FAQ

What's the big idea?

We launched VODO in late 2009 to help creators promote and distribute their independent films, music and books using Peer to Peer technology. We believe there is immense untapped potential for independent creators in P2P distribution. In fact, we think that our new model of networked, free-to-share, peer-powered distribution will soon present better opportunities for creators than the old scarcity-powered models (theatres, DVD, etc.)

Each month we release and promote one free-to-share film, in conjunction with our distribution partners. Since launch, we have increased the typical monthly audience for our films from 150,000 to around 850,000.

We offer downloaders the opportunity to become sponsors of our releases, in return for a variety of incentives – for example, credits in a future production, or a downloadable soundtrack. This kind of sponsorship netted our made-for-VODO show Pioneer One $30,000 in its first eight weeks and we've earned over $25,000 for The Yes Men Fix The World in its first month.

For those that don't know, this compares very favourably with what an independent creator would receive from a terrestrial, cable or satellite TV station. One of the things that our artists really like about VODO is that we don't take exclusive rights over their work -- as long as they're happy to make one free-to-share version available, they can continue to sell their work however they like. 

Tell Me More

We work with creators who are happy to share their work online. There are an increasing number of artists that VODO will work for as we demonstrate that free-to-share distribution can be the basis of a successful and profitable distribution for them.

We then bring our films to audiences by working directly with P2P networks such as BitTorrent, uTorrent and others: an ever-growing 'distribution coalition' we call the DISCO. The DISCO members, many of whom have audiences of well over 10 million users a day, promote VODO's content to a cumulative daily audience of 65 million. This promotion secures a large initial viewership for our features which can then 'go viral' as audiences recommend and link them.

Most of those advertising our releases link to a VODO 'landing page', such as vodo.net/yesmen. There, audiences can download the content for free in a variety of formats (using BitTorrent), find out more about the release, chat to other audience members and make donations or support the filmmaker in a variety of ways. This includes one-off Sponsorship with a variety of attractive incentives and membership of a VODO Studio, which is a way of providing ongoing support for an artist and being involved in the creative process.

These are our current commercial terms: we give our creators 75% of all Direct Sponsorship, 50% of all Studio Membership, and 50% of all sales on physical products made via their landing page.

Downloading & Sharing

Whenever we've got a new work to distribute, we publish it on the front page. But you should also be able to grab a release from your favourite P2P site or service. We're working with uTorrent, Limewire and Vuze, as well as some of the big Torrent indexes online. We want to bring the media to you, not force you to come to us! 

Can I really share VODO films freely?

Yes. As long as you're not making commercial use out of our works, you can share them however you like. If you want to show the film commercially, please take a look at our Syndication service.

Promoting works

What does 'promoting' a work mean?

At VODO, we believe the real power behind P2P distribution is YOU, the peers. That's why we're encouraging everyone to enjoy their power as Influencers, using their own social networks to promote new VODO releases or, indeed, any works you find on VODO and like. 

It's easy. Just connect your Facebook or Twitter account to your VODO account, write a short review and publish it in one click to your friends and contacts. When anyone follows your link back to VODO or downloads a film because of you you'll earn DO, our new internal currency. You can use your Do balance to see how effective your promotions are compared to other VODO Influencers. And soon you'll be able to exchange it for prizes -- both virtual and physical.

What is DO?

DO (pronounced "Doh!" like Homer Simpson) is a virtual currency that we're using to incentivise you to help our artists get the attention they need and deserve. Our plan is to make Do exchangeable for all sort of items -- from VODO products to Macbook Pros. You can start building up DO right now and we'll have the prizes available in the next iteration of VODO. 

How do I become an Influencer?

Just sign up or login, and connect your Facebook, Twitter or other social network accounts (coming soon!) from My Account. Then just choose which releases you want to promote. 

How do I keep track of my activities?

You can see a live display of how well your promotions are doing -- and how many Do you earned -- from your Dashboard.

Sweepstakes

How to take part

There are two ways to participate:

(i) Any donation of $5 of more receives one free entry.

