Update 3/17: Several music video directors are reporting that their music videos are back up.

Friday night on Twitter we began noticing a number of high-profile directors reporting that they had been notified that some of their music videos had been removed from Vimeo. The first tweet we noticed was from Director David Wilson, who had his video for "Take A Walk" by Passion Pit removed:

Boo My @VimeoStaff-picked @passionpit promo 'Take A Walk' got pulled from @Vimeo for copyright infringement. Directors have no ownership :-(

? David Wilson (@hidavidwilson) March 8, 2014

Other directors chimed in on Facebook and Twitter, saying that they had also received emails from Vimeo saying that their music videos had been removed that night as well:

@hidavidwilson @Vimeo same shit just happened to our Foster the People video. What you guys doing over there, Columbia??!

? Daniel Kwan (@dunkwun) March 8, 2014

@dunkwun @hidavidwilson @vimeo yanked our Carried Away Passion Pit vid too...

? benjamin brewer (@benjaminbrewer) March 8, 2014

@imvdb @hidavidwilson @benjaminbrewer @dunkwun Raphael Saadiq, Good Man - Another victim of the carnage - :-(.

? Isaiah Seret (@isaiahseret) March 8, 2014

. @Vimeo has begun taking down music videos that I'm legally allowed to use. This is a breach of trust. Answer for yourself Vimeo.

? VINCENT HAYCOCK (@vincehaycock) March 8, 2014

Joseph Kahn is even having his videos taken down:

Hey @vimeo stop removing my videos from my page. Yes I directed them. Ain't got time to deal with that.

? Joseph Kahn (@JosephKahn) March 9, 2014

Music videos on Vimeo have always seemed to be on uncertain legal ground, but this is the first time we've seen multiple takedowns of music videos by high-profile directors (some of them staff picked).

As a number of directors have pointed out on social media, Vimeo's hand is obviously being forced, and in fact, this morning the @VimeoStaff twitter account responded to Vincent Haycock and mentioned that his video was removed as a result of a DMCA takedown request:

@vincehaycock We are required to remove videos if we receive a valid DMCA takedown request. You can read more here: https://t.co/za2LvSdHqT

? VimeoStaff (@VimeoStaff) March 10, 2014

In the last few years, Vimeo has successfully positioned itself as the hosting platform of choice for filmmakers, and music videos represent an especially challenging content issue since they are attached to a piece of copyrighted music by definition. They exist at an intersection between commercial promo and art, making them an awkward mix for Vimeo to deal with when it comes to issues such as music licensing and copyright.

The legal issues involved in this are a little above our pay grade, but we do know that in September of last year, a US judge ruled that Vimeo's safe harbor (essentially their protection against liability for hosting copyrighted works) could not be called into question in instances where it is provable that employees of Vimeo were aware of the video, such as in cases where a video is "liked" or staff picked by Vimeo employees. This ruling was related to a suit brought against Vimeo by some records labels, including EMI. As we understand it, Vimeo's safe harbor is only in tact if they respond to takedown requests, hence the recent takedowns of music videos. Vimeo even has a three strikes DMCA policy, which could potentially result in director Vimeo accounts being removed as a result of multiple DMCA claims.  

Vimeo is a crucial piece of the music video ecosystem online, so we're hoping this isn't the beginning of seeing less music videos on Vimeo's platform, or the end of staff picking of high-profile music videos. We also have an interest in seeing music videos thrive on Vimeo - our site uses Vimeo as a source (along with YouTube), and we curate our own music video channel on Vimeo.

This brings up the question of what the future looks like for music videos on Vimeo. As an ad-free environment, views directed to music videos hosted on Vimeo that have monetized sources elsewhere are lost revenue for labels, which also need to protect their copyrighted material. Directors, production companies, directors of photography, and other music video creating entities all use Vimeo as a hosting platform of choice to showcase their work. These interests seem to be at odds, so if there is a solution to this, we hope we see it soon. In the mean time, directors who have had this happen to them can file a counter claim. 

Update - March 11

As we see more and more directors tweeting about their videos being pulled from Vimeo, we're adding those tweets below. If you see any, please let us know at @imvdb.

Just had a bunch of my music videos removed from @Vimeo for copyright infringement. It's hard out here for a director.

? isaac rentz (@isaacrentz) March 8, 2014

Just got a video pulled off of @vimeo. Now it's personal.

? Josh Forbes (@bestjoshforbes) March 11, 2014

Adam Fairholm is the co-founder and lead developer of IMVDb. You can find him on twitter at @adamfairholm.