My 2019 Fireworks Show From Tampa Florida

[Rick_In_Tampa]

So, here's the video from my July 4th shoot. Overall, I am very pleased with how this show went. Especially compared to last year?s disaster. We didn't get a single drop of rain all day. That made the setup go much MUCH smoother than last year. We started at 9am and we were done at 4:30pm. This year I went back to gluing the cakes down to boards. We also pre-wired most of what we could before the 4th. That helped a ton. So setup time was cut in half vs last year.

When shoot time came, I had a big scare. I armed all 12 mods through the R2 remote, hit the Auto Fire button and nothing happened. I hit it again, nothing happened. I turned the R2 off and back on again, and it came up c00 on the display, indicating no script was on the remote! Panic set in. I told my daughter to run back to the house and grab my laptop so I could reload the script. As soon as she took off I power cycled the R2 one more time and this time it showed c01. I hit the Auto Fire button and the show started. No idea what happened to cause that. I?m going to have to get on the Cobra FB page and see if someone can tell me what happened.

Additionally, I was getting a low signal -84 alert on module 6. So I ran down to module 6 (which was sitting right next to module 12) to make sure the antenna was attached securely and pointed up. It was. But even standing directly over the module, I was still getting the same warning message. Everything fired off that module so I don?t know if I got lucky, or the signal alert was in error.

I finally had time to adjust my sound system to make sure it was loud enough for everyone to hear the music over the fireworks. I had it all set to go when the relative of a neighbor came over and said he was a sound engineer and he could tweak the system to get the best sound out of it. I told him to go ahead! But I wanted it loud! He said no prob. So when the show finally started and I didn't hear music, panic set in again! I ran over to the sound system and the slider on the amp was down to 0. So I quick turned it up full throttle and we had sound again.

On the plus side? Everyone thought the show was fantastic! One guy gave me $30. Lol? There were a few periods of black sky because the cakes burned much faster than the online videos or packaging indicated. Not much I could do about that. My finale was absolutely dead on balls accurate!! Absolutely crushed it! All 300 mortars fired in perfect sync with the music and the audience went wild. It was a great feeling.

Okay... Enough babble. Here's my show for 2019!!

https://youtu.be/cWnCpb7tQIU

[Stormcrow]

Wow what a great finale people had to love that. Let it go was a great song selection I would have never thought about a Disney song. I always get stuck in the hair bands.
I like the red plum effect (nuclear fusion?)
I really loved the successive crossette shot. What did you use there?
I’m with you rick prewired fireworks glued to boards are the way to go. As long as there are four to help set up.

[Icooclast]

that was very awesome. congrats. did you use all 1.4g pro or is there some reg. 1.4 in there too? either way it was an awesome job

[morrison2951]

Sweet! Great job Rick!

[BeerGuyEd]

As always the show was amazing. Your passion for pyro really shines in your shows.

[Snafumonkey]

Outstanding job, one day I'll hit the pyromusical level, and hopefully the amount of firepower. Awesome choices in music and all. I don't think the crowd cheered enough for you

[PyroGyro]

Awesome show Rick. 7.5 hours setup time? Oh lord, I thought that CObra was supposed to make things easier. I know you have a $hit ton of fireworks so that is definitely part of it(my shows will never get that big), but what takes so long? For example, assuming you have all cakes glued and all platforms and mortar racks ready to go, and your CObra is programmed, how long does it take to wire all the igniters for the show?

[joed2323]

Rick great job on the show.

I know how bummed out you were last year with what had happened. Seems like you redeemed yourself pretty good on this show.

How far apart were you 3 stations spaced?

You definitely cut your prep time in the field in half man. I guess those boards worked out good for you


How many guys did you have helping setup?

Also how far back did you have your go pro from the fireworks and far away was it from your speakers?

Sorry for all the questions. Again great show and nicely done on the finale. Btw I was freaking out alittle bit as well right in the beginning, "omg where is the music" I was saying to myself... glad it worked out for you.

That rush/nervousness right up until you press the button to start the show is something else hey? Once it goes into it's like a instant relief and satisfaction that is hard to describe

[cptnding]

Awesome show Rick! Your finale was spot on for sure! Good luck topping that one next year lol.

