the shapirog blog

All videos that have been taken down:

2009-09-18T17:30:00.003-04:00

Here is a list of all of the videos that have been taken down:

Herman Li is Cool

Dragonforce Greatest Hits:

Archival Footage of Yngwie Malmsteen playing as a child

Michael Angelo Batio ambidextrous double guitar POWERS

Michael Angelo Batio VERY INFORMATIVE shred lesson !!!!!!!

Enjoy them!

Seriously?

2009-08-29T01:49:00.003-04:00

And Herman Li is Cool gets taken down again. They're on a rampage.

Dear Member:

This is to notify you that we have removed or disabled access to the following material as a result of a third-party notification by Warner Music Group claiming that this material is infringing:

Herman Li is cool: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MSNLfa1VPwo

Please Note: Repeat incidents of copyright infringement will result in the deletion of your account and all videos uploaded to that account. In order to prevent this from happening, please delete any videos to which you do not own the rights, and refrain from uploading additional videos that infringe on the copyrights of others. For more information about YouTube's copyright policy, please read the Copyright Tips guide.

If you elect to send us a counter notice, please go to our Help Center to access the instructions.

Please note that under Section 512(f) of the Copyright Act, any person who knowingly materially misrepresents that material or activity was removed or disabled by mistake or misidentification may be subject to liability.

Sincerely,
YouTube, Inc.

On top of that, my youtube account has been permanently disabled. This is really, really fair. Thanks guys.

Dragonforce Greatest Hits is taken down again

2009-08-27T19:42:00.002-04:00

Dear Member:

This is to notify you that we have removed or disabled access to the following material as a result of a third-party notification by Universal Music Group claiming that this material is infringing:

Dragonforce Greatest Hits Promo: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MIleK5CRcjo

Please Note: Repeat incidents of copyright infringement will result in the deletion of your account and all videos uploaded to that account. In order to prevent this from happening, please delete any videos to which you do not own the rights, and refrain from uploading additional videos that infringe on the copyrights of others. For more information about YouTube's copyright policy, please read the Copyright Tips guide.

If you elect to send us a counter notice, please go to our Help Center to access the instructions.

Please note that under Section 512(f) of the Copyright Act, any person who knowingly materially misrepresents that material or activity was removed or disabled by mistake or misidentification may be subject to liability.

Sincerely,
YouTube, Inc.

Thanks UMG! You're the best.

...And it's back!

2008-08-21T12:54:00.002-04:00

Counter Notification sent

2008-08-20T13:23:00.001-04:00

So I sent them a counter notification. We will see how this one plays out...

Roadrunner says Greatest Hits is fine!

2008-07-17T00:31:00.003-04:00

I spoke with someone at Roadrunner records today on the phone. Very nice people there. I also emailed them, and got this response:

Hey Gavin,

Yes, those types of things are absolutely fine and encouraged. I'm not sure why your video was flagged as we even had it prominently on the Roadrunner page for a couple of weeks. Can you send me the link to where it was located and I will issue a retraction?

Thanks!

So hopefully you will be seeing the video back up on youtube soon. Thank you Roadrunner for being reasonable people!

Dragonforce Greatest hits...again

2008-07-15T04:54:00.005-04:00

Hey guys,
Here's Dragonforce Hits:

I'll give Roadrunner Records a call ASAP and try to get this one sorted out and back up on youtube.

Dragonforce Greatest hits gets owned by Roadrunner

2008-06-21T14:47:00.004-04:00

Roadrunner Records has taken down the Dragonforce Greatest hits video. Im away from home right now and can't put it back up on another site. I am also busy for the next few months but if I get a chance I will send a counter-notice to Youtube.

SUCCESS!

2008-06-03T20:52:00.002-04:00

Guess who's back:

Some hope for Herman Li...

2008-05-20T21:17:00.004-04:00

So I gave Guitar World a call today. It looks like Herman Li is Cool was removed by mistake, because someone thought it was a video pulled directly off of a Guitar World CD and therefore an infringement of copyright. I talked to the Managing Editor and he said my video should be fine since it is just a parody.

I just sent the counter-notification to Youtube...we'll see what happens.
I'll keep you posted.

EXTREME CORNWALL!!!!

2008-02-29T02:37:00.003-05:00

Holy shit! Look at those fucking ponies!

Herman Li is Cool bites the dust

2008-01-30T14:05:00.001-05:00

Well, it finally happened:

Dear Member:

This is to notify you that we have removed or disabled access to the following material as a result of a third-party notification by Guitar World, Future US Inc. claiming that this material is infringing:

Herman Li is cool: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MSNLfa1VPwo

Please Note: Repeat incidents of copyright infringement will result in the deletion of your account and all videos uploaded to that account. In order to prevent this from happening, please delete any videos to which you do not own the rights, and refrain from uploading additional videos that infringe on the copyrights of others. For more information about YouTube's copyright policy, please read the Copyright Tips guide.

If you elect to send us a counter notice, please go to our Help Center to access the instructions.

Please note that under Section 512(f) of the Copyright Act, any person who knowingly materially misrepresents that material or activity was removed or disabled by mistake or misidentification may be subject to liability.

Sincerely,
YouTube, Inc.

I still don't fully understand why these videos keep getting taken down...sure it has copyrighted material, but what damages am I causing to the owners? It's like they take them down solely because they can. All of the Dream Theater parodies are still up because Dream Theater is a bunch of great people who obviously have human qualities, such as senses of humor. I hope one day that Yngwie, Michael Angelo, and Dragonforce can get over themselves and learn to laugh at themselves once in a while.

