The Richter Scales are pleased to announce "Here Comes Another Bubble" Version 1.1.
Version 1.0 was viewed nearly a million times before Lane Hartwell, a San Francisco area photographer, filed a DMCA take-down notice which caused YouTube to remove the video from its site. The take-down has caused a lot of debate in the blogosphere about issues like fair use, permission, and credit.
As background, when we created Version 1.0 we didn't see similar YouTube videos crediting every image used, nor did what we read about fair use point us towards the need to do so. Also, when Lane emailed us shortly after the video was released, we immediately gave her a credit, with a link, in the "About This Video" section on YouTube, but weren't able to assess whether that was sufficient because Lane wouldn't talk to us via phone and didn't respond to our emails with any requests or proposals before she issued the DMCA take-down request.
That said, the debate about Version 1.0 has made us more sensitive to the credit issue, and we're eager to credit all the content used in the video.
So, Version 1.1 includes, in the video itself, as complete a list of credits as we have been able to generate. We have also posted the credit list on our web site, where it's easier to read, easier to edit, and more likely to drive traffic to others. We hope folks will consider this a reasonable and fair approach that balances the letter of fair use with the spirit of providing credit where due.
The other change in Version 1.1 is that the photograph of Owen Thomas has been replaced by a photograph of Kara Swisher. Kara was the first blogger to link to Version 1.0, and we appreciate that she has described our use of her video interview with Peter Thiel as fair use.
To put our motives into perspective for people who don't know us personally, the Richter Scales is a not for profit organization from which members make no money. This past Friday, for example, we sang to a standing room only crowd in Noe Valley, yet lost money on the gig just as we have on every show we've put on since we started up in 2000. Another statistic putting our economics into perspective is that in the week Version 1.0 was up, we sold only eight CDs of previously recorded music. That's one CD sold per 125,000 viewers of the video. If this rate holds, the "profits" from CD sales will equal the $355 we spent making the video when Version 1.1 gets its 3.5 millionth view. (Mommas, don't let your babies grow up to be a cappella singers.)
Throughout this process, we have been encouraged by the overwhelmingly positive feedback Version 1.0 received, as well as by the many supportive emails, blog posts, blog comments, and phone calls full of advice so many of you shared with us in the past week. Thank you very much for reaching out to us.
-- The Richter Scales
We're sad to announce that John Davi has decided to leave the Scales. 
It didn't really occur to me until I last visited the site that, except for announcing our video's award nominations, our blog has been kind of dormant for the past four months. I blame 
In the lobby of the Westin St. Francis, before we sang a live set at the 