VirtualMusic.tvvideo

VideoSong Schooled The Video Star

Ryan Van Etten — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 17:56:16 +0000

In a VideoSong

1. What you see is what you hear (no lip-syncing for instruments or voice).

2. If you hear it, at some point you see it (no hidden sounds).

VideoSong is medium defined by Jack Conte with those two rules. In addition to his solo production, Jack is the orchestration half of the indie music duo Pomplamoose, who chose video as their social medium of choice largely due to the magnetic attraction emitted by YouTube. They popularized their music on YouTube with videosong—a format that seemed functional and easy—and inspired viewers.

Last Friday, Kevin Breuner at CD Baby interviewed Jack Conte in DIY Musician Podcast #096. I recommend giving the full podcast a listen. Jack explained why he and Nataly chose to cover the songs that they did, and how it helped them become sustainable on mp3 downloads alone—covers and originals. Here are two excerpts from the podcast—the first is about the attraction to videosongs, and the second is about why Pomplamoose resisted record deals from all four major labels.

DIY Musician Podcast #096 19:30

Kevin Breuner: Why do you think the videosong, just in your opinion, has caught on so well on YouTube? It seems like it’s becoming this, like, genre of its own just on YouTube with lots people really interested in checking out other people’s videosongs and creating them themselves.

Jack Conte: Right. I think there’s a couple reasons for that. One, it’s an educational experience. There’s a lot of DIY musicians out there who want to learn about production, who want to learn recording techniques, and are interested in what other people are using. Stuff is changing so fast right now and it’s tough to keep up on what’s going on. I watch other people’s videosongs for cool recording ideas. You know, ‘oh wow that’s an awesome sound.’ If you’re listening to a record in your car, you know hear a sound you go, ‘man what a great sound—gee wish I knew how to make that.’ You know? And when you’re watching it on YouTube it’s, ‘wow what a great sound, I’m going to try that because I know exactly how to do it’, and then you can put your own little twist on it. So that’s the first reason—it’s a good educational experience. It’s fun to be able to pick out things that you enjoy and be able to replicate them yourself.

The second reason is because everybody loves music and people have loved music for tens of thousands of years. And now there’s this shortform content [that] is starting to catch on, you know—shortform videos. It’s a very popular medium because shortform videos are entertaining and it’s quick little snackable moments in your day that pick you up and make you feel good. [...] It’s something that’s really interesting to watch that’s almost mathematical to make. That’s what I enjoy about it. I’m a really functional person and as creative as the video end is, you know, it follows a strict set of guidelines, and it almost makes itself. Once you make the audio, the video can only be a certain thing—it can only be a certain way. I think that’s an easy thing to make, since there’s that set of clear rules and guidelines, it’s a relatively small initial investment, and you can create shortform content on a regular basis to engage a fanbase. That regular engagement of a fanbase is super important because it’s not just about one giant music video—it’s about a 10 or 15 little videos over the year that keep your fans interested in what you’re doing and interested in your music.

DIY Musician Podcast #096 33:00

Kevin Breuner: I would assume that people have approached you offering you deals—traditional record deals. What’s kept you from going down that path?

Jack Conte: When “Single Ladies” came out, we were approached by all four majors. [...] The labels don’t get it. And I know it’s so like stereotypically indie hipster to say, ‘they just don’t get it.” It angers me. we’re making a living. We’re doing fine. We get to keep our album sales. What exactly is it that you think labels do for you? I have a bunch of friends in the music industry, in the music world, and some of them play with signed acts and some of them are in signed acts. The labels give them, I would say, half the publicity that Pomplamoose can give itself.

By releasing a new video we get millions of hits and a ton of records sales, and usually when we release a big video we get some licensing deals that come in—some of them come to fruition and some of them don’t. That kind of publicity that’s available at your fingertips these days—for free! You don’t even have to pay to upload something onto YouTube. YouTube just lets you put video on their server and expose it to anyone you want. It’s an amazing time we live in. The backdoor around those gatekeepers is such an unervalued thing for musicians. So the reason we didn’t sign to the labels—first and foremost—is because we don’t need them. Anything they can do for us they subcontract out to smaller organizations that we could pay for ourselves and then not have to recoup those expenses and hand over all of our finances to the label.