(ii) If you do not want to (or cannot afford to) donate, you can use your Do to enter. One entry is 1000 Do. (See 'How do I earn Do' in the FAQ to see how to earn your free Do.)

Prize Start And Close Dates

The competition begins on the date specified on the landing page of the work with which the competition is associated (e.g., http://vo.do/btg). It is over when the visible countdown ends. To be eligible to win you must before that time have entered in one of the two ways specified above (How To Take Part).

The Prize And How We Award It

The prize is 10% of the total donations in the period specified. The 'estimated prize' shown on the landing page is an estimated figure for your reference. The final and actual prize is calculated at the end of the draw. We award the prize through a random selection process.

A Free Draw Without Obligation

No purchase is necessary to take part in this draw: please see the free entry alternative specified in 'How to Participate'.  Neither are you required to pay a fee of any type to receive your prize, although third party transfer fees that are outside our control may apply (e.g. PayPal fees.)

More Information

• Participants must have a PayPal account in order to receive the prize within 7 working days. Bank transfer fees not levied by VODO Ltd. might apply in the event of a bank transfer.
• This prize draw is offered by VODO Ltd., of 1.15, Paintworks, Bristol, UK.
• You may enter as many times as you want by additional donations or entry purchases using Do.
• Winners will be notified by email at the end of the competition period. Their names are available on request from VODO. Their names will not be used in any promotional materials without prior consent.

Legal Notice

This draw is not defined as a lottery either in the UK or the US as it is free-to-enter by two clearly published routes. Users may either donate and receive a free entry or use their Do, created by publicising works on the VODO site.

Playback issues

My download won't play in my computer

To play films downloaded from VODO you need to have the appropiate codecs installed on your system or use a player that can decode the video and sound automatically. We recommend VLC, a free and open-source player that support all films available ton the site.

My download won't play using my Blu-ray/DVD/PS3

Our releases should be playable by most players that support Xvid or H.264 video in a Matroska container. If you know your player normally supports H.264 but still won't play the .mkv file you downloaded you might need to update your players firmware or re-mux the file so it doesn't use header compression, please see the Matroska FAQ for more information.

Submitting works

How do I submit a work to VODO?

Sign up for a Publisher account and submit a brief application. This will be assessed and if successful, we point you to the easy-to-use Upload form, which guides you clearly through the process. Once your film is up, Influencers can start promoting your work out through their social networks. If we get the signal that your work is interesting to our members and visitors, we'll flag it for a possibly monthly promotion.

How do you decide which works to distribute through the Distribution Coalition (DISCO)?

We take into account interest from Influencers, the success of user promotions and interest from commercial sponsors.

Donations

Can I donate with bitcoin?

Yes, VODO accepts donations via bitcoin. You can send your bitcoin to 1AGFbpsRnbVYYVYDBehhyHwETeVwq3AE1C. Then email us to indicate which film you'd like the donation to go to. If you'd like us to credit you publically on the website, tell us your VODO account name as well.

VODO STREAM-AND-SHARE

VODO's stream-and-share feature is a result of our partnership with P2P-Next and the SwarmPlayer project. Full instructions for using it can be found here

SwarmPlayer is a browser extension for watching videos directly from Bittorrent swarms. It is based on BiTtorrent-powered video streaming technology developed by P2P-Next and released under a GPL license.

By installing the Open Source SwarmPlayer you donate bandwidth after viewing videos in the same way that you would if you continue to seed a film after downloading from us with any BitTorrent client.

P2P-Next consortium is an EU-funded project which works in close cooperation with the Wikimedia Foundation.

The company

Who is working on VODO?

The core VODO team is Jamie King (UK, Founder and CEO), Nils Hellberg (Sweden, Development Leader), Jan von Meppen (Germany, Commercial Director), Dan O' Huiginn (Germany, Lead Programmer) and Chen Zhe (China, Supporting Programmer.)  

VODO has been in development since 2008 and was produced by conjunction with the Channel 4 British Documentary Film Foundation, with the support of Arts Council UK and Emerald Fund. We are partnered with BitTorrent Inc., San Francisco.