Ok, I know user-generated content and Web 2.0 are sooo 2002, but it still warms my heart when i see it happen. Like, YAY! Go creative energy! and so forth.
I love radiohead. First, it was about the music, but now I've fallen in love with their politics. While every wannabe rockstar is plying myspace for the elusive record deal, radiohead decided to use the same cyber empowerment to downsize, and get a bit closer to the little people. By releasing In Rainbows as a digital download, they let the community decide what their music was worth. In the same stroke, they also managed to send a big "fuck you" to EMI.
But they didn't stop there. Bent on seeing how far creative potential can go with this new-fangled technology, radiohead is now organizing an online contest to make their first music video off In Rainbows- created by the fans, for the fans (musical FUBU!) They've invited fans to choose any song, submit storyboards, and vote on the projects. The ones with the highest votes get $1000 to make a video, which get passed onto the band, who choose the eventual winner.
So. No more sweaty record exec telling the band which song to release as their first single- the fans choose it. And they do it through this collective democracy. So far, a lot of the storyboards are gravitating towards the same few songs- Weird Fishes Arpeggio, Videotape, All I Need.... that's everything you need to know, right there, by virtue of the collective choice. The other massively cool byproduct of the contest is that you don't just get one music video- you get hundreds. The premise of the contest lets hundreds of people from all around the world borrow a little fame from radiohead to burn some creative energy. That is fucking cool.
So's this (there's something about flappy ears atop a flying humpback whale that instills trust):
And here's a T-dot plug:
I'll end with a tangent:
YouTube, once the amateur online version of Jackass, is now my supplimentary news source. I go to BBC, I read about Tibet or Burma. Then I go to YouTube and find the footage.
I will always remember the VCR, carphones, laserdisc kareoke, dial-up, playing with the phone cord during marathon calls. But god how i love my intermanet.
I love radiohead. First, it was about the music, but now I've fallen in love with their politics. While every wannabe rockstar is plying myspace for the elusive record deal, radiohead decided to use the same cyber empowerment to downsize, and get a bit closer to the little people. By releasing In Rainbows as a digital download, they let the community decide what their music was worth. In the same stroke, they also managed to send a big "fuck you" to EMI.
But they didn't stop there. Bent on seeing how far creative potential can go with this new-fangled technology, radiohead is now organizing an online contest to make their first music video off In Rainbows- created by the fans, for the fans (musical FUBU!) They've invited fans to choose any song, submit storyboards, and vote on the projects. The ones with the highest votes get $1000 to make a video, which get passed onto the band, who choose the eventual winner.
So. No more sweaty record exec telling the band which song to release as their first single- the fans choose it. And they do it through this collective democracy. So far, a lot of the storyboards are gravitating towards the same few songs- Weird Fishes Arpeggio, Videotape, All I Need.... that's everything you need to know, right there, by virtue of the collective choice. The other massively cool byproduct of the contest is that you don't just get one music video- you get hundreds. The premise of the contest lets hundreds of people from all around the world borrow a little fame from radiohead to burn some creative energy. That is fucking cool.
So's this (there's something about flappy ears atop a flying humpback whale that instills trust):
And here's a T-dot plug:
I'll end with a tangent:
YouTube, once the amateur online version of Jackass, is now my supplimentary news source. I go to BBC, I read about Tibet or Burma. Then I go to YouTube and find the footage.
I will always remember the VCR, carphones, laserdisc kareoke, dial-up, playing with the phone cord during marathon calls. But god how i love my intermanet.