A few years ago I had the exact problem when I went to start the show. 3..2...1 nothing. Script didn't start. Took me a moment to realize what the problem was. My script was written to start the show using the Autofire button and start channel was c01. I was trying to start on ch00. If I am not mistaken your R2 well boot up to c00 every time you restart it. In that script I did have a mod on c00 so I was seeing the continuity lights and didn't think to change to c01 to start the script. Since then I've never had a mod on c00. I always start with c01. This way I'm always going to see everything on c00 as dark to give me a reminder to change to c01. After that non start I don't think I would ever forget it again but I make sure and start all my scripts the same way just in case I go stupid at the last second. This may not have been your problem. Just a guess.

What firmware version are you running? With 5.0.2 signal issues have been a thing of the past for me. Maybe check the antenna connector on the mod that had a problem. Some times the little pin in the center can get bent to the side and not make connection. Also if you are using armored cases check the connection from the mod to mount on the side of the case. I have one of these get loose at the module and cause low signal. Glad to hear it didn't affect your show.

I feel you pain on set up day. It ain't south FL for sure but it can get brutally hot in north GA as well. I'm a believer in setting up on boards also. I've done it this way for 20+ years at this point. Personally I don't see the need to glue them down. I have never even once seen a 500g cake tip while sitting on a board or hard surface such as pavement. I'm not saying it doesn't happen but I've never seen a single one. I have seen quite a few tip otherwise and every single one was on grass or not on level ground. I've been using some of the Dominator 1.4pro cakes the last 2 years. They are constructed very light so for these I just tape 2 or 3 in a block. I do the same with 200g cakes mostly for ease and speed when setting up. These I tape in blocks of 2-6.
I can give you details on the process we use on set up day if you think it might help. My goal is always to minimize time in the hot sun. It sucks to set up in the heat all day and miss most of your gathering while you're doing it. A couple of times I had to miss the party even though set up was done because I was exhausted and had to go inside and cool off for a couple of hours to feel like I could function lol.
Also, I'm about to switch my mods over the the new quick plug set up. I think if will be worth the cost. Should be a game changer on set up day.
Good luck and keep up the great work man!

[PYRODAN]

Awesome job Rick! I am so glad you finally got a break with the weather. I was getting ready to send you some scuba gear!

[PYRODAN]

How much room do you have there Rick? And how far apart are your stations? It seems like you have room to spread it out further.

[Big Worm]

Nice job Rick! Your finale looked like a supernova!!!

[Pyro Paul]

I enjoyed this years show Rick, you rocked it!

[Rick_In_Tampa]

Wow what a great finale people had to love that. Let it go was a great song selection I would have never thought about a Disney song. I always get stuck in the hair bands.
I like the red plum effect (nuclear fusion?)
I really loved the successive crossette shot. What did you use there?
I?m with you rick prewired fireworks glued to boards are the way to go. As long as there are four to help set up.

Thanks!! This was the first show I walked away from feeling really well about what I saw. Don't get me wrong... I've got a long list of things that pissed me off and need fixing for next year! But overall, I think it was a pretty nice show.

My granddaughter LOVES Frozen. SO I did that song just for her. As soon as she hears it she starts yelling "Elsa! Elsa!" (She'll be 3 in Oct) Most of my setup time (and planning time!) was around that song. I used 180 cues this year and 80 of them were for Frozen. To be honest, it's the 1 song in my show that I'm most upset about. I didn't like what I saw at all. Some was my fault, some was the effects I wound up having to sub out because the ones I wanted never came in from China. Not much I can do about that. But I need to work on getting my helpers spun up earlier so they understand the vision in my head before they start sticking effects in the ground. Anyway.... That's on me and I'll get it fixed for next year.

As for the effects... If you give me a time stamp I'll be happy to tell you what they were. I'll be honest.. I watched videos last Oct thru Dec and made my purchase in January. So I have really no clue what some of them are. The successive crossette shot I loved too! But I have no idea what it is. I'll be getting more for next year though!! lol..

[Rick_In_Tampa]

that was very awesome. congrats. did you use all 1.4g pro or is there some reg. 1.4 in there too? either way it was an awesome job

Thanks!! Yes... It was all 1.4G stuff. Mostly pro series from SO76, but some "regular" mixed in there too. Shoot me you E-mail in a PM and I'll be happy to give you the list of stuff I used. I can even send you the script so you can figure out which effect was which.


