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Category Archives: Media (Films & Music)

Radiohead and the Labels – A New Vision?

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Posted on October 29, 2007 – 11:58

Yep, I’ll admit I’m a bit late on this one. But that’s only because I thought everything that could possibly be said about this latest (marketing?) stunt had already be said. It appears I was wrong.

In his “What is Radiohead’s album worth?” article for the BBC, Ian Youngs makes some interesting points arguing against Radiohead’s latest stunt (and completely trips over his own logic during his album review):

I may have been a bit foolish thinking that [£9.82] was a fair price in the first place because Radiohead, of course, don’t have all the record company people to pay, nor do they have to press up and send out any CDs.

They don’t have a record company at all after their deal with EMI ran out – so will take much more of my money than they would have done under a traditional deal.

The record company signed the band in the first place, developed them and brought them to our attention.

So maybe I should have paid £4.91 to Radiohead and sent a cheque for the other half to EMI for its part in Radiohead’s career, and to pay for finding the next Radiohead.

It’s an interesting point, but not one I’m particularly falling for. With the big labels not really finding great talent anymore and instead manufacturing an array of bands or run-of-the-mill acoustic-singer-songwriters straight from a modeling agency’s brochure, I’m more inclined to buy the album and then send EMI a rather sternly worded letter. However, I digress.

With this move it’s the acceleration of the inevitable demise of small record shops that I’m worried about – maybe I should send £0.50 to each of my local record shops that won’t be stocking the latest Radiohead album? (I feel relatively strongly about this as I live in the city containing the world’s oldest record shop.)

However, we can’t hold back technological advancement and especially the evolution of music and its distribution and so, in conclusion, I would like to state for all present that I’m all for this method of music dissemination. Bravo Radiohead!

“What about the independent labels?” I hear you scream. Let’s not go there… that’s a whole ‘nother blog post!

Something for the Weekend

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Posted on May 18, 2007 – 11:27

A few links to keep you online this weekend:

  • http://www.thenation.com/special/bigten.html

    We all (should) know that the majority of the world’s media holdings are owned by a handful of media conglomerates, but this is a novel way to display the information.

    Albeit slightly outdated (1991), Mark Crispin Miller’s article and the corresponding visual shows vividly how in the early 1990s America’s media was majority owned by just ten corporations. However, in the 16 years since its publication not much has changed – but now 90% of America’s media is owned by not ten, but just six of these corporations that have grown tremendously: Disney, Viacom, AOL Time Warner, News Corp., Bertelsmann AG and General Electric.

    Wonder why this matters? Read about the Monsanto bovine growth hormone controversy to get an idea.

Enjoy!

Scientology, John Sweeney, and the Panorama Documentary

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Posted on May 15, 2007 – 15:55

Reporters shouldn’t lose their temper when dealing with even the most obnoxious and impossible people. This is a simple unwritten rule of journalism because by displaying your anger you can make others feel that you’re too emotionally involved in a story to report it in an unbiased manner.

For those that watched John Sweeney’s Panorama exposé on the ‘Church’ of Scientology yesterday, you’ll know what I’m referring to.

Sweeney is an exemplary investigative journalist and has previously won awards for his reports on human rights abuses in Chechnya, Kosovo and Algeria, and for his investigations into miscarriages of justice against mothers of cot death victims. His most recent subject? Scientology.

In his flagship role as a BBC Panorama journalist, he wanted to see if Scientology’s past as a (and I quote) “brainwashing cult” has persisted since the claims emerged in the mid-80s. The resulting documentary (along with a whole host of other recent Panorama documentaries) is available online for you to view at the main Panorama website. It’s fascinating – and scary – viewing, and I wholly recommend it to anyone looking to fill a 30 minute slot in their schedule with some interesting viewing.

Watching the ‘Church’ of Scientology employ investigators and henchmen to follow Sweeney and his team around is, in Sweeney’s own words, “creepy”, and seeing the Scientologists also constantly film the crew in order to create a ‘counter-documentary’ on the Panorama team – forcing them to discuss private matters in bathrooms – is also pretty, well, wierd! This documentary has now been released by the ‘Church’ of Scientology on its own exposé website and (somewhere) on YouTube, as well as DVD copies being sent to 100,000 MPs and ‘notable individuals’ around the UK.

The reason for both documentaries getting so much media exposure isn’t because either are particularly well produced investigative documentaries, but because of an outburst by John Sweeney aimed towards a high-level Scientologist. Recorded by the Scientologist’s own camera crew, the eruption was released on YouTube to attain sympathy for the ‘Church’ and as a sort of advertisement for their counter-documentary. Disjointed from the BBC documentary this outburst is actually quite amusing and achieves its goal of turning the viewer ever so slightly away from the BBC documentary. Put it in context however, and a different story emerges…

After lengthy discussions and a week full of intimidation, Sweeney was eventually allowed access to interview Scientology members at an exhibit the ‘Church’ had set up in LA… ‘Psychiatry: Industry of Death’. Taken to the (appropriately named) ‘Mind Control’ section of the exhibit, Sweeney was confronted with the Scientologist notion that psychiatrists were to blame for the rise of Nazi Germany and, in particular, the genocide of the Holocaust, and as such there needs to be a “global obliteration” of psychiatrists (or pseudo-scientists, as Scientologists like to call them). It was here, when questioned about a previous interview with a ‘dissenter’, that Sweeney ‘lost it’.

