Monday Links: Fox Enlists Indie Band to Help Promote 'Live Free or Die Hard' ... Sequels Sag ... Hollywood and the iPhone ... More

- First Fox asked the band Guyz Nite to pull a music video from YouTube, since it used clips from the first three 'Die Hard' movies without permission. Now, they've paid the band to repost the video as a promo for the next movie in the series, 'Live Free or Die Hard.' (Video appears below.)

This is an example of how studios will increasingly rely on fans to promote their movies to niche audiences online. The big issue is, things will get chaotic as studios seek to pull some videos that they don't like, while promoting those they do. You'll hear that conflict in the quote from the Fox spokesman below.

Maria Aspan writes:

“It’s a testament to the way that fan-based culture works,” Jim Marsh, 28, who uses the stage name Guy Manley as the band’s lead singer, said in a telephone interview on Saturday. “Creating a viral video is something that’s incredibly difficult. It’s really the people that are the most passionate who succeed.”

On Friday night, Mr. Marsh and the band’s four other members attended the Radio City Music Hall premiere of the new “Die Hard” film, at the invitation of Fox. (The Guyz Nite members rented a limousine and showed up in costume as their band characters.) Yesterday, they were scheduled to tape an interview for possible inclusion with their video on the “Live Free or Die Hard” DVD.

“We aggressively protect our intellectual property, but look for, welcome and support creative voices on the Internet, and in this case we really liked what they had done and we supported it,” Chris Petrikin, a spokesman for Fox, said in an e-mail message. “We felt it would be a win-win if we approached the band and worked with them to make the video official and above board so that we could help to promote it.”

- Speaking of sequels, the Wall Street Journal says that the 'Third Time's No Charm for Summer Blockbusters.'

- From the NY Times: 'Hollywood Seeks Ways to Fit its Content into the Realm of the iPhone.' Laura Holson's lead:

The iPhone doesn’t go on sale until Friday, but Steven P. Jobs, the chief executive of Apple, is already changing the perception of the mobile phone, from a quick way to call a friend to a hip, media-friendly device. In doing so, he has forced mobile phone and Hollywood executives to react by chasing hungrily after the newest thing or face being left behind.

- Finally, here's an MP3 podcast I recorded recently for the guys at FreshDV, mostly dealing with alternative distribution options for film- and video-makers.