Sweet! Great job Rick!

Thank you Sir!


As always the show was amazing. Your passion for pyro really shines in your shows.

Thank you very much. It's definitely a labor of love.


Outstanding job, one day I'll hit the pyromusical level, and hopefully the amount of firepower. Awesome choices in music and all. I don't think the crowd cheered enough for you

lol.. Thanks. My buddy had a flashlight and he was shining it on me at the end of the show so people could see and clap for me. It was embarrassing but neat at the same time. One guy came over and asked me, "How does it feel to be the coolest kid on the block?" I think you can actually hear him at the end of the video.

[Rick_In_Tampa]

Awesome show Rick. 7.5 hours setup time? Oh lord, I thought that CObra was supposed to make things easier. I know you have a $hit ton of fireworks so that is definitely part of it(my shows will never get that big), but what takes so long? For example, assuming you have all cakes glued and all platforms and mortar racks ready to go, and your CObra is programmed, how long does it take to wire all the igniters for the show?

Whether I'm stringing miles of visco and zip-tying it to cake fuses or running wires to Cobra modules, it all takes an ass-ton of time. So I can't blame it on the Cobra. I think the issue is really the design in my head and trying to maximize the number of cues I have. Like I said in another post, I used 180 cues in my show this year. 80 of them were for just 1 song! Additionally, I rarely EVER fire just 1 thing off a cue. I had as many as 4 on a cue this year.

So the long setup time is directly related to the level of complexity of the show, the lack of trained bodies I have helping me set up, and the fact that I'll be 56 in a few weeks and just cant do what I used to be able to do. How's that for an answer!? lol... Like I said in my initial post.. I went back to boards this year and it was a life-saver. I already have a few ideas that hopefully will shave off a few more hours next year. We shall see!

Thanks for the kind words!!

[topshelfpyro]

You may already use something similar but if your gluing cake boards get an electric caulk gun. Lol may sound dumb but its the best $40 i spent on pyro stuff this year. Flip all your cakes upside down in their spots, hit em with the glue, and flip them over. I did a 19 cake board in about 2 min with the new toy.

My boards are angled so they must be secure.

[Rick_In_Tampa]

Rick great job on the show.

I know how bummed out you were last year with what had happened. Seems like you redeemed yourself pretty good on this show.

How far apart were you 3 stations spaced?

You definitely cut your prep time in the field in half man. I guess those boards worked out good for you


How many guys did you have helping setup?

Also how far back did you have your go pro from the fireworks and far away was it from your speakers?

Sorry for all the questions. Again great show and nicely done on the finale. Btw I was freaking out alittle bit as well right in the beginning, "omg where is the music" I was saying to myself... glad it worked out for you.

That rush/nervousness right up until you press the button to start the show is something else hey? Once it goes into it's like a instant relief and satisfaction that is hard to describe

Yeah... I was pretty pissed off after last years debacle. I think the good Lord took pity on me and kept the rain away this year for me. I'll take it!

My boards were maybe 10' apart. I had one neighbor complain that last year he had to clean all kinds of crap off his pool enclosure. So his wife asked me to please move the setup further down towards the far end of the retention pond where I shoot. As it turnes out, it didn't help. His pool enclosure got pummeled again. lol... His wife told me that he's going to have to just STFU and clean it. lol.. She's a cool gal. She's also the first one down there on the 5th cleaning up. She loaded her pickup full of cake carcases and came over to pick me up so we could drive to the dump and get rid of them.

I had two and a half guys helping me. One guy (older than me!) only has 1 arm. So as he puts it, he's always willing to lend a hand. But just 1! Only 1 of the other 2 had experience from helping me last year. He also took pictures of my show that are absolutely beautiful. If I get a chance I'll post some on here. The last guy is my buddy from the military. Haven't talked to him in a year, then he showed up a few weeks ago wanting to know if he could help with my show. He's the guy on the left in the setup picture I posted in (I believe) the "Stash" thread.

I had the Go Pro maybe 160' back from the fireworks, and 50' from the sound system.

