Coachella has sent a cease-and-desist letter to a fan of Frank Ocean who edited together over 150 videos of the elusive singer’s latest set at the festival to make an unofficial concert film. The fan, Brian Kinnes, recently sat down for an interview with Variety, during which he revealed he combed through clips from different fans for over 80 hours of editing to finish the project.
Before receiving the cease-and-desist letter, he told Variety he didn’t think he’d face any legal action. “I’m not concerned with any legal repercussions because I do not plan on making a single penny from it,” Kinnes told the outlet. “I will continue to upload it in places that [Ocean’s] legal team will not be able to find. I don’t know if I should tell that to a reporter… but it deserves to exist online.”
Frank Ocean At Coachella In 2012
Coachella’s parent company, AEG, now wants Kinnes to remove all references to Coachella from his website and all social media accounts. Kinnes says that despite demands to “take all actions necessary to preclude it from appearing under a different URL,” he is confident that “the video is going to be online forever,” as “hundreds of people were able to download it before everything got shut down, and those people are re-uploading it.”
“I’m just combining what’s already publicly available,” Kinnes said of the film. “Essentially, [AEG’s] claims are pretty frivolous and almost completely baseless.” He also says that he has no ill will toward Frank Ocean regarding the whole incident. “I do think that if Frank saw the video, he would have a certain level of appreciation for the way I captured the performance,” Kinnes said. “I don’t think he would have any issues with it.” Kinnes has since reached out to a legal consultant and believes AEG doesn’t have a legitimate case. “It feels like a massive overreach of power by a corporation that is struggling with their image,” he said.
[Via]