube... all of it. =P Atleast they give you the option of opting out Youtubes standard license and go creative commons.

[AceMastermind]

I can see this becoming a huge mess if this affects all members with existing tutorial videos. Maybe it only applies to new videos uploaded and we won't have to scramble to download all of the ones there already.
I'm glad I didn't move everything from my Youtube channel to Vimeo now that this is happening.

[owei]

Yes..that´s a nightmare..I saw Peter Quint leaving...that will drive of a huge amount of great tutorials away from Vimeo. That´s what their guidelines say:

Businesses may not use Vimeo Basic or Vimeo Plus to host videos.
If you want to upload videos with a commercial intent, you must use Vimeo PRO.

Commercial content includes:

Videos promoting or representing a for-profit business or brand.
Videos containing any form of advertising.
Videos hosted on behalf of a business (e.g., uploaded to Vimeo and embedded on your company’s website).
Content that you intend to sell.
Product demos and tutorials.
If the videos you’re uploading fit any of these descriptions, you must use Vimeo PRO.
Exception! If you’re an independent production company, artist, or non-profit, you may use any account type (Basic, Plus, or PRO) to showcase your creative work.

from here: https://vimeo.com/help/guidelines

I don´t see any connection between "none profit" tutorials and "commercial" use at all...if you are a company and selling software or selling tutorials, that´s another thing..but for people, freelancers etc posting tutorials to help people learn stuff and make progress..?? That will remain their secret.
On the other hand, they started to introduce advertising not long time ago. A pity, they started quite ambitious...but with illogical restrictions like that..poor vimeo..

cheers,
oli

[Bullit]

From the gist of their Commercial content doesn't make much sense. For a start what the hell is an "independent production company" ?

[Pooby]

I can't believe this is REALLY the case..

If thats true, you could argue that 'how to use a camera' tutorials would be promoting NIKON or CANON, and yet they are always encouraging that kind of stuff.

I've written them an Email asking them to clear it all up. I would have thought the idea is to stop corporations using Vimeo as a promotional tool for free, not to stop artists sharing techniques.

anyway. I'll see what they reply and let you know.

[owei]

Yes..I´m very interested on how they will react. I also have the feeling, that they won´t look to close, when it comes to camera, editing, color grading tutorials or other, just 2d and video related stuff. Would be interesting, how they handle free software like open source tutorials then. Cracking problems and showing people how to takle problems is also a quite creative thing. And that´s what they always claimed, to be such creative community:

Thanks a billion for being a part of Vimeo and helping us keep the Internet’s most awesome community of creative people really, uh, awesome. (You guys are the creative people — come up with something better!)

from here:https://vimeo.com/help/guidelines

cheers,
oli

[Pooby]

This is the reply I got.....


Sorry for any confusion! The only content that really requires a PRO account would be videos used for commercial gain. So if you’re selling access to these tutorial videos, then you’ll need a PRO account for sure and that has always been the case.

But if you’re making tutorials that are free to use, you can use any account type for that.

If this information was from a site, would you mind sharing a link to it with me? I’d like to get some better context. Thanks!

[AceMastermind]

Thanks Pooby, that's a relief!
I was gearing up to download and backup everything possible from Vimeo.

[FXDude]

Indeed!

It would have concerned really -tons- of things up there.

Even that Vimeo has been the goto place to post tidbits and screen recordings of all sorts,
and youtube isnt always ideal for that sort of thing, for a variety of reasons including tons of superfluous content and distractions, and maybe also because clips can be scrubbed at will on vim which is invaluable for tuts & short or long.

It was probably a triggerhappy employee that warned Mr Quint. And perhaps he should plead his case.

[owei]

Thanks Pooby!

That´s a relief, indeed ;) Would have been too odd and contradicting everything vimeo was known for. Good to know. But this issue with PQHoudini should be resolved. I guess, it already lead to some unnecessary damage.

cheers,
oli

[Pooby]

I agree. I've written to Vimeo asking they clarify this on their rules.

However, Peter apparently didn't just misinterpret the rules and jump to a conclusion.
He was contacted by Vimeo directly and told he was in breach of them, so either something about his tutorials WAS in breach of the rules (which I find hard to believe) or there is internal confusion at Vimeo as to what those rules really mean.

Paul

[Pooby]

It turns out it was internal confusion at Vimeo.

"
We had a bit of an internal miscommunication with regard to this. Sorry for the confusion!

Product tutorials do require a PRO account, when they are being used to promote the sale of the product.

Regular “How to” videos where dedicated users share their knowledge are perfectly OK under our Community Guidelines (https://vimeo.com/help/guidelines). We have reached out to the affected user directly, and we hope to clear this up. "

[owei]

Thanks Pooby ;)

It speaks volumes though, that even their staff has misinterpreted their own rules pretty wrong ;) Hopefully they can repair this and get people like PQ back to vimeo...Thanks for you effrots!

cheers,
oli