I have started the first stages of release of Psycho Sex Dolls last week.
It's coming to Amazon Prime Video soon, and other global streamers, but I released it on Vimeo On Demand for the moment because I was in control of a release date there.
The film has been doing well there in the last few days, however, I'm shutting my Vimeo account down. Vimeo used to be a good place for indie filmmakers, but my experience in the last couple of days has not been good.
I knew the platform wasn't great anymore, as they have been making changes over time that I didn't really like, but I thought it would be fine for a short release until the film is on the mainstream streamers.
However, in the last few days, I just found about a new EU Digital services act is kicking in from 13th of Feb. Which I knew about, but I thought the details vimeo wanted would be for them to hold on private.
Home, business addresses, emails, and mobile phone number. I didn't know this was going to be displayed to the public! No other platform does this. I already got a spam call on my mobile last night, after my number was displayed on vimeo.
I also pay a yearly upfront subscription to them, and if you don't comply, they close your account and delete all your films. Or I I can choose to only sell to people outside the EU
On top of all this, they took away the search capability because of some EU Bullshit! Ironically, nobody can find your other videos in Vimeo if they look, to protect your privacy, but they demand you still display your home address and phone number on the front of each video! Absurd!
Anyway, fuck it! It was a good tester to have it on there in the last few days, which has helped. It let me see who was streaming the film and who was downloading it. More people paid for the downloads.
I can easy distribute downloads myself direct from the films website. I can also drop the cost a little, and of course I get to hold on to my own customer data. I never spam people, but I can offer discounts to customers for other film merch and opportunities later.
Hey, I don't want to be restricted by all the BS rules anyway. I want to evolve in the making and release of my films, so this isn't a big deal. I can do the rules for the mainstream streamers, but when it's my own platform release, I need total control of how I release my films.
Also, I'm also transparent online. I do regular updates on all my socials, so people can see I do what I say I'm going to do if they buy or help fund my films. However, I draw the line at sharing home addresses and phone numbers. That's a total lack of privacy.
The film will be released on the streamers soon, but if you want to see it now, there's now a page on the website for the downloads. No platform will stop me getting my film to an audience if they really want to see it.