It was an amazing, sinking feeling when I hit that button and the 18R2 gave me the middle finger!! When I cycled the remote and saw that the script had vanished, I was about to come unglued. Thank God it showed up when I cycled it the second time. I do need to get to the bottom of why that happened.

[Jay_]

Awesome Rick! You filled it up in your finale!

I was cursed with the vaunted “disaster in Tampa 2018” weather this year. It’s someone else’s turn to deal with that next year :)

[Rick_In_Tampa]

Awesome show Rick! Your finale was spot on for sure! Good luck topping that one next year lol.

A few years ago I had the exact problem when I went to start the show. 3..2...1 nothing. Script didn't start. Took me a moment to realize what the problem was. My script was written to start the show using the Autofire button and start channel was c01. I was trying to start on ch00. If I am not mistaken your R2 well boot up to c00 every time you restart it. In that script I did have a mod on c00 so I was seeing the continuity lights and didn't think to change to c01 to start the script. Since then I've never had a mod on c00. I always start with c01. This way I'm always going to see everything on c00 as dark to give me a reminder to change to c01. After that non start I don't think I would ever forget it again but I make sure and start all my scripts the same way just in case I go stupid at the last second. This may not have been your problem. Just a guess.

What firmware version are you running? With 5.0.2 signal issues have been a thing of the past for me. Maybe check the antenna connector on the mod that had a problem. Some times the little pin in the center can get bent to the side and not make connection. Also if you are using armored cases check the connection from the mod to mount on the side of the case. I have one of these get loose at the module and cause low signal. Glad to hear it didn't affect your show.

I feel you pain on set up day. It ain't south FL for sure but it can get brutally hot in north GA as well. I'm a believer in setting up on boards also. I've done it this way for 20+ years at this point. Personally I don't see the need to glue them down. I have never even once seen a 500g cake tip while sitting on a board or hard surface such as pavement. I'm not saying it doesn't happen but I've never seen a single one. I have seen quite a few tip otherwise and every single one was on grass or not on level ground. I've been using some of the Dominator 1.4pro cakes the last 2 years. They are constructed very light so for these I just tape 2 or 3 in a block. I do the same with 200g cakes mostly for ease and speed when setting up. These I tape in blocks of 2-6.
I can give you details on the process we use on set up day if you think it might help. My goal is always to minimize time in the hot sun. It sucks to set up in the heat all day and miss most of your gathering while you're doing it. A couple of times I had to miss the party even though set up was done because I was exhausted and had to go inside and cool off for a couple of hours to feel like I could function lol.
Also, I'm about to switch my mods over the the new quick plug set up. I think if will be worth the cost. Should be a game changer on set up day.
Good luck and keep up the great work man!

Thanks for the kind words!! That finale is going to be hard to top next year for sure.

I'm running 5.0.2 as well. I checked the external antenna and the internal connectors. All were tight. Like I said... I was literally standing over top the module and had the remote maybe 18" away from it, and it STILL reported "low -84" on that module. When I test my script weeks before, I never connect the antennas and I never get a lo anything message on the R2. So that one has me stumped. But everything on that mod fired. So the only thing I can think of now is, either the error message was erroneous, or the mesh technology allowed mod 12 which was sitting right next to mod 6 (literally touching it) send the fire commands to mod 6. That's all I can come up with for now. I'll get with Scott maybe this coming weekend and drill a little deeper.

The quick-plugs look nice and they do look like they will help save time. I'm going to hold off for a while until I know I'm going to keep doing this, and they have time to be tried and tested by my fellow pyros.

[Rick_In_Tampa]

Awesome job Rick! I am so glad you finally got a break with the weather. I was getting ready to send you some scuba gear!

OMG... Amen to that!! lol... It's been insane the last few years. Like I mentioned to someone else, I think the good Lord took pitty on me this year. It's been coming down in buckets since the 4th!! It's supposed to keep doing it all week too. Now... I don't care though. Let it rain!! :cool:

[Rick_In_Tampa]

How much room do you have there Rick? And how far apart are your stations? It seems like you have room to spread it out further.

