TIK TOK New media old attitudes as glam censorship uncovered

TikTok 'tried to filter out videos from ugly, poor or disabled users'.

TikTok’s moderators were instructed to exclude videos from the For You feed if they failed on any one of a number of categories, the documents show. Users with an “abnormal body shape (not limited to: dwarf, acromegaly),” who are “chubby … obese or too thin” or who have “ugly facial looks or facial deformities” should be removed, one document says, since “if the character’s appearance is not good, the video will be much less attractive, not worthing [sic] to be recommended to new users.”

TWITCHING The post-viral gig has no live audience

CV-19 is chewing up and spitting out the blackened hulk of live music culture like a Texan cowpoke with a hunk of chewing tobacco.

There have been various responses to a scenario that robs musicians of their main means of making a living (including the flogging of merch at these gigs). Nothing to do with the industry, but I loved the Italian guy blasting out the Angel of Death riff to a bewildered elderly neighbour from his balcony.

Just a tad more pertinent than that stupendous Slayer simulacrum (a tricky triple sibilance one that) is the ingenious effort of a metal band with a sold out venue for their album launch - with all ticket holders now barred.

So, they set up 6 cameras with Ethernet ports hooking them directly to an editing board and broadcast live on gaming platform Twitch to 13,000 frustrated metalheads, a total 30,000 viewing the performance within a day, and a YouTube upload imminent.

So, CV-19 could be the grim big-R to much of the music industry, especially at the Indie and self-distributing end, but these guys exemplified the there's always a way attitude that is an outlook worth looking at.. 

My chapeau is doffed to these resilient gents.

https://www.popsci.com/story/technology/code-orange-metal-streaming-twitch/

FEMALE music video directors

A day late for Int Women's Day, but a few links if looking for inspirational names, and maybe just a nice way to come up with videos to research when exploring the format's conventions/media language. Some of these (Claudia Mate) are foremost pioneers of the new technologies that will surely be basic elements of the promo video format by the time you're your parents age...

Of course, be mindful that some of their work might be fairly explicit, especially within hiphop and 'R&B'. Female directors are no more of a 'type' in music video than they are in film.

My main touchstones for auteur brilliance in the field are male - Antoin Corbijn and Spike Jonze. I'm always happy to learn from student work...

https://www.vibe.com/2018/05/karena-evans-nine-other-female-music-video-directors-you-should-know-list

Some interesting videos mentioned in this article - Christina Aguilera's Fighter video is a classic example of the very contrasting readings likely from a feminist as opposed to post-feminist viewpoint. Blurred Lines is another one; ill-judged?

Sophie Muller directed for One Direction, but also Annie Lennox - who I've blogged on before. Lennox is an inspirational figure, attracting tabloid fury for her shaven headed look a decade before Sinead O'Connor would likewise refuse to play the expected glamour game. Hannah Lux-Davis is associated with even bigger names, but I note she's worked with Halsey, whose electropop visuals tend to be interesting!

Sanaa Hamri is known for her intense colour pops, something we've been discussing recently in GCSE!

The number one on the list above also appears in this list...

https://www.indiewire.com/gallery/new-female-filmmakers-2019/

Want more? Well, 51 is a good start...

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Female_music_video_directors

I'd like to think there will be a name from StG on there one of these days, whether an Evie, a Sophie or someone of a more recent/current vintage!

INDUSTRY 2019 big 3 65% share DIY 4% streaming 56%

Great article as usual from a fantastic source. I've put the 3 key figures in the post title, but there's more useful detail within.

Read that straight after a Blabbermouth article about the shameless audio corp that is modern Metallica, who continue to leave no stone unturned to grift a dollar. It's quite the zeitgeist moment: nearly 60 years since the Beatles' official fan club was sending out an Xmas flexidisc exclusive to fans, subscribers to a new Metallica club will get exclusive access to vinyl with unreleased recordings.

Lets just hope they're not from the studio sessions of their woeful last 30 years...

https://www.musicbusinessworldwide.com/the-global-recorded-music-business-generated-over-50m-a-day-last-year-and-more-than-2m-of-it-went-to-diy-artists/