Is Metacafe guilty of fraud, breach of contract, and misrepresentation? Indie video producers think so after Metacafe.com contracted to pay them for their creative video content then reneged on their promise
Los Angeles, CA, USA, May 18, 2009 (PRESSbooth.ORG) -- There are hundreds of video sharing sites on the Internet and Metacafe stood out because they contracted with independent producers from around the world to pay for views generated by their videos. Metacafe's Producer Reward Program promised to pay $5 for every 1,000 views to producers whose videos were accepted into the program. $5 per 1,000 views may not seem like a lot, but multiplied by viral views from all over the Internet, it adds up to millions of dollars in advertising revenue for Metacafe, of which the content producers were to share a pittance.
Independent filmmaker Ken Tipton was looking for a unique way to promote his award-winning movie, “Heart of the Beholder”. His Executive Producer, Darlene Lieblich, created a Web Theatre on Metacafe and had Tipton serialize their film into short easy-to-watch episodic video clips and submit them to Metacafe. Metacafe customer service reps and top executives responded positively to the unique movie serialization by email and promotion began.
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/1466579/hotb_bts_00_web_theater_intro/
with hundreds of thousands of videos submitted under their Producer Reward Program, Metacafe was able to grow quickly and generate millions of dollars in advertising revenue that was supposed to be shared with indie video content producers. Metacafe announced that they had “solidified their position as the world’s leading independent online video site by attracting more than 44 million unique monthly viewers worldwide in December 2008 which represents a 54% year-over-year increase and 15% growth over the month of November”.
What Metacafe failed to mention in their release was that the traffic was generated by independent video content acquired under false representations. Metacafe then arbitrarily changed the terms of their Producer Reward Program in September 2008 to pay out only $2 per 1,000 views and only for views from the United States.
When a draft of this Press Release was sent to Metacafe, they responded by terminating the entire Producer Reward Program.
For more information about the video recall / boycott of Metacafe, as well as supplying information for a potential lawsuit against Metacafe for fraud, breach of contract, and misrepresentation, please visit:
http://www.metacafe-lawsuit.com/
About Ken Tipton:
Ken wrote and directed the movie “Heart of the Beholder” which has won five Best Feature Film awards. The film is based on the true story of his family who stood up to a group of religious zealots over the banning of Martin Scorsese’s controversial movie, “The Last Temptation of Christ”. “Heart of the Beholder” is available at video stores, NetFlix, and as a Special Collector’s Edition DVD at http://www.beholder.com/.
Contact:
Ken Tipton
kentipton @ aol.com
818-905-4684 Phone / Fax
http://www.beholder.com/
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