The Rise & Fall of the Unofficial Bridgerton Musical

0:00 what's gonna happen next at the end of 2020 a world deprived of touch and desperate for a means of escape dove into netflix's new show bridgeton a steamy regency era drama that dared to ask what if gossip girl and 50 shades of grey had a 19th century baby around the same time an aspiring pop star named abigail barlow was questioning if she'd chosen the wrong career path after watching the show barlow posted a tick tock asking a simple question okay but what if bridgeton was a musical what started as an unassuming one minute video transformed into a multi-million

0:45 dollar entity when the unofficial bridgerton musical propelled barlow and her musical partner emily bear to superstardom given how big the album became many questioned how they secured the rights to netflix's diamond of a show and the answer is they didn't following a live concert performance of the album barlow and bear were hit with a 25-page lawsuit from netflix suing them for copyright infringement but this lawsuit isn't going to be the focus of this video this is the story of how two girls went from being rejected by every major label to becoming award-winning composers

1:32 overnight and an investigation into what an artist is willing to risk in the hunt for validation [Music] but before we dive into this scandalous escapade my beloved listeners let us give a brief moment of huzzah for this video sponsor hello fresh as we enter the end of the summer season one lord has truly stood out as the quartz of the crowd the thing that's got everyone talking is his cooking somehow each week lord baddington reaches into

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3:05 abigail barlow's dream of becoming the world's next big pop star might not have been dead but it was definitely on life support it had been roughly a year since barlow had written any music thanks in large part to industry professionals not giving her the time of day and a toxic relationship that caused her to lose her songwriting passion but in many ways 2019 was a time of liberation for the artist invigorated with a bold new haircut and free of the abusive ex barlow decided that if she wasn't going to get noticed by others she was going to take matters into her own hands barlow was no stranger to performing in clubs and many a karaoke night but with the constant stream of beats and

3:52 melodies swirling around in her head the best performance space was on tick-tock instead of waiting to get booked or singing to a limited audience tick-tock meant that she had a stage available at arm's reach populated with millions of people literally 24 hours a day things really popped off when all about that bass singer meghan trainor heard barlow's song trust issues and invited her to collaborate at the studio just a slight problem that was in february of 2020 due to covid the recording session stopped and barlow was forced to dive back into tiktok

4:37 each new video offered a peek into the process of an aspiring songwriter experimenting with new sounds fighting self-doubt and above all else finding her voice from january to june barlow wrote and posted roughly 50 new songs and as a result her following grew in the middle of 2020 barlow started writing an original musical that seemed to be heavily influenced by the tom kitt show next to normal that's when she was introduced to emily bear at just 19 years old bear had already achieved what many of us could consider to be the ultimate dream by getting to sing mulan on the disney channel in 2016. i mean sure she also started

5:24 playing piano when she was two was on ellen when she was six and got taken under the wing of michael jackson's producer quincy jones when she was eight but really that's all small potatoes compared to this [Applause] your turn on paper barlow and bear seemed like total opposites and yet the two both loved musical theater and they were both sick and tired of having the doors repeatedly shut in their faces soon enough the two teamed up to work on barlow's musical and then the project just fizzled out both being independent producers the two

6:11 stayed busy bear attempted entering the pop world with her songs just leave and fomo while barlow shifted her attention towards a new song called heartbreak hotel it used to be that anytime an artist would release a new song they would basically be dead in the water if they didn't have a label to promote them but when barlow released heartbreak hotel her following had skyrocketed so much that it helped the song reach number 23 on the itunes pop charts the day it dropped the next day it broke the top 10 and hit 200 000 streams on spotify things finally seem to be happening but then as is often the case with online creators

6:57 the massive boom quickly led to an inevitable decline barlow's growth on tick-tock slowed down massively and she was still getting turned down by major record labels soon her parents who'd been supporting her financially the entire time she'd been in los angeles told her it was time to find a real job because they just couldn't help anymore once again barlow was stuck i'm so worried like i have this pit in my stomach that that was my big break and then that's all that is ever gonna be of my music and it terrifies me

7:43 in march of 2020 the broadway league announced that all 41 theaters in new york city were going to be shut down for four weeks and then four weeks soon turned into the theaters weren't gonna open again anytime soon but that august a one minute tick tock appeared called ode to remi this stupid little meme would open the creative floodgates for hundreds of performance starved artists it didn't take long until the premise for a full-blown musical based on the 2007 film ratatouille went global some users made costumes others wrote powerful new ballads and others even choreographed