For instance, if we want a PR team, which the label would just say, ‘hey we have access to PR teams, we have access to distribution, we have access to publication, blah blah blah…’ Well guess what? So do everybody. [...] It’s just such a backwards, antiquated, poorly designed system that is meant to f*** musicians. It’s so bad and none of them even know it. None of them even get it. They don’t get the power of online video. They still call it ‘viral video’ which just like kills me.

[...] You can’t make a viral video. A viral video is something that happens that has to do with the current culture, and the current norms, and the current blogs, and whatever it is that’s happening in society at that current time that causes it to expand like a virus. It’s not something that you can decide. And the labels don’t get that. And they don’t get how video can be used on a regular basis for musicians. I mean labels are still spending 10, 15, 20 thousand dollars on a music video, and if they were to spend that money across 10 videos that were more sincere, and less smoke-and-mirrory, and less flashy, then I think they would actually do way better.

In an Anti-VideoSong

1. What you see is not at all what you hear (all lip-syncing for instruments or voice).

2. If you hear it, you probably won’t see it (all hidden sounds).

Most of Jack’s videos are videosongs, but he has dabbled with the opposite too—a humorous spin-off, a fake videosong, dubbed the Anti-VideoSong: Anti VideoSong – Jack Conte

Music Blogs: Don’t Kick This Addiction

Ryan Van Etten — Sat, 03 Jul 2010 01:00:16 +0000

Alkaline Trio singer/guitarist Matt Skiba waves from behind the microphone at the Regency Ballroom in San Francisco on Feb. 18, 2010. Five days later they released their 7th full-length album, This Addiction.
Photo: whenwedie/Flickr | view set
alkalinetrio.com | thisaddiction.org | blood-pact.com
Epitaph | iTunes | Amazon | Insound

Last month I wrote about five tactics for finding music blogs. Let’s revisit this addiction with three more massive resources and a hit of punk rock.

1. MOG Music Network is a network of music blogs integrated with the social music community MOG. An estimated 800+ external music blogs are now part of MMN—including ours—so MOG it up.

2. CaptainCrawl is an extensive up-to-date music blog aggregator similar to elbo.ws. I even like CaptainCrawl better because of its cleaner design. Thanks to MTT for dealing me this one.

3. Image search engines that crawl the blogosphere can help too. Search for artist images on Google, Bing, NachoFoto, and Picsearch. You’ll be able to discover the blogs that posted them.

From MOG to Twitter to Facebook to Tumblr to last.fm, fans have the voice. Don’t kick this writing addiction. Alkaline Trio hasn’t. That is, they haven’t kicked their addiction to writing pure punk rock. Feeling the need to get back to their indie roots, they started their own label, Heart & Skull, and partnered with Epitaph Records, to release their seventh full-length album, This Addiction.

Alkaline Trio is on the Warped Tour this summer. The more I listen to This Addiction the more I get hooked. What sets the Trio apart for me has always been their clever writing and live energy. If you’ve seen them live, then you know the real thing. IMO this is their best album since their BYO Split Series in 2004. You hear the honest, raw vibe they were going for, but it’s larger, more fluid, and upbeat now—it’s most reminiscent of those champion BYO Split Series or “War Brain” days. The new song “Piss and Vinegar” is a worthy sequel to “Cooking Wine”, which, like “Radio” or “My Friend Peter”, is a gateway drug into the heart of the Trio’s sound. It’s rad that Alkaline Trio produced This Addiction with Chicago engineer Matt Allison, who produced their early albums/EP’s. His mixing is straight up.

Collaborative Consumption…P2P Cars…Access.

Ryan Van Etten — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 04:10:14 +0000

Big ideas from down under: Rachel Botsman points out four drivers that are causing a fundamental global shift away from 20th century hyper-consumption (ownership) towards 21st century collaborative consumption (access). Sharing is “second nature” to digital natives—and it’s not just about files.