Thinking back on the incident, Sweeney has apologised to all involved and has said “I can’t wait to get back to Zimbabwe: hiding in the backs of cars from Robert Mugabe’s goons is a damn sight easier.”

Panorama – Main Page
YouTube: Scientology’s video of the outburst
Scientology website regarding the documentary (BBCPanorama-Exposed.com)
BBC follow-up on the documentary, with further stories about Scientology
The Guardian’s commentary on the controversy

YouTube Video Awards – Achieve Your Dreams With Kiwi!

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Posted on March 27, 2007 – 13:22

The winners of the first YouTube Video Awards have been published today with much fanfare. The announcement has already garnered quite a bit of mainstream media attention with the BBC covering the story both online and on TV. As for the videos themselves – they’re well worth a look.

Of the seven winners, selected in differing categories, three really stand out as superb creations. These are, in no particular order:

Most Creative: Here It Goes Again by OKGo

OK Go are a Chicago based rock band who dress themselves in so-called ‘geek rock’ outfits consisting of waistcoats, sweater vests, ties, shirts and smart trousers. Here It Goes Again is a music video uploaded by the band for the single of the same name and earlier this year it also one the Grammy for the Best Short-Form Music Video. The video, shot in one sequence, shows the band performing a superbly choreographed dance on a set of eight treadmills. The song’s good too!

Most Inspirational: Free Hugs Campaign by PeaceOnEarth123

It sounds simple, and it is – a man walks around public spaces with a big banner proclaiming ‘Free Hugs’. Strangers come up to the man, and they hug… on camera. That’s essentially the premise of the entire video, but it really is quite inspiring.

Most Adorable: Kiwi! by Madyeti47

The Kiwi is a flightless bird native to New Zealand and in this short animation one is brought to life in an attempt to realise its dream – to fly. For me, Kiwi! is the Most Adorable, Most Inspirational and Most Creative video all in one, but could only win in one category. If I had to choose an overall winner, this would be it.

(Spoiler Warning) The animation starts with a Kiwi nailing trees horizontally to a large cliff face. At first it’s confusing, but before long all is revealed when the Kiwi adorns itself in flying gear and jumps off the cliff. With the trees horizontal, and the Kiwi falling to the ground at a rapid rate towards certain death, it appears as if it is flying for the first time. The Kiwi realises that it has now achieved its goal of flight against all odds, and just before its death the tear of joy makes you realise that fulfilling its dream was worth the struggle. No matter how difficult the struggle was, or how impossible it may have seemed, it was, in the end, possible for the Kiwi to fly and be truly happy for the first time.

The other winners are (with my favourites first):

As for the Kiwi; I think we can all learn something from that small, flightless bird.

Not Your Usual Paris Metro Journey (Concert Sauvage Dans Le Metro)

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Posted on March 17, 2007 – 09:48

You’re in Paris. You join the metro at the uninspiring but shop-laden La Défense on your way to the Louvre six stops later. You’re in the mood to slowly descend the stairs underneath that famous glass pyramid and make your way through the museum to admire the Mona Lisa and Venus de Milo. You’re also hoping to stop at Charles de Gualle Étoile, the second stop on the journey, to visit the Arc de Triomphe and soak in the upmarket atmosphere of the Champs- Élysées.

You reach Port Maillot, the first stop on the line, quite quickly and a lot of people join the train. You shuffle around a bit for some space and make your way to the door ready to leave at the next stop. Just then you hear someone behind you break into song. You listen for a minute and realise that he’s singing Phil Collins’ ‘In the Air Tonight’ and it actually sounds pretty good. You turn around, and just as you do so, six more people turn this solo into an amazingly harmonious rendition complete with some beatboxed percussion.

Charles de Gualle Étoile comes and goes – you’ll come back later. This is Naturally 7. This is amazing, and it’s all being filmed.

I’m not a huge beatboxing fan. Yeah, it’s impressive and it can, occasionally, sound pretty good, but this video is amazing. A few years ago I saw Rahzel perform in Clwb Ifor Bach in Cardiff – a club more commonly referred to as ‘The Welsh Club’ – and was blown away. I wasn’t sure what to expect, going to see a beatboxer perform live at a club. Sounded pretty lame for £10 ($20) if I’m being honest. How wrong was I. Rahzel is amazing and was the first beatboxer to combine vocal percussion (beats) with singing simultaneously! I was blow away.

With a helping hand from Boing Boing however, I’ve watched a lot of videos in the last few weeks of beatboxers in action… and I now think it’s awesome.

Naturally 7′s ‘In the Air Tonight’ on the Paris metro is the best I’ve seen so far and is actually better than the studio version. Then there was the beatbox contestant on a French TV talent show who wooed the judges when he performed a mix of songs including Kraftwerk’s ‘Trans-Europe Express’.

Want more? Well here’s a favourite a house-mate pointed me towards… BeardyMan (the UK beatboxing champon) showing us how to cook-up a beatboxing storm in the kitchen and also telling us about climate change (or not). And one final one, courtesy of Ben… a flute and beatbox rendition of the Inspector Gadget theme. Bravo.

And yes, this post was just an excuse for me to point you towards some YouTube videos.