Fan-Made Star Trek Music Video Captures TiK ToK Better Than Ke$ha's Video

It was one of my fellow geek friends who introduced me to Ke$ha's song TiK ToK. First of all, how the heck do you pronounce Ke$ha-is it more like Cash-ah or Quiche? Since I have not had breakfast yet, I think Quiche sounds more appealing. Second, I tHiNk It Is VeRy AnNoYinG WhEn PeOpLe TyPe LiKe ThIs.

Ironically enough, my friend did not dare show my Ke$ha's official music video. He showed me a fan-made music video that used footage of the original Star Trek. Amid her singing that reeked of Auto-Tune and synthesized beats, the video does an excellent job of synching footage to lyrics of partying and having a good time. I am not even that big of a Star Trek fan but that fan-made music video was pretty darn good to make the best of the superficial lyrics.

I primarily know about fan-made music videos from the anime convention scene where they hold contests that allow fans to show off their music videos using anime footage. Modern video editing technology and the plague of Internet memes have turned most of these anime music videos into cheap inside jokes nowadays-a different subject about how the Internet is making people stupider by the month for later. But in the halcyon days of anime music videos, the creators also worked hard to synch lyrics, rhythm, and footage.

But copyright has always been the bane of fan-made music video creators. The ones I made were promptly removed from YouTube because of it. Most creators claim fair-use and turning their own interpretation into their own creation, which does not exactly hold water against the copyright holders given that the creators are using songs they did not make to synch with anime or other entertainment media that they did not produce. But another argument used is that fan made work helps boost the original work through promotion and word of mouth. A person curious about the music or the footage done well in a fan-made video is likely to look either up and maybe take up interest in the artist of show. I mean, I never watched the official Ke$ha music video of TiK ToK until after watching the fan version. And the official music video looks like something TMZ shot of a drunken celebutante wandering the streets after a crappy party. Personally, I would state the Star Trek music video as the official one and the Ke$ha one as the amateur fan video.

So whether they are a fan's expression of his/her liking or a copyright infringement in convenient video form, something about fan-made music videos will continue to be part of today's Internet subculture.