The upcoming official documentary about the formation of Led Zeppelin is likely to use rare footage of The Yardbirds performing in 1967 which surfaced online.

A previously unseen video of The Yardbirds performing with Jimmy Page was posted online in 2016 but has since been removed because of a copyright claim issued by a British business named Paradise Entertainment Ltd.

The footage likely showed The Yardbirds performing at the Village Theater in New York on August 25, 1967, rather than the March 30, 1968 show at the Anderson Theater in New York which it was described as originating from.

The video showed around three minutes of colour concert footage of the band performing on stage.

The company which requested that the footage is removed is a division of Paradise Pictures, the British film company which is producing the official documentary about Led Zeppelin’s formation which was announced last year.

Companies House filings in the UK show that one of the directors of Paradise Entertainment is Allison McGourty, a writer and producer of the documentary.

More than 75% of the shares in Paradise Entertainment are owned by Paradise Pictures, the film business which LedZepNews has previously reported is producing the documentary.

McGourty owns more than 75% of the shares of Paradise Pictures, meaning she controls both businesses. The two companies also share the same business address.

So what’s the significance of a YouTube video being taken down by this film production company? It shows that the Yardbirds footage from 1967 is likely going to feature in the upcoming documentary as an example of Page’s career before Led Zeppelin.

It may also mean that other footage used in the documentary vanishes from sites like YouTube as Led Zeppelin makes claims of ownership over footage.

McGourty told The Los Angeles Times earlier this year that her company had struggled to obtain some of the footage needed for the documentary, which is currently in post-production.

“It’s been difficult to get all the footage they need. The pandemic shuttered European archive houses for months, and now they must rush before the houses shutter again,” the newspaper reported.

The potential use of the 1967 Yardbirds footage is one of the only details that has emerged about the contents of the upcoming film.

LedZepNews previously reported that the documentary may be titled “Apollo” and had a runtime of two hours and 27 minutes when submitted to a film festival.

Online posts suggest the film is a mixture of black and white and colour footage, with new footage such as interviews with the surviving members of Led Zeppelin shot in 4K on Arri Alexa cameras.

Online rumours have also suggested that the film production company has attempted to obtain high quality footage of Page’s April 23, 1970 solo appearance on The Julie Felix Show.