Punkcast

Punkcast.com was an online video site that covered the NYC underground music scene. The site, though not active, remains with an archive of videos from 1997 to 2011. Newer videos are now on the Punkcast YouTube channel.

Punkcast's founder Joly MacFie was born in England and during the punk scene in the late 70s and early 80s sold badges and pins through his company Better Badges, before in 1983 selling the business to his staff and moving to New York.

Punkcast was started in September 1997 to cover the visit to NYC of punk band One Way System, in order to demonstrate the internet's broadcast potential to the band's manager John Bentham who had run Jettisoundz, a major creator/distributor of punk video in the UK. In the early days the site covered old-school punk via several cameramen, but in 2001 MacFie started himself shooting the local indie scene. In September 2005 Punkcast launched a video podcast and later a YouTube channel.

The content is mainly complete songs from live performances in the city's clubs and other locations. but the site occasionally covers other local community events. In 2003, Punkcast charged a few dollars per video to each band they filmed. They also sell DVDs on their website and accept donations. Punkcast often follows a DIY policy of filming the footage first, without permission, and also posting it without permission, but will generally take down material if asked. Founder Joly MacFie argues that this serves an important archival purpose.

In July 2009 the Punkcast YouTube channel was briefly suspended after a DMCA claim by Richard Hell over a segment of him talking about a new record. Hell recanted when he was made aware of the ramifications of his actions, and withdrew the claim, and the segment was deleted. MacFie said "I appreciate the irony of the DIY site punkcast being taken down by arguably the originator of punk style using entirely establishment means." Hell explained to MacFie, "I just wish you would ask me before you post clips of me... if there's anything I can do to support your reinstatement at YouTube, I'd be happy to do it".

MacFie added:

While there might be some validity to your idea that all punkcast style DIY public video should be subject to pre-approval from the subjects it's not practical and, I would suggest, a top-down concept that was one of the shibboleths that punk destroyed back in the day. The ability of the music business to control the public agenda was destroyed as new technology permitted the production of fanzines, badges, mixtapes, etc. Eventually a hybrid compromise was reached which has still yet to be encoded. Savvy artists have come to understand that what's coming up at them from the users is as valid and useful as what's being dumped down. If artists actually were required to approve the 'up' material that very approval would invalidate it's dodgy essence.

...
Wikipedia