(Courtesy of http://www.fasttrack.hk)

We’re still trying to understand the logic of TVN- or is it Telstra?- banning the uploading by Australian racing fans of horse racing videos onto YouTube with this being an infringement of copyright.

But before we all roll over and say, Yassir, master like Kunta Kinte on a day off from being a slave to love and other Roxy Music goodies, let’s think about this.

The more we try to understand the logic- and the business model trying to be created which we can only assume is a new subscription-based revenue stream, the logic becomes dumb and dumber.

(Source: DVD Released Dates)

As we have preached for aeons, so much so that one “Winston Chan”- not the brightest URL in the building- has sent emails from different addresses to remind us of being repetitive, here we go again, Winston from Kingston: The racing industry can learn so much from the music industry- and how the latter fucked up and is now still on that precarious ninth step trying to make amends to music fans. (One needs to have gone to AA to understand that obtuse line.)

(Source: Addiction Search)

What music companies learnt the hard way is that they cannot horde what music fans want- in this case videos- and also artists wanting more promotion needed YouTube to still be relevant and where their videos- like those by the band OK! Go!- could go viral.

So desperate for YouTube views to start up viral marketing, it is very well known in the music industry that the Susan Boyle “phenomenon” needed a little push from SEOs- Search Engine Operatives and “clickers” who can guarantee youtube views.

Sorry to burst anyone’s Boyle, but this “unknown” had her own website since 1999 and had been trying to be heard long before she appeared as a dowdy spinster on Britain’s Got Talent and where the judges- who HAD to have seen her during rehearsals- fawned for the cameras during the ‘live’ broadcast of the show.

And so we come as to why TVN/Telstra would act like an arrogant music company and bite the hands that feed them- racing fans, definitely, horse owners who keep the industry alive and jockeys, trainers- and racing history.

(Source: Unlearning 101)

So, what we have is a content provider- TVN- and a delivery system- Telstra- and some naive officials who think they can make a buck outta selling this content via a subscription model or through that deader than dead product known as the DVD.

(Source: Favim)

Imagine if no one could have watched the video for Gangnam Style by Psy- and which has had over a BILLION views.

(Source: Viral Blog)

How many YouTube views does the average horse racing video in Oz get? A hundred? Two hundred?

Not nearly enough to have YouTube want to do backflips to work with racing in Australia and, at least, help promote the sport, to a wider audience.

Away from Oz for a sec, imagine IF the marketing gurus in racing clubs who had the right roller deck knew about the launch of Gangnam Style- the horse racing dance- and married this with racing.

What a wasted opportunity to bring racing to a new audience! Everyone jumped on it after the horse had bolted.

RACING MISSED OUT ON BEING PART OF A TREND.

In Hong Kong, the video promoting Happy Wednesday through a song has, collectively, had over 200,000 views via two different YouTube channels- a phenomenal number for a “mere” horse racing video.

So where are we in Oz? It’s a sad case of the blind leading the blind with no idea of youtube’s new business model where they pay for content and TVN and Telstra not understanding that content is key ONLY when it is popular.

But to castrate its growth even before puberty is bloody daft.