The shoot site is 600' wide by 300' deep. As I mentioned to someone else, a neighbor complained about my show dumping debris on his pool enclosure. So we tried to move everything down towards the far end, away from his house as we could. Didn't matter. His pool enclosure still got crapped on.

I absolutely need to spread things out more though. It's frustrating seeing everything appear to be funneling up to a single point in the show video. To be honest, it didn't look like that at all in person. I think the wide angle lens of the Go Pro is making it look more condensed. But again... I do need to spread it out more.

[Rick_In_Tampa]

Nice job Rick! Your finale looked like a supernova!!!

Lol... I was definitely pleased that all 300 mortars went up as planned this year.


I enjoyed this years show Rick, you rocked it!

Thank you Sir!! I appreciate that. :D

[Rick_In_Tampa]

You may already use something similar but if your gluing cake boards get an electric caulk gun. Lol may sound dumb but its the best $40 i spent on pyro stuff this year. Flip all your cakes upside down in their spots, hit em with the glue, and flip them over. I did a 19 cake board in about 2 min with the new toy.

My boards are angled so they must be secure.

That's pretty much what we did, but with a caulking gun and liquid nails. We set everything in place to make sure it was arranged according to the design plan, then we'd flip them over in place. I would cut the bottom paper off and my buddy would go behind me and and put an "X" of liquid nails on the bottom of each cake. Then we'd flip them back and move on to the next board. Really good system.

[Kooooou]

Beautiful show, my wife says it's elegant. You could tell the finale was flawless. That smoke wasn't wanting to leave though.

[Rick_In_Tampa]

Beautiful show, my wife says it's elegant. You could tell the finale was flawless. That smoke wasn't wanting to leave though.

OMG... That smoke just never cooperates. Last year was ten times worse! At least we got a little breeze this year. But yes... Clearly not enough.

Thanks to you both for the kind words!! I really appreciate it. :o

[Pyro Paul]

I got your rain this year Rick, thanks a lot! lol It did stop by 2 pm so we had just enough time to kill ourselves putting everything together when we took the plastic sheeting off.

[Rick_In_Tampa]

I got your rain this year Rick, thanks a lot! lol It did stop by 2 pm so we had just enough time to kill ourselves putting everything together when we took the plastic sheeting off.

Ouch!!! I am sooooooo sorry buddy! I wouldn't wish that on anyone. I'm glad you were able to still get out there and shoot your show. Thank God for tarps right?! lol.

[robdog]

Good show and GREAT finale!

[Rick_In_Tampa]

Good show and GREAT finale!

Thanks Rob!! I appreciate it. :o

[stryper]

Great show Rick!

[Rick_In_Tampa]

Great show Rick!

Thank you Sir!

[Mattp]

AWESOME job rick!!!! glad it worked out so well for you this year!!! your grand daughter must've loved the frozen segment!!! and i got chills when all those humming snakes went off at the end... especially with whitney singing!!!! great F--in job!!

[Rick_In_Tampa]

AWESOME job rick!!!! glad it worked out so well for you this year!!! your grand daughter must've loved the frozen segment!!! and i got chills when all those humming snakes went off at the end... especially with whitney singing!!!! great F--in job!!

Thank you my friend! Yeah, she was running around yelling "Elsa! Elsa!" It was pretty cool. I was particularly happy with the transitions between songs and of course that finale. I absolutely crushed it if I do say so myself! That one is going to be hard to beat next year.

[esgrillo]

Rick I finally got to see your show. Wow, very very nice. You nailed it this year. I may reach out to you on some of the product selections. Several looked great and I have not used before. I think I am moving more and more to single effect cakes and I saw a bunch. They look really good.

The finale was spot on balls ass perfect. Plus what a spectacular song choice!! :cool:

Couple of things... you mentioned the black sky, program a few alternate cakes. Gets rid of that. For your helpers I put together several books that included the script, mod report, and plot plan layout. I am fortunate to have a good size crew helping me and one was a Cobra expert so it helped immensely. At least the plot plan will help show your vision even if they cant use the rest.

I dont do boards so all the cakes are placed on the platform set up day. The plot plan helps that process plus I position the mods on the layout so people know where to put product. I also prewire as much as possible including all my comet racks and slice racks. That is where slats really help out.