Collaborative Consumption describes the rapid explosion in traditional sharing, bartering, lending, trading, renting, gifting, and swapping redefined through technology and peer communities. (collaborativeconsumption.com)

Short on time? Here’s the ultra-hip 2-min version:

NYC Event: New Music Seminar

Ryan Van Etten — Sat, 26 Jun 2010 03:58:23 +0000

I’ll be representing VirtualMusic.tv at this year’s New Music Seminar in New York—a music business geared TED-like event. It’ll be my first time at NMS—I’m stoked to hear ideas and meet people. There’s a lineup of keynote speakers during the day, and performances at night. I’ll recap with an editorial. If you’re going—I’d love to meet ya’. Tip: promo code nmsny10 might still work for 2-for-1.

details: newmusicseminar.com
date: July 19–21, 2010
city: New York
venue: Webster Hall

Flashback to Madonna at NMS in 1984.

Update: Read post-event coverage here.

TC Electronic PolyTune iPhone App

Ryan Van Etten — Fri, 04 Jun 2010 16:01:40 +0000

Tune up, in sixth gear, for 10 bucks. Modeled after the popular pedal, the TC Electronic PolyTune app has now cruised into the App Store.

Two days ago TC Electronic released the Porsche of music tuning apps—the PolyTune—in sixth gear with a promotional free price tag for the first two days. They’ve now curbed the promotion but considering the killer feedback we’ve seen so far, it will likely race into the top paid music apps list.

Hip Hop Bloggers “If I Ruled the Blogosphere”

Ryan Van Etten — Wed, 26 May 2010 15:44:45 +0000

If they’re stealing from you, then you’re on the right track.

“You’ve just got to be open and free, because that’s the way people want to get content on the web”, says Dallas Penn. “Don’t be afraid of someone stealing your work so much, just have more work to give, and, if people are stealing it, you know what you’re onto something. You’re moving in the right direction.” continued Penn, who runs the vlog internetscelebrities.com. Frank Talk summarized it in poetic terms, “If they’re stealing from you, [then] you’re on the right track.”

Everything can be adapted into digital content—think YouTube or think Flickr. Take hip hop producer Oddisee, who describes his internet-centralized strategy as being circular, wearing many hats, and promoting himself with content: “Everything I do is circulatory…You can’t just rap, you can’t just make beats, you can’t just do one thing anymore. It’s just impossible.” Oddisee uses free content as a means of promoting paid content. He distributes his music via oddisee.bandcamp.com.

If I Ruled the Blogosphere was a panel discussion hosted last month by the Future of Music Coalition and Words Beats & Life. The talk covers many sides of producing/curating music-related content on the web. It’s a bit long—in two parts below—and includes Q&A in Part 2. But when it came up in my Reader feed (via Digipendent) I put it on play while I was working and listened to it all. Anyone involved in blogging, music, or using the internet—pretty much everyone—should find insight from it.

The price of music on the web is heading towards zero. Artists need to use the web to centralize their fan base and reach out to them. But for that to work, fans need to connect with the individual as much—or more than—the music itself. “If people invest in you as an individual before they invest in you as an artist…you know…I mean’s there’s a lot of talented rappers out there…there’s a lot of talented poets…you know…painters…illustrators, but if nobody can connect with that person’s individual story, then they’re just another person doing it.” says blogger FWMJ of Rappers I Know.

As far as avoiding blog shutdowns, Meka Udoh from 2dopeboyz.com encouraged embedding players from other sites rather than posting mp3′s on your own server. I gave similar advice in February when several blogs were shutdown because of the DMCA. Especially in the case of Bandcamp embeds, the data goes back to the artist. It’s a win-win-win—it helps the blogger, the readers, and the artist.

Gaming For A Better Real World

Ryan Van Etten — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 20:30:59 +0000

Game designer/researcher Jane McGonigal asserts that collaborative videogames are the key to solving our real-world problems. In the video below, she outlines why she considers World of Warcraft to be an “ideal collaborative problem-solving environment.” She discusses four key factors in gaming culture that give gamers an edge at problem-solving—urgent optimism, social fabric, blissful productivity, and epic meaning. An underlying theme throughout the talk is motivation, and McGonigal’s research squares off soundly with Daniel Pink’s theories on motivation—namely the importance of mastery and purpose—and also with Will Wright, who in 2006 wrote that “the gamers’ mindset—the fact that they are learning in a totally new way—means they’ll treat the world as a place for creation, not consumption.”

Excerpts From Jane McGonigal’s TED Talk
3/17/10 Gaming can make a better world

3:30: This is a problem that a lot of gamers have: We feel that we are not as good in reality as we are in games. And I don’t mean just good as in successful—although that’s part of it. We do achieve more in game worlds. But I also mean good as in motivated to do something that matters—inspired to collaborate and cooperate. When we’re in game worlds, I believe that many of us become the best version of ourselves, the most likely to help at a moment’s notice, the most likely to stick with a problem as long as in takes, to get up after failure, and try again.

McGonigal’s recent videogame design: Urgent Evoke—a crash course in changing the world.
Image: flickr/avantgame

Mixing Music and Sculpture

Ryan Van Etten — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 18:47:50 +0000

Ever feel like recycling those old CD’s or vinyl records into physical artwork? Take a look at these videos. The first shows the making of a sculpture from thrift store records in Los Angeles and the second shows some impressive mini-guitar artwork.

“A 33 inch tall vinyl sculpture constructed from thrift store records left over after making the Secondhand Sureshots Deluxe Super Sets. This sculpture was created for Dublab.com/secondhand/ Sureshots DVD release party & screening April 3, 2010 at the Downtown Independent Theater in Los Angeles.” (vimeo.com/10647040)

“Constructed from actual scale replicas, [Chappell's] guitar sculptures incorporate the physical and spiritual ideals that exist in his full-size art pieces. Each sculpture is crafted upon a steel rod frame to a hand-stained oak and maple pedestal.” (vimeo.com/10536211)

Climate Change Search Trends Visualized

Ryan Van Etten — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 03:03:55 +0000

In the short video below, filmmaker Dan Nienhuis uses data from Google Insights to analyze how, when, where, and why people think about four common eco-buzzwords—climate change, global warming, carbon footprint, and go green.

“A short documentary using information visualization to look at climate change. Rather than examining the science behind the issue, this piece looks at the popularity of Google searches for environmental keywords.” (vimeo.com/10508779)

What’s your take on Dan’s analysis? Next, in the graphic below, there’s some bonus information about some fairly recent climate anomalies that may have sparked some extra eco-interest, right? Although not in the graphic, the 2010 earthquakes must also be raising climate awareness, wouldn’t you think?

Infographic: Climate Anomalies 2007–2009

Full-size Infographic: flickr/gdsdigital

Imagination In The Virtual Education World: VWBPE 2010

Ryan Van Etten — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 17:25:32 +0000

This year’s Virtual Worlds Best Practices in Education conference aims to focus on imagination. Themed Imagination Around the World, this free virtual event takes place in Second Life on March 12–13. Second Life is growing as a venue for education at multiple grade levels. According to Nielsen, Second Life is the second most popular PC game worldwide (behind World of Warcraft). Imagination is sometimes neglected in traditional education settings, but is actually IMO the most important area to develop. Without imagination and creativity what are we? The VWBPE 2010 committee wants to highlight the importance of stimulating the imagination as a means of “sharing knowledge.” Education in virtual worlds relies heavily on collaboration and communication, but would you say that it is more collaborative than traditional education? I guess the answer is, “it depends.”

VWBPE 2009 talk on the U.S. Department of Education’s Handheld Augmented Reality Project (HARP). The project is geared towards engaging middle school students in collaborative learning games. In the video O’Shea differentiates augmented reality as a merging between physical reality and virtual reality.

In general I think that smart people will find ways to educate themselves. I’d like to see learning environments that give students the opportunity to specialize at younger ages. In other words I think it would be beneficial to gear high-school and even some middle-school students towards the subject areas where they excel rather than forcing everyone study every subject (even when they’re just not built for it). Each student might not be as well-rounded but as whole each generation still would be. There’d be more positive engagement and less dropouts. Virtual worlds may be a great resource for accomplishing this because of their ability to open the imagination and at the same time foster communication among like minds across the globe. Thoughts? Anyone planning on attending the conference?

Die Antwoord Ups The Music Game To The Ninja Level

Ryan Van Etten — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 21:59:58 +0000

These people are awesome: South African rap-ravers Die Antwoord (translation: The Answer) have dazzled the interwebs in a matter of weeks with their latest music video Enter The Ninja. A literal butterfly effect is happening—Die Antwoord is rippling the music world.

