September 2014

The Lost Cost of Rick Rolling?

This factoid came across the transom today:

I don't know how factual that "fact" is (ed: research is old media), but I do know the general math and, yes, $12 seems quite low for ad revenue for 100 million views.

Except, what if 99,999,999 of those views were Rick Roll memes that obnoxious users created via their own rogue uploads? Then it seems like a pretty good chunk of change. And the only ones to blame for Rick's lack of royalties are ones who ran up that view count all in the name of a bad joke. 

Or maybe Rick Astley has a really crappy deal. Or learned the hard way that it's good to own your copyrights and write your own songs. Or maybe the math here is just totally wrong —  there's a 2010 Register article that quotes the $12 performance royalty in regards to its then 