I was able to get my show set up in 6 hrs including the time moving product from my house to the field which takes a couple of hours. Granted a lot of that was due to crew size and having another Cobra guy on my team.

[Rick_In_Tampa]

Rick I finally got to see your show. Wow, very very nice. You nailed it this year. I may reach out to you on some of the product selections. Several looked great and I have not used before. I think I am moving more and more to single effect cakes and I saw a bunch. They look really good.

The finale was spot on balls ass perfect. Plus what a spectacular song choice!! :cool:

Couple of things... you mentioned the black sky, program a few alternate cakes. Gets rid of that. For your helpers I put together several books that included the script, mod report, and plot plan layout. I am fortunate to have a good size crew helping me and one was a Cobra expert so it helped immensely. At least the plot plan will help show your vision even if they cant use the rest.

I dont do boards so all the cakes are placed on the platform set up day. The plot plan helps that process plus I position the mods on the layout so people know where to put product. I also prewire as much as possible including all my comet racks and slice racks. That is where slats really help out.

I was able to get my show set up in 6 hrs including the time moving product from my house to the field which takes a couple of hours. Granted a lot of that was due to crew size and having another Cobra guy on my team.

Thank you Sir!! That means a ton coming from you!! I was very pleased with how the show turned out. Especially the finale. I don't think I've ever heard anyone sing the SSB better than Whitney. I'll be happy to send you the product list and/or my show script if you want to PM me your e-mail address.

I was lucky this year and I had a friend come over and help me build the boards. I thought building them in place (like I did last year) would be easier than hauling boards around. But as you know, with a 6.5 hr rain delay, that turned into a real cluster for me. By doing boards again, we were able to not only get everything in place in the right order much sooner, we were also able to wire much of the show before it ever left my garage. That saved us a ton of time on the 4th. However, because I fire multiple cakes per cue, we still had a lot of wiring to do on the 4th. Now that (I think) I understand slats, I think I'll be able to have the show 100% wired prior to the 4th!! So all I will need to do on the 4th is lay out the boards, connect the DB25 cables, and shoot the show! That will also free up many modules that I should then be able to re-purpose to do some neat things like comet runs and dueling comets and slices!! Lots of possibilities.

During setup this year I had my "big picture" diagram as well as individual mod drawings that my helpers could use to make sure everything was in the right place. Again, because we built the boards, placing each board in the right spot was really the only use for those drawings. Additionally, I had cut sheets taped to the inside cover of each mod that detailed what effect went on each cue, and the number of effects on that cue. I think that helped my buddy (and me!) a lot while wiring the mods. Hopefully NONE of that will be necessary next year because of the slats. It took us 7 hours to set up this year and the vast majority of that was wiring. If I can get everything wired into slats.... My setup on the 4th should be about 2 hours!! Definitely looking forward to that.

[esgrillo]

Also one more thing. In the ridiculous world known as YouTube music copyright violation land, you my friend have been blessed by little baby Jesus to not have your show blocked with that ACDC song in it. I uploaded mine and it was immediatly flagged and blocked worldwide because of my ACDC song. I am knocking on wood right now for you so the music gods do not get upset lol. Thats why mine is on Vimeo.... and just about all the rest of my old videos... probably 6 of them were blocked for the same reason.

The dumb part is I would gladly pay for the right to use that music if there was a mechanism to do so. Such a missed opportunity for the music companies.

[Stormcrow]

Also one more thing. In the ridiculous world known as YouTube music copyright violation land, you my friend have been blessed by little baby Jesus to not have your show blocked with that ACDC song in it. I uploaded mine and it was immediatly flagged and blocked worldwide because of my ACDC song. I am knocking on wood right now for you so the music gods do not get upset lol. Thats why mine is on Vimeo.... and just about all the rest of my old videos... probably 6 of them were blocked for the same reason.
The dumb part is I would gladly pay for the right to use that music if there was a mechanism to do so. Such a missed opportunity for the music companies.

Yep same. Same song too. So ridiculous. My contention is this is under fair use for instructional use on our pyro talk forum. Plus it isn’t the whole song. I had to block out the AC DC song with fire work noise. Next time I’ll go Vimeo

[PyroGyro]

I uploaded one of my vids to FB and it was immediately reviewed and flagged as Van Halen music owned by Warner Bros. I then uploaded it to Youtube and it was fine. Go figure.

