iPad apps replacing albums? Snoop, Bjork, Gaga...

Rather different from the usual album review! (on Biophilia)

IN BRIEF:
With major artists Bjork, Jay-Z, Lady Gaga and Snoop Lion amongst those releasing iPad apps, does this mark the end of the album - or, at the time of writing at least, are these apps simply another promo tool seeking to flog merchandise ($100 pseudo spliff anyone? comparable to freemium games?) as well as tracks?

Ideas of this nature are far from new - I remember picking up several CD-Rom albums ('multimedia-a 2007 article posed the question: '“Interactive” Album Art: The CD-ROMs Of The Digital-Music Age?'
enhanced') back in the 90s ... and pretty much never bothering with the added content. Indeed,

WMG tried adding interactive booklets to about 75 albums sold on iTunes this spring, providing extra photos, lyrics and links to multimedia content much like extras on a DVD. But the booklets require Flash technology, which Apple later disabled in Quicktime because of a security flaw for which it has yet to release a patch.

So, are we moving beyond the concept of a traditional album, with its dozen or so tracks sequenced and packaged with cover art? Actually, hasn't that already become passe with most iTunes (etc) users picking up specific tracks not albums, and Spotify users creating track-based not album-based playlists?

How YouTube fan vids make artists money: Harlem Shake eg

IN BRIEF:

The stats in this article seemed modest by March

The bottom line? The dominant narrative around digitisation and the music industry is of piracy and the disruption to the traditional record industry model centred on purchases of physical media. How fair the payment splits are can be debated, but music video's viral potential does offer a chance to make money - even if its fans (re)making their own versions of an original video. Their work can deliver significant cash to the artists behind the original.

Its a simple but fundamental point if you want to understand how the music business works today: while debates may rage around streaming services such as Spotify and just how much/little remuneration they provide to artists, there is serious money to be made from distribution through YouTube - and that includes fan-made vids/UGC (user-generated content). The lexicon of YT would label many of these 'responses'.

Scroll to the bottom for info on the new YouTube-based record label, All Def Music, a collaboration between Russell Simmons, Universal Music Group and others. 

This blog's description makes reference to the ongoing status of music video, and particularly to the scope of viral hits to raise serious revenues. Here's a little detail on how a much-mimicked video, in a very postmodern fashion (one that would gain a knowing smile from Andy Warhol, whose 'Factory' churned out 'his' work actually produced by others!), makes money directly from the multiple 'tributes', 'responses', remakes, term them what you will:

Those who enroll in the content ID service give YouTube a reference file of their content. They then choose between getting videos that are found to use that content blocked from the site, or taking a slice of the advertising revenue those rip-off videos generate and tracking the original's success.

USING STILLS TO RESCUE FOOTAGE

I'll embed a classic 80s (1985) video by A-Ha below (Take On Me) which might help illustrate this point...

If you find yourself with footage thats shaky or simply lack sufficient footage to work with, you could get extra usage out of the same material by applying strong FX, or generating stills - and maybe working with these in Photoshop, as with the Warhol effect.

Watch the vid below, and see if this generates any fresh ideas...

PHOTOSHOP: Andy Warhol effect

I recommend you consider flicking through the large Photoshop - How To... book just purchased and look for FX you can use, following the step-by-step instructions...

I've suggested Andy Warhol-style ideas to several of you, and here's some online how-to's (with thanks to Tom, who found one of these):

A YouTube tutorial:

'Andy-Warhol-Up Your Photographs' at www.melissaevans.com
This www.alt-web-design.com tutorial:

Step 1

Open Photoshop; then open any portrait image to create Andy Warhol effect.

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Step 2

Duplicate layer. On duplicated layer, select background and delete it.

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Step 3

Go to Image -> Adjustments -> Threshold (Threshold Level 135).

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Step 4

Fill background with colour of your choice.

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Step 5

Copy and paste each part of the head into a new layer and change the colors.