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Music

We Spoke to the Bloke Behind THOSE Boiler Room Videos

The unveiling of a viral prankster.

Two days ago, I stumbled upon a YouTube channel with snippets of Boiler Room videos, which where perfectly timed with the cheesiest 90s records imaginable, from David Hasselhoff to Hanson. The whole thing went viral.

Yesterday, the videos were deleted from YouTube. I wasn't surprised, since YouTube doesn't take copyright infringements lightly. A small social media scandal was brewing up, so I decided to contact the producer Shap from Berlin, the guy behind those viral videos. While we were chatting, Shap received a pleasant surprise.

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THUMP: Hi Shap. When did you realize that your stupid idea of putting 90s "classics" over Boiler Room snippets would go viral?
Shap: When you guys called me an idiot…

How long does it take make those videos?
[The first one] took me literally just 5 minutes. But they're becoming more advanced, with syncs and sound and all the audience noise. It's next level shit.

Do you think some of the artists could be offended by your videos?
Absolutely not. I'm a musician myself, and I never even thought of that. The biggest fans of the 90s Boiler Room videos were DJs, and some of the artists I spoofed even shared the videos on their Facebook page.

What video are you particually proud of?
The one with Steve Bug. There's a dancer in the background who looks like Sheldon Cooper from Big Bang Theory, which is great, too. The original Steve Bug set is also my favourite Boiler Room set ever.

[daily_motion src='//www.dailymotion.com/embed/video/x2rsbt7' width='480' height='270']
Sven Väth dropping a BOMB at Boiler Room Berlin by 90sboilerroom

Yesterday, your videos were deleted from YouTube. Have you been contacted?
Yeah, afterwards. I got a standard email form YouTube that my videos violated copyright laws and had been deleted.

Did you think about copyright at all before you made the videos?
No. It was supposed to be a quick, funny, non-commercial project. I didn't think it would be a problem.

So you haven't had any contact from Boiler Room yet?
No.

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Have you asked someone for legal advice? Or is it a clean-cut case, since Boiler Room has the rights to the performances?
Well, it's not that clear. There's also the freedom of art and the freedom of speech. But as I have said before: it's a joke. I'm not interested in any legal dispute or anything. Wait a minute. I'm just getting an email from Boiler Room…

What does it say?
They're going to call me. I'll be back in a few minutes.

10 minutes later, we continue our conversation.

They explained that they regularly take down spoof videos to protect the artists because not all of them signed up to be turned into a viral spoof video. But they think the videos are very funny and we're going to work together to figure out a way of bringing them back bigger and better and with any ad revenue going to a charity.

So the problem is fixed?
It seems so, yeah. The YouTube channel should be online again soon.

I don't know what to say. Great!
Yeah, I'm pretty relieved myself.

So we can expect a lot more of these 90s Boiler Room videos?
Sure. They're gonna be big.