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Saturday 8 June 2019

In Reaction to a YouTube Video on Plagiarism

This post is in response to a video on YouTube titled "Inspiration vs Plagiarism," by Red Means Recording.

Here is the link if you would like to watch it:
Inspiration vs Plagiarism

There were a couple of versions of this post before this version and I might pull in some other thoughts from the other versions. The main part of this version comes from my daily morning writings that help me get started with my day. The writing exercise is not something I came up with on my own. It is something I read in a book called "The Artist's Way," by Julia Cameron. The actual exercise is to make the first thing you do in the day to write at least three pages of material. It is meant to help get your creative juices flowing. I actually have breakfast first but the spirit is still there.

These daily writings actually help a lot. I write about many different things but a lot of it ends up being what is on my mind. It helps to get those thoughts on paper instead of allowing to continually rattle around up there causing noise. I also make an effort from time to time to write about project ideas I have in an effort to be more productive. Enough about how this post was written and onto the post itself.

This topic of plagiarism is really occupying my mind. I cannot let it go. I think that reason I cannot let it go is that the same day that I saw Red Means Recording on YouTube on his experience with another YouTuber copying his style, I saw somebody use my tutorial to make a sound on their Korg Volca Keys synth video. They posted their short video on Facebook and did not give me credit.

On the one hand, I even said that tin the tutorial that the graphic can be used as a template for recording patch settings for the Keys. There is no patch memory on the Keys.

In many places, I have given credit to Tony Horgan for his book on the Keys. I have used it to help me understand how to use this synth and to double-check what Keys controls actually do. I still give him credit in ways such as citing his book as a good resource on how to learn about the Keys.

It took me about one week to write the tutorial. I put a good amount of effort into it between writing, drawing graphics in LibreOffice Writer, and recording audio clips.

In hindsight, it might have been better to let the Facebook post in which the guy used my graphic to sit without my comment. He may have gotten more comments which could have possibly lead to more people eventually finding my tutorial and blog. I suppose it is not in my nature to do so.

This morning, I took the time to watch one of Red Means Recording's videos where he uses the Teenage Engineering OP-1. I watched it all the way through. Now, after writing this, I will watch one of Yuri Wong's videos using the OP-1. I need to watch a whole video before I make another comment to Red Means Recording. --- So, I watched a couple of Yuri Wong's videos.

My current opinion, based on what I have seen so far, is that Yuri Wong has definitely copied Red Means Recording's style. Whether or not that is actually plagiarism might be for an expert to decide, not me.

If I were to make such a video, I would definitely change things enough so as to be stylistically different. In the end, I would most likely give some credit to Red Means Recording just because of his influence on my work.

YouTube videos such as these are still fairly new in terms of making media. There is a lot to be explored and the ability to create quality videos has become easier with both proprietary and free and open source software. I tend to use the free and open source stuff because it is also monetarily free but, it also promotes education to the masses. Check "free and open source," "FOSS," "creative commons," and more out to see what I mean.

My point in bringing up the software is that these YouTube videos are produced using tools of software. It is most likely not the most popular opinion among many creative types, but copying a style might not necessarily be plagiarism. In the court of popular opinion, those in the know about both Red Means Recording's videos and Yuri Wong's videos, and whose came first (Red Means Recording's if you were wondering), will likely consider it copying. It is most likely considered distasteful among other things but I do not want to get into that.

By the way, in my tutorial located here: Sound Design - Getting the Wah Using the Korg Volca Keys, at the end of the tutorial, I use the sentence "Share the knowledge!" This imperative is a shortened version of YouTuber, Ricky Tinez's phrase of "Share the love, share the knowledge. Knowledge is power" which he uses near the end of his videos. I like the phrase I use at the end of my tutorial but, it never really quite sat well with me because he was using it. Some people might not realize it, unless you are of a certain age, but a version of that phrase used to be at the end of... what was it, Saturday morning cartoons, maybe, a good number of years ago?

My next tutorial ended with something I came up with myself: "Take time to help people out. You will thank yourself later!" Whether or not that works out for me as an ending, time will tell.

Last Thought:
Does Yuri Wong actually give a nod to Red Means Recording when a caption in one of his videos says "Recording to Red," or is it a slap in the face? My first impression on that was a nod to Red Means Recording. Maybe that is the best thought to have.

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