I wish them all the best on their journey to obtain a sense of humor!

By the way, the Copyright Infringement letter I got says that "under Section 512(f) of the Copyright Act, any person who knowingly materially misrepresents that material or activity was removed or disabled by mistake or misidentification may be subject to liability." Well here is section 512(f):

(f) Misrepresentations. - Any person who knowingly materially misrepresents under this section —

(1) that material or activity is infringing, or

(2) that material or activity was removed or disabled by mistake or misidentification,

shall be liable for any damages, including costs and attorneys' fees, incurred by the alleged infringer, by any copyright owner or copyright owner's authorized licensee, or by a service provider, who is injured by such misrepresentation, as the result of the service provider relying upon such misrepresentation in removing or disabling access to the material or activity claimed to be infringing, or in replacing the removed material or ceasing to disable access to it.

Well that only applies if the material is infringing, and according to section 107, it would seem that my videos are not infringing. Section 107 says:

Notwithstanding the provisions of sections 106 and 106A, the fair use of a copyrighted work, including such use by reproduction in copies or phonorecords or by any other means specified by that section, for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching (including multiple copies for classroom use), scholarship, or research, is not an infringement of copyright.

I'm no lawyer by any means, but does this mean that I can get my videos back up on youtube?

Sources here and here

Upcoming video

2007-11-21T13:32:00.000-05:00

Hey guys,
A new video is in the works. It won't be done for a while, but its in the process of being written. So far I think it will be 5-10 minutes long, or even more. I will give you a hint:

Some old Videos

2007-10-28T22:37:00.000-04:00

It looks like some of my older videos magically appeared on Veoh. Here they are for your viewing pleasure:

Archival Footage of Yngwie Malmsteen playing as a child

Michael Angelo Batio ambidextrous double guitar POWERS

Michael Angelo Batio VERY INFORMATIVE shred lesson !!!!!!!

Petrucci the chipmunk

2007-08-24T03:36:00.000-04:00

OMG LOOK OUT ITS JOHN PETRUCCI

Yngwie Malmsteen is still fat

2007-08-16T23:29:00.000-04:00

Check out the awesome email I recieved today!!!!!!

YouTube | Broadcast Yourself£
Dear Member:
This is to notify you that we have removed or disabled access to the following material as a result of a third-party notification by Malmsteen Management claiming that this material is infringing:

Archival Footage of Yngwie Malmsteen playing as a child: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=swue_OjRcfU

Please Note: Repeat incidents of copyright infringement will result in the deletion of your account and all videos uploaded to that account. In order to avoid future strikes against your account, please delete any videos to which you do not own the rights, and refrain from uploading additional videos that infringe on the copyrights of others. For more information about YouTube's copyright policy, please read the Copyright Tips guide.

If you elect to send us a counter notice, please go to our Help Center to access the instructions.

Please note that under Section 512(f) of the Copyright Act, any person who knowingly materially misrepresents that material or activity was removed or disabled by mistake or misidentification may be subject to liability.

Sincerely,
YouTube, Inc.

Copyright © 2007 YouTube, Inc.

The greatest part about this is that the only "copyrighted material" that was Yngwie's in this video was the 10 second audio clip of Magic and Mayhem, which is actually just a harmonic minor scale that he probably stole from Paganini. Real cool Yngwie. I hope that because you took down my video, you will make enough money to significantly affect your life (or at least buy some leather pants).

Got pastries?

Dragonforce Greatest Hits

2007-08-01T20:28:00.001-04:00

Presenting the newest album from the curiously successful power metal band, Dragonforce:

(Click to enlarge)

And here is the new video, showing the world just how amazing and diverse this album really is:

New video on the way

2007-07-31T01:09:00.000-04:00

A new video will be posted within the next few days (finally). Just adding a few final touches right now. In similar news, I heard DragonForce is releasing a Greatest Hits compilation...

The videos so far...

2007-07-26T00:16:00.000-04:00

I made two Michael Angelo Batio videos about a year ago, but Doug Marks, the owner of Metal Method, forced me to take them down. Apparently I was hurting the sales of his instructional videos, preventing Michael from buying another Lamborghini. If you want to see the videos back up (and I would love to), then feel free to send Doug Marks a message at his youtube profile asking if he would be willing to have a sense of humor (make sure to say "please"). On his youtube page, you can also see a great video of him constructing a fence for the cats that live in his house.

Aside from that, I have the video of Dragonforce's Herman Li explaining how he makes his guitar recordings sound so clean in the studio:

And then some cool footage of Yngwie shredding on his guitar when he was about 8:

Also, some bonus material. The last frame of the Herman Li video:

(Click to enlarge)

More to come! I'll keep you updated.

Introduction

2007-07-26T00:13:00.000-04:00

For those of you who aren't familiar with my youtube page, I make short comedy videos about famous shred metal guitarists that make some people laugh. One guy told me he laughed so hard that he fell out of his chair and landed on a baby.

My youtube page, however, is somewhat impersonal as well as cluttered with other unrelated videos of mine, and I want to have one page/site where you can find all of my music-related videos, so here I present this new site. I will post updates here on how new videos are coming, as well as post them here when I finish them. Also, this will be the site where you can find some bonus media from the videos (such as the bird picture at the end of the Herman Li is Cool video). If you like my videos, bookmark this page! Thanks

(Also, if there is any interest, I might put up some guitar and music theory lessons here too)