Fear and Russell Peters

So I had taken a three-minute-or-so video of Russell Peters from the very back row of the Warfield theater and uploaded it to YouTube a couple of months ago. A few days ago, I got an email from YouTube about a DMCA complaint for copyright infringement that resulted in the deletion of that video.

These are the fears Mr. Peters might have had and my rebuttals to them:

• Fear: The clip would give people enough information so that people would no longer have an incentive to see him live or buy the full DVD.
• If they like the clip, it will probably make them MORE motivated to check him out live or buy the DVD, seeing as how the clip is hella fuzzy and you can barely even see him.
• If they dislike the clip, chances are they 1) didn't know much about him in the first place and would never even think about going to his show, this clip confirming their disinterest; or 2) have heard about him through a friend that said he was good, so they might still want to go, at least as a social activity. And plus, that was a very flattering excerpt of his show! It's not like I chose the crappiest or most out of context segment.
• Fear: Now he won't be able to repeat the same jokes.
• People love repetition. You know how commercials often show you the funniest parts of a comedy and you're still really excited and giggly when it comes in the actual movie? And have you noticed how Margaret Cho always repeats certain one-liners and has the same set of impersonations that have become her trademark? It's not a bad thing if people have seen some of it before!
• If you were banking on repeating the exact same thing word for word in the same manner, that doesn't reflect the greatest imagination. Come on now!

What other fears might he have had?

In any case, I think the clip primarily served the role of free advertising. I had tags like "Indian," "desi," "comedy," "humor," "performance," and "Warfield" in addition to his name, and plus people interested in my other videos might have navigated to that one. I think the placing of his video was free advertising more than anything else and probably gave him exposure to a wider audience. Plus, it was shitty-ass quality! If I were a performer, it would be a dream come true for someone to put up a poor-quality sample of my high-quality work.