Netflix Sues TikTok Bridgeton Fans For Trying To Monetize From It

[RAMROD 96,171]

A musical based on the Netflix hit Bridgerton was cancelled earlier this week, after the streaming giant threatened legal action over copyright.

The Unofficial Bridgerton Musical, which started life as a series of viral TikTok videos, played to a sold-out audience in the US in July.

Barlow and Bear, the creators of the musical, had hoped to bring the show to London's Royal Albert Hall next month.

But it has been halted following a lawsuit from Netflix.

Bridgerton began life as a series of romance novels written by Julia Quinn, focusing on a widow and her eight offspring as they navigate high society in Regency England.

Production company Shondaland, founded by veteran US TV producer Shonda Rhimes, adapted the books for Netflix.

Two fans of the show, Abigail Barlow and Emily Bear, both in their early 20s, began making their own social media content based on the series, under the name Barlow and Bear. 

Their videos featured original songs, and invited users to add their own verses. Barlow would generally sing the lead vocals, while Bear would play the instruments and sing backing vocals. The songs were fun, playful and catchy and swiftly found an audience.

By January 2021, their star was firmly on the rise. 

Some of the songs became so popular, the pair began recording fully orchestrated versions, eventually releasing an album last September.

Their profile was growing rapidly, and Barlow and Bear spoke of their plans to turn their work into a full-blown musical in media interviews. Barlow and Bear were quickly reaching a new level of success. They won a Grammy in April, taking home the award for best musical theatre album.

Netflix initially did not stand in their way - essentially because it was, at this point, a light-hearted social media trend. It can be a bad PR move for big companies to clamp down on fairly harmless user-generated content, even if it does infringe on copyright. 

If anything, they were encouraging. "Netflix was very, very supportive," Barlow claimed in an interview last September.

However, as their success grew, so did the concerns of the show's producers. The fact that they had not authorised the musical became increasingly problematic for Netflix and Shondaland.

When Barlow and Bear attempted to monetise their success by staging their own musical in Washington DC and charging up to $149 (£123) per ticket, Netflix intervened.

The streamer filed a lawsuit in the US in July, accusing Barlow and Bear of "blatant infringement of intellectual property rights" through the musical, which directly quotes from the series and lifts other material from it.

"Netflix supports fan-generated content, but Barlow and Bear have taken this many steps further, seeking to create multiple revenue streams for themselves without formal permission to utilise the Bridgerton IP [intellectual property]," Netflix said in a statement last month.

"We've tried hard to work with Barlow and Bear, and they have refused to co-operate. The creators, cast, writers and crew have poured their hearts and souls into Bridgerton and we're taking action to protect their rights."

It added: "What started as a fun celebration by Barlow and Bear on social media has turned into the blatant taking of intellectual property solely for Barlow and Bear's financial benefit."

The lawsuit contains several interesting details. For example, Netflix alleges that it tried to offer Barlow and Bear a licence that would have allowed them to legally perform their shows.

"Barlow and Bear refused," the lawsuit states, alleging the creators "then doubled down on their infringement and resulting harm to Netflix".

But then, earlier this week, the Royal Albert Hall scrapped the planned 20 September performance of the musical

 

https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-62523256

 

The nerve of some people honestly

[badfaith 5,605]

As they should. It was stupid of them to think that this was a good idea in the first place like cmon now  

They should have separated the musical from the series once they had a good following or something, not having the name of the show they're copying in the literal name of the musical i- 

Starkid does a very good job at avoiding copyright by essentially having their musical as parodies of the source material. They also avoid using some of the names and instead use broader names like just Princess for Jasmine and Jinn for the Genie.

[weed 66,823]

I'm shook at their success omg they blew tf UP! they won a Grammy???? girl.. and they were already scheduled for THE Royal Albert Hall? wow

omg.. "The Unofficial Bridgerton Musical" and they won the Grammy.. they got really far w no permission 

[pachinko 9,459]

What Grammy did they win?

[Borisapillar 6,587]

16 minutes ago, pachinko said:

What Grammy did they win?

Best Plagiarism 

[RahrahWitch 6,901]

2 hours ago, RAMROD said:

We've tried hard to work with Barlow and Bear, and they have refused to co-operate.

Sounds like netflix was very lenient with them.

How you going to refuse to co-operate with the people your piggybacking off of, how stupid can you be? 

[NATAH 31,275]

well, it is Netflix's IP... sounds like they didn't even bother asking permission for a musical

they already won a grammy without Netflix getting in the way which is pretty generous

[Shipper 12,765]

Netflix has been supportive of them cause keeping fan content up and available means their show keeps on getting fans despite not doing anything. It keeps the hype up for the next season. 

But then, why would Barlow and Bear refuse the license? Netflix would have promoted their musical and generate more money and funds for their show in exchange of some loss of creative control. I mean, i imagine Netflix would want to dip their hands in that pie and it is not necessarily a bad thing since they are infringing on Netflix anyway. 

It's like a lady gaga cover artist won a grammy and refused to work with her directly and sing the same cover.