[PyroGyro]

The dumb part is I would gladly pay for the right to use that music if there was a mechanism to do so. Such a missed opportunity for the music companies.

The reason they can't allow you to use the music is because they need to have someone review what their artists music is being associated with and this costs money. They can't just allow you to use it for a minimal fee because you could be using it in a major ad campaign, or using it to promote Hitler or something.

[esgrillo]

The reason they can't allow you to use the music is because they need to have someone review what their artists music is being associated with and this costs money. They can't just allow you to use it for a minimal fee because you could be using it in a major ad campaign, or using it to promote Hitler or something.

99% of the groups allow fair use of their music on YouTube as long as you do not monetize which I do not. You can use it for whatever you want as long as you dont make money off it and it is used appropriately. ACDC is one I know that does not allow that (at least for me and others... Rick must work for the music company lol). They can allow use because most do without real restriction plus Vimeo does not have music restrictions that I am aware of... I posted that exact same video without issue. There are also other video hosts that also have no restrictions like UGETube.

There is really nothing to prevent someone from using a song at an event that is deemed "inappropriate" in other circumstances of course if you do and get caught you should and will suffer the consequences. The only reason it happens on YouTube is because they are the biggest game in town. Plus what we are doing is actually promoting their music for free. In my opinion a system could be developed that would allow a fee to be tiered based of number of views which is very fair. Clearly YouTube has no issue taking down channels that have what they deem inappropriate content but nobody posting fireworks videos comes close to doing that.

It is just dumb how they handle these couple of groups that are so proud of their music they dont what people to use it. They are missing out on a lot of potential royalty money.

The frustrating part for me was the restrictions with ACDC are relatively recent. Yes I know rules can change at any time but I had videos online for years on YouTube that all of a sudden got blocked one day without notification. When that happens you cant even download the video to load it to a new platform. You are locked out. It took me a while to scrounge up all the original MP4s so I could upload them to Vimeo. They are all there now with zero viewing restrictions.

[PyroGyro]

Btw, I'm guessing that money and not what I was saying earlier is what it's about. If you check this article out
https://www.vox.com/2017/5/5/15564782/warner-music-youtube-deal-google-dmca about Warner Bros(Van Halen) and Youtube, you'll see that they had a beef about royalties but resolved it. You can find tons of Van Halen stuff on youtube from different posters. My fireworks video doesn't get banned if I put it on youtube but it does on FB probably because Warner has no agreement with FB. If you look up ACDC on youtube you'll see nothing but official ACDC channel videos. I'm guessing that ACDC's label has no agreement with youtube.

[AxeElf]

I uploaded my videos to my Google drive and then posted links to the files on Facebook and here and in some emails I sent out to people who couldn't attend; didn't have to worry about censorship issues.

[esgrillo]

Btw, I'm guessing that money and not what I was saying earlier is what it's about. If you check this article out
https://www.vox.com/2017/5/5/15564782/warner-music-youtube-deal-google-dmca about Warner Bros(Van Halen) and Youtube, you'll see that they had a beef about royalties but resolved it. You can find tons of Van Halen stuff on youtube from different posters. My fireworks video doesn't get banned if I put it on youtube but it does on FB probably because Warner has no agreement with FB. If you look up ACDC on youtube you'll see nothing but official ACDC channel videos. I'm guessing that ACDC's label has no agreement with youtube.

Probably right

[Rick_In_Tampa]

Also one more thing. In the ridiculous world known as YouTube music copyright violation land, you my friend have been blessed by little baby Jesus to not have your show blocked with that ACDC song in it.

That's the weird thing!! I got the same message too almost immediately after I uploaded the video. But the song isn't blocked! The only thing I can think of is my site isn't monetized, so since I'm not making money off of it, they're allowing it. Beyond that, I don't have a clue why it's still playing. But I'll take it! I don't think AC/DC is too worried about me. At least I hope not!

[Rick_In_Tampa]

Rick must work for the music company lol).

Actually, I work for U.S. Central Command. Maybe they're afraid I'll order up a drone strike on their butts if they block me! lol... :rolleyes: