Remember Press Play, the Diddy album from two and a half years ago that was stuffed with cameos and a pretty good Brandy song that sounded like it was rescued from 2002? Maybe not (it didn’t break the million-sold mark, and plans for a We Invented The Remix Part II centered on songs from the album never materialized), but that’s OK, because the plans for Diddy’s next album—called Last Train To Paris, and due out in September—are even bigger. Like, cinematic in scope! And with a plot about… commuting? MORE »
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upcoming releases
Diddy To Try The Whole “Releasing Records” Thing One More Time
YouTube Hits The “Mute” Button
If you press play on the above video and are confused by its lack of audio, don’t be confused: The clip has had its audio—which was originally a mish-mash of versions of “Walk” by Pantera, Avenged Sevenfold, and Disturbed—stripped by the video-sharing site YouTube. The muted clip is now captioned by the below advisory on the site: MORE »
ABC’s Promo Department Crafts The Most Heavy-Handed “Lost” Tribute Video Ever
Last night, Phase One of ABC’s attempt to remind… MORE »
The Soundtrack Channel Brings John Williams, Johnny Lee, And That Smashmouth Guy Together
Those of you who still lament the lack of music-video-related programming on your cable system, and think that whoever you’re paying for TV programming will listen to your complaints about this fact, might want to take a shot in the dark and ask the customer-service department to add The Soundtrack Channel to its ranks. As I discovered last night, it’s a music-video channel that has but one requirement for a song to get airtime: Inclusion on a movie soundtrack. No, really. That’s it. In the time I’ve spent watching it last night and this morning, I’ve seen videos by the likes of Gavin Rossdale (from XXX), Johnny Lee (from Urban Cowboy), John Williams (duh, of course!), and the very young MC Elijah. And perhaps predictably, I’ve also caught Smashmouth’s “All Star”–the video is a tie-in with Mystery Men, although really, this channel could probably have an entire hour of scenes set to that song. (And after programming it, a videotape could be shipped off to Guantanamo Bay for “interrogation assistance” purposes.) MORE »
objects of affection
Idolator’s Tribute-Video Treasury Can’t Quit You
At their best, tribute videos–like trailers–are about emotional manipulation. Through a combination of music and carefully selected clips, they twist your senses until you’re almost convinced that you actually care about ER characters or even evil sharks. Given that, it’s no surprise that there’s a bounty of Brokeback Mountain videos that employ aggressive emotional exploitation tactics. Two of these tributes stand above the rest. In a bout of tragic genius someone–with a fondness for anime–came so very close to perfection, but ultimately failed… big time. Join me after the jump for tent sex, Eiffel 65, “Landslide,” and, unfortunately, Billy Corgan. MORE »
corporate rock still sells
They Tried To Make Me Listen To Rehab, I Said, “No, No, No”
Many people find it hard to tell the great from the godawful when it comes to 21st-century mainstream rock. To help figure out which is which, here’s “Corporate Rock Still Sells,” where Al “GovernmentNames” Shipley examines what’s good, bad, and ugly in the world of rock and roll. This time around, he looks at an eight-years-in-the-making hit by an act that was once seen as a rap-rock also-ran, as well as a few other developments on the rock radio charts. MORE »
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Five Videos That Are More Bloated Than A Belly After A Beer-And-Fries Binge
Today’s completely dubious claim about why an arm of the music industry might be hurting comes from Wired’s Scott Thill, who wrote in response to R.E.M.’s new, ad-agency-created video for “Man-Sized Wreath”: “Music videos aren’t dead, they’re just dying, and they’re dying because of bloated videos like ‘Everybody Hurts.’ When fans can use their favorite songs to make their amateur films without fear of losing their comparatively miniscule cookie jars, then the new age of promotional video will be here at last.” Say what? MORE »
objects of affection
Idolator’s Tribute Video Treasury Returns To Steal From The Rich And Give To The Poor
Once again, Idolator intern Kate Richardson scours the video sites, looking for the best fan-made music videos. In this installment, she tries to see if Bryan Adams or Richard Ashcroft is a more appropriate foil for Disney’s animated adapation of the classic tale Robin Hood: MORE »
objects of affection
Animoto Edits Your Crappy “Lost” Tribute Videos So You Don’t Have To
“Welcome to the end of slideshows,” declares the subtitle on Animoto’s press kit. The site, which launched last August and just got some funding from Amazon, allows users to upload photos, choose audio from Animoto’s library or their own computer, throw these elements into a slick virtual crock pot, and come up with an automatically produced “music video” that’s more like a fancy slide show. The concept is very similar to what we know all too well as tribute videos–except there’s even less skill and artistry required, as there is no actual editing involved at all. As the resident expert in both tribute videos and stupid Internet shit, I took it upon myself to test out the service and see what it could do with some of the odds and ends in my Photobucket account and an English New Wave classic. MORE »
the biz
Major Labels Launch Yet Another Anti-YouTube Offensive
The music-video site PluggedIn launched today with about 10,000 videos from Universal Music Group, Sony BMG, and EMI. Branded with the tagline “Filter the noise. Hear the music,” PluggedIn is being seen by the major labels as an opportunity to once again dictate how their content should be experienced and used by the masses, bringing things back to the way they were before those pesky indie labels and YouTube remixers ruined their expense accounts and fat-cat lifestyles. Its picture quality is really quite nice, but it doesn’t allow embedding of its videos, and as mentioned, it only has about 10,000 clips in its label-generated database right now–although it’s licensed the All Music Guide’s content in an effort to make its content well look a lot deeper than it actually is. And not only that, it kicks those pesky people who have opinions about music that may be different than yours–and the ability to spell–to the curb, too! MORE »
