Eric (sobegirl) defended this situation the other day:
http://www.oprano.com/msgboard/index...=1&t=3965&st=0
Mike:
Apparently Eric, the idiot who keeps annoying everyone as SobeGirl, is a thief. He supposedly jack content from another producer named Joe.
Apparently could resell the content for Joe, but had to charge at least $40 per - well Eric starts selling it to everyone for $5 per... So now Joe's content has no value.
I even hear there will be a lawsuit.... it will possibly be extended to everyone who has bought content from SobeGirl...
SO DO NOT BUY HIS CONTENT, IT WOULD BE BUYING A POSSIBLE LAWSUIT!!!!
Eric (sobegirl):
Actually it is not true. I do have permission in writing to sell the content and everything else. Nobody has to worry about anything. Joe is pissed about me selilng the content cheap but he has no legal basis to be anything other than that, just pissed. Joe sold me the content with resale rights but never specified a floor price. Only after I started selilng it did he start making rules for me to follow. Joe did post on several boards that he would sue me if I did not stop but we worked it out. I have a lot of respect for Joe and his work, after all I would not even sell his stuff if I did not.
Mike:
So Eric, you claim you did have the right to resell.... Do you think you screwed him over by lowering the price like you did? Maybe take advantage of him?
Was there anykind of implied price?
Eric (sobegirl):
Not really. I do not believe that any one content provider has the power to do that. And I don't know if you noticed but there is a price war on content these days. You can get gigs and gigs of content now for one tenth of the cost it was one year ago. I looked around and saw that the biz was changing and webmasters want bulk deals at rock bottom prices. Those who have been in biz and survived this hard last year are scoopin it up and they know that when things turn around, and priced come back up, they will be sitting pretty. And we have all sorts of competition from very good producers overseas who can get every thing done much cheaper and this is also beating prices down too. I don't like selling content cheap either. Please note too, that most of the sobegirl site are shots done by me. I did not buy all the content you see on sobegirl from someone else. I made it myself. I am selling my sets for low prices as well. Am I fucking myself? Good question. Only time will tell
sarettah (who also happens to be me..farleyhiggins):
Hmm..well that is not a no and it is not a yes...
As far as not believing that any one content provider has the power, etc... Huh ??? Of course a content provider has the power to set a minimum price with a broker.... What is not to believe ??
So, was there a minimum stated or implied, whether in writing or not ??
Eric (sobegirl):
Finally we have some intellectual conversation in here instead of OHH MY GOSH< ERIK IS A CROOK>> mamma mia....
First of all when I took ownership of the content that I paid for by check and have a copy of that check, I also got the model release forms and photo IDs so I could legally sell it. There was no talk of price I could sell it for at that time. Only after the price war hit like a storm did it come up. So you be the judge. Can I do what I want or not? I say legally yes, personally - do I feel bad if for say, someone goes out of biz becuase of this? NOt really. Remember and this is a very important point. I am selling my content shoots for the same low prices. My shots, the ones that I did and there are more than 200 of those. I am not doing this to get any one. I am doing this becuase I operate in a free market. And the market is much bigger than I am. I cannot control it, I have to work with it.
sarettah:
And you still have conveniently NOT answered my question....
You say you "took ownership" and paid by check.
Do you own the content with reseller rights, or are you brokering the content ?
Was there a minimum price level either explicity spelled out or implied in some manner ?
Did you do up a contract or license agreement detailing the resale or broker agreement ?
And btw... I don't think anyone here could care less if you are fucking yourself over in some manner, that is your right.
Most of us will care if you are fucking someone else over...
You have a chance here to tell your side of the story... You are not using that chance very well at this point...imho...
Eric (sobegirl):
And you still have conveniently NOT answered my question....
You say you "took ownership" and paid by check.
Do you own the content with reseller rights, or are you brokering the content ?
I am not a broker. The original producer does not get royalties from my sales. I have reeseller rights - Yes.
Was there a minimum price level either explicity spelled out or implied in some manner ? Not at the purchase date. Only after content was processed by me and put up for sale.
Did you do up a contract or license agreement detailing the resale or broker agreement ?
Yes, any other questions? All very good ones too. And Like I said I have model rel forms and Photo IDs as well.
SoBeGirl is as legit as always. 3 years in this biz and no complaints and I plan on keeping it that way.
sarettah:
Well, thats not quite true....
Apparently the guy you bought the content from is complaining...
and there were complaints about your business acumen or practices on the flat board...
But, thank you for answering....
I am out of here for the night now...
peace
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So joe (amacontent) Sobegirl did not seem to have any qualms about taking this to the boards....
What's your side ?