Deadlines/Brief

Music videos are so 80s/90s, right? They belong with the era when MTV screened wall-to-wall vids instead of 'reality' TV? Try telling that to the millions who bought Gangnam Style; were they really simply loving the music? 1.6bn (and still climbing) have viewed the video on YT, not to mention the many re-makes (school eg, eg2), viral ads + celeb link-ups (even political protest in Seoul) - and it doesn't matter how legit it is, this nightmare for daydream Beliebers is making a lot of money, even from the parodies + dislikes. All this for a simple dance track that wouldn't have sounded out of place in 1990 ... but had a fun vid. This meme itself was soon displaced by the Harlem Shake. Music vids even cause diseases it seems!
This blog explores every aspect of this most postmodern of media formats, including other print-based promo tools used by the industry, its fast-changing nature, + how fans/audiences create/interact. Posts are primarily written with Media students/educators in mind. Please acknowledge the blog author if using any resources from this blog - Mr Dave Burrowes

Tuesday, 17 March 2020

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/

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