Many people don’t know how to react—a sign of great art—and many are obsessed. Albeit R-rated, Enter The Ninja is uplifting and upbeat. It has all the key components to music video greatness—originality, emotion, energy, dance moves, realism, symbolism, shock value, humor, balance, and masterful execution. It’s a musical blend of deft artistic expression formed by four creative friends having fun. On DieAntwoord.com you can listen to their 16-track beat-heavy album $O$. The site is in-your-face artistic euro-style and includes 20 fun facts about the Zef-rap crew, which consists of dynamic rapper frontman Ninja (Waddy Jones), sexy profane blonde singer Yo-Landi Vi$$er, and PC-beatmaker DJ Hi-Tek. Also appearing in the crew is Leon Botha—a Cape Town artist with the hyper-aging disease progeria. Each member is a unique persona fueled by their own inner Zef—a term best described by Ninja in the video interview below the break. Ninja says, “If you love it, we love you too, and if you hate it, it’s because you’re not on my level.” Pitchfork posted an email interview.

Ninja has sculpted, both with his flesh and his music, the ultimate South African. He is everything in the country, “fucked into one person.” That he is willing to go so far to embody this idea is thrillingly, gloriously radical. Cape Flats Calling | The Walrus

Die Antwoord is radical but true-to-life, and personally I can’t get enough of their Zef flow. Enter The Ninja is my favorite track but the whole album is sublimely groundbreaking. I love the lyrics, the vision, the creativity, and the fierce (but IMO positive) energy. Expect Die Antwoord to tour in Europe/USA this year, and if the video below is any indication, it looks like the show will be next level.

New Paramore Hulu Channel Reaches Brand New Eyes

Ryan Van Etten — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 19:00:34 +0000

Paramore + Hulu = Awesomeness.
A hi-fi artist channel that rocks.
hulu.com/paramore

Paramore outperforms both on and off the stage.

Why do I like Paramore? They are kick-ass live performers. But I’ve never seen them in person. Hulu delivered them to me last year when I saw them perform Ignorance on Conan O’Brien. I knew of them before via Andrew Kendall’s photos, but seeing them on Conan is what engaged me to find out more. I searched “paramore live” on YouTube. I was impressed with their energetic live show and fan-driven website, which I wrote about highlighting their fan community and presence in the social web. Paramore fans go the distance because Paramore does the same for them.

Live music trumps studio recordings.

The best music is live music. Right now I think live video footage is the next best thing—whether it’s live-as-in-streaming or recorded live events. I don’t have a cable television. But if I’m looking for home entertainment I go straight to Hulu. As far as TV goes, if it’s not on Hulu, then I don’t watch it. In today’s music industry putting out video content is a must, especially live video content. In fact I think that’s where über-commercial Vevo has it wrong—lacking rawness and intimacy. I’d rather watch bands on Hulu. The concert videos already on Paramore’s channel come from their live album The Final Riot! In my opinion, Paramore’s best videos are the live ones, and on top of the stellar performances the videos have stellar production. But even bands without access to top production can still produce video content by being creative, sourcing their fans to record or produce live videos, and distributing them with free tools like YouTube and Ustream.

Paramore tells a story.

In addition to music videos, Paramore’s Hulu channel contains a 30-min documentary on the making of their latest album Brand New Eyes. They attract fans not only because of their music, but also because they have a story to tell that their fans can relate too. Their story is about growing up—as a band, but also as people, and their fans can relate to that. The album’s theme is seeing people through brand new eyes—you have to accept the past to move on. Paramore has an intimate connection with the Internet Generation. The new channel enriches their existing fan community and exposes them to a wider audience—brand new eyes—on Hulu.

Timeline: Bands on Hulu.

In November 2009 Hulu partnered with EMI and launched a Norah Jones channel. The next month Hulu partnered with Warner Music Group launching the Muse channel in December, the Jason Mraz channel in January, and the Paramore channel yesterday. Hulu’s music content is hi-fidelity and free. Now what more can you ask for besides, well, more Hulu artist channels and frequent content, right?