8:29 full dance routines in january of 2021 a real broadway production company named seaview persuaded disney into letting them stage a limited virtual run of the tick tock created musical all of which would be used as a fundraiser for the actors fund now known as the entertainment community fund as abigail barlow watched the show her friend suggested if you're getting stuck maybe you should try something like this when people weren't pitching ratatouille songs they were most likely watching intense ceiling chess matches or questioning what happened to carol baskin's husband by january of 2021

9:15 netflix had more than 192 million subscribers and over 82 million of them were obsessed with a new show called bridgerton a romantic drama following two elite families trying to wet off their daughters in the 1800s wedding market the eldest daughter of the bridgeton family daphne has trouble finding a husband thanks to an overbearing brother scaring off all these potential suitors so she turns to simon the duke of hastings and a man who keeps getting hounded by these marriage hungry mothers to start this fake courtship but things get complicated when daphne and simon start to develop real feelings for each other

10:02 fandoms have always been an integral part of netflix's success and when it came to bridgerton fans were more active than ever before tiktok became a posh and super horny landscape of fan edits scene recreations and clips making fun of how complicated things were in the 1800s with its lush cinematography and a crucial social commentary told in a fairy book world bridgerton lit a creative spark in barlow the scene that really caught her attention involved a man lamenting the fact that he couldn't be with his true love who was another man in it he says you have no idea what it is like to be

10:47 in a room with someone you cannot live without and yet still feel as though you were oceans apart barlow took the line and restructured it to be sung by the lead bridgeton daphne in a song called daphne's song am i the one to blame when we're dancing [Music] away right after getting sent a copy of daphne's song emily bear grabbed her keyboard at 2am and started orchestrating a backing track for it and then they were off to the races within days people were creating play ball covers choreographing dances and staging their own scenes

11:33 in order to increase engagement and tap into the collaborative spirit that fueled ratatouille barlow released a version of burn for you that people could duet along with from bridgeton actors to the author of the original books it looked like everyone involved with the series loved the online musical however unlike ratatouille where the songs were all written by other users the songwriting for the unofficial bridgerton musical only came from barlow and bear their writing process didn't hesitate to tear down the wall between audience and creator sensing they had lightning in a bottle and wanting to strike while the iron was hot barlow and bear explored avenues to record a full-length album

12:19 all of a sudden the record labels were lining up to court them barlow and bear knew that they needed to release a record fast and wanted to be the owners of their own masters and publishing something that none of the record labels could guarantee and so they decided to do what they'd been doing for the last few years they'd produce the record on their own people were shocked that the pair somehow got permission from netflix to release an official album like this to which barlow responded we now have an entire team of people around us including agents and lawyers and because of that we were able to get netflix's blessing to release the concept album knowing full well that it is classified as a fan made creation and

13:07 when you think about it emily and i technically created a work of fan fiction based on the show and you guys are part of the big reason why they are okay with us releasing it because you love it so much and it's based on their tv show keep on asking us questions this wasn't exactly true sure barlow and bear's lawyers initially asked netflix for their blessing in march of 2021 but according to the company they didn't respond until june two months after the album was already recorded what's more barlow and bear's lawyers sought a blessing not just for the album but also for a live stage performance much like ratatouille barlow and bear wanted to stage a one-off concert as a

13:52 fundraiser for out-of-work theater workers this time in the united kingdom so now netflix was in a tricky spot the company wanted to avoid any possible competition with their own live bridgerton event the brichardton experience but they also didn't want to oppress the expression of two self-acclaimed bridgerton mega fans and so netflix made a deal telling barlow and bear's lawyers that the company wasn't going to approve or authorize the album or the charity performance but they also weren't going to stand in the way as august rolled around barlow and bear's representatives told netflix that

14:38 the uk charity performance wouldn't be happening but that the bridgeton album would be released on itunes the following month once the album was released barlow and bear intended to then shift their focus towards original work thus avoiding being branded the bridgerton girls a few weeks later barlow and bear performed a six-song bridgerton set at brooklyn's elsie fest a music festival founded by actor darren chris considering chris himself started out making parody musicals with team starkid it only made sense that he'd become friends with the duo on september 10th 2021 the album for the unofficial bridgerton musical officially dropped on itunes

15:24 and it soared to number one on the itunes pop charts in just an hour and a half the next week barlow and bear again teamed up with darren chris to perform a song from the musical live at the kennedy center honors from record sales to brand deals to selling an official song book the following months were an all-encompassing blur as the unofficial bridgerton musical empire continued to grow the momentum propelled barlow and bear into november where they performed their bridgerton songs again at another live concert in london and they even launched a full-blown campaign to get the bridgerton album nominated for a grammy following the news netflix once again reached out to

