The Polyphonic Spree Stole My Friend's Video Idea

I'm pissed. And I'm gonna tell you why.

Last year, Dallas group the Polyphonic Spree (www.thepolyphonicspree.com) held a contest for the production of a video. My good friend, who is a great videographer, and pretty damned creative guy, got together with a couple of friends and produced a video for the song "Hold Me Now" to enter in the contest. I just got a chance to see it a few days ago. I thought it was pretty good. Lots of imagery, very colorful, right up their alley. So I was quite surprised when he said that they never contacted him. I figured they would at least send a nice rejection letter. But no, nothing. I'm sure they must have recieved a lot of entries, but it would have been nice to at least be acknowledged, even if it was a rejection.

Months went by, and they finally announced the winner. The winning video conained what I guess you would call a bunch of muppet-like characters dancing around. I was not impressed. Never mind my bias, my friend's video was way better than this ridiculous piece of work. Again, I was shocked that they completely ignored his entry. At least, we thought it had been ignored. Until we saw their latest video. Oddly enough, one of the segments in this new video looked strangely similar to that of my friend's video. Coincidence? I suppose it could be. But I have my doubts. I realize that creative people tend to think on a similar level, but I don't see that to be the case here.

Now, my friend isn't angry about it. He would just like the recognition from the folks at PS that, yes, they saw his video, and yes, they wanted to incorporate some of its aspects into one of their own, and indeed they did just that. But I doubt that will happen, so I'm pissed for him. And I plan to remain so.