Kinnes says he spent 80 hours editing the film on DaVinci Resolve. But despite the company’s demand that he “take all actions necessary to preclude it from appearing under a different URL,” Kinnes is confident that “the video is going to be online forever,” as “hundreds of people were able to download it before everything got shut down, and those people are re-uploading it.” After AEG demanded that he remove all references to Coachella from his website and all social media accounts, Kinnes did, in fact, delete some tweets and scrub the video from his online channels. I don’t know if I should tell that to a reporter… but it deserves to exist online.” “I will continue to upload it in places that legal team will not be able to find.

“I’m not concerned with any legal repercussions because I do not plan on making a single penny from it,” Kinnes told Variety in an interview prior to receiving the cease and desist. (Those links have since been removed from Kinnes’ site, which now includes a disclaimer that the film is “currently unavailable to the public.”) But thanks to external links on Kinnes’ website directing to sites such as Google Drive and Dropbox, people were still able to watch and download the unofficial concert film for free. Kinnes’ 2023 film, which is the most definitive and high-quality recording available of the much-discussed Coachella performance, was quickly taken off YouTube due to a report filed by third-party copyright holder Rico Management. Kinnes made a similar project in 2017 by compiling found footage of Ocean’s show at the now-defunct FYF Fest, inspired by Beastie Boys’ experimental 2006 concert doc “Awesome I Fuckin’ Shot That!,” which merged video captured by members of its audience. Kinnes, a 26-year-old lead editor at Simone Films, decided to make his concert film after YouTube announced just hours before Ocean went onstage that the set would not be included as part of the official Coachella live stream, disappointing millions of fans at home hoping to watch the hermetic R&B star’s first live performance in six years. writes, “Anything short of full compliance with this demand will lead to the initiation of immediate formal legal action.” AEG also owns Coachella promoter Goldenvoice. In the letter, obtained by Variety, the Coachella parent corp.

Amp It Up by Frank Slootman