16:11 barlow and bear's representatives to remind them not to stage any live performances of the songs come awards night it seemed highly unlikely that barlow and bear would walk away with the trophy less than five percent of composers in america are female a fact that was certainly felt on this night add in the fact that their competition included steven schwartz and andrew lloyd webber and their fate seemed sealed then the envelope was opened the grammy goes to the unofficial bridgerton musical this is really for all of my fellow female producers composers engineers dream really big chase them and they might

16:56 just come true thank you [Applause] following the grammy win barlow and bear's representatives suddenly became cold and demanding on june 7th 2022 netflix was contacted with the news that barlow and bear were going to perform the unofficial bridgerton musical live in concert at the kennedy center in washington dc on july 26th taken aback netflix started questioning how the show was going to be marketed and if it was going to be held for charity according to netflix barlow and bear's representatives told them that they were no longer going to ask for permission and didn't want to discuss anything

17:42 further one week later on june 15th the kennedy center show was publicly announced produced by amp worldwide the show was slated to be a star-studded event barlow and bear then announced a second concert performance for later in the year at the royal albert hall in london according to netflix they repeatedly offered barlow and bear a license that would have allowed them to stage both of these shows it also would have allowed them to continue distributing the album and even opened the door for more shows down the road but barlow and bear declined on july 20th netflix took the first step

18:27 towards legal action by sending a formal demand letter objecting to the kennedy center and royal albert hall performances that makes it all the more confusing that barlow and bear later released a graphic with the bottom reading bridgerton is a trademark of netflix used with permission and when it came to light that the concert was charging up to 150 dollars for tickets with none of the proceeds going to charity the unofficial bridgerton musical effectively became competition to netflix's live bridgerton experience which had been running in dc since march on july 26th 2022

19:14 the fairy tale came true for barlow and bear and on july 29th so did the nightmare after the concert went on despite netflix's objections the company filed an official petition suing barlow and bear on four counts including copyright infringement well it's it's a petition or a complaint and the thing to remember with those is that it's written by the attorneys for one of the parties so it's it's going to be written in a light that's kind of most favorable to their interest now when it comes to legal stuff i am like the least qualified brendan to be talking about this so i reached out to another brendan who

19:59 happens to be a lawyer and a member of the witw patreon in the defendants in their answer what do you think they're most likely gonna rely on potentially uh the defendants in this case could seek their use of the material is in line with the fair use doctrine writing a parody musical is a precarious tightrope walk legally fair use is essentially a way to use copyrighted material without getting permission from the copyright holders for example a harry potter musical the show that skyrocketed darren chris to viral fame during his time with team starkid was able to be staged because a it was poking fun at the original harry potter characters in a new original story

20:45 and b starkid agreed not to charge admission so as not to hurt warner brothers bottom line in the case of ratatouille the producers were able to sidestep fair use completely by getting direct permission from disney for their one night only performance they were able to get permission because a it was agreed upon that they would only stream the musical for three days and b it was a charity event for the actors fund an organization that disney has a great working relationship with the unofficial bridgerton musical is in a complicated spot because technically it doesn't count as a parody it isn't making fun of or commenting on the source material

21:31 barlow and bear took almost all of the most memorable moments from the series including verbatim dialogue and by using the words bridgeton in their title it could potentially create consumer confusion and negatively affect netflix's bottom line three days after the suit was filed the reactions of the bridgerton netflix team once enthusiastic chilled with producer shonda rhimes stating 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 and bridgeton author julia quinn going

22:17 on to say i would hope that barlow and bear who share my position as independent creative professionals understand the need to protect other professionals intellectual property including the characters and stories i created nearly 20 years ago independent is really at the heart of this story when questioning why they didn't take the license from netflix it seems like it all boils down to that one word doing things on their own and relishing in the spoils that come from it after getting told to give up by people in the industry their parents and in barlow's case an abusive ex-boyfriend bridgerton gave barlow and bear the

23:02 validation they'd been seeking it got them views it got them awards it made them millionaires it became a drug instead of being a fun collaboration amongst fans like ratatouille bridgerton became a vehicle for barlow and bear's success even though they said over and over that they didn't want to be known as the bridgeton girls things instantly got better any time they posted about it so why would they stop that the story of the unofficial bridgerton musical raises a lot of big questions about fandoms social media and the actual case against barlow and bear themselves where is the line between celebrating someone's work and stealing it and what

23:50 are we willing to risk in our own hunt for validation as we wait to see how it plays out it might be helpful to see what goes into making an actual parody musical so click on this video to learn more about team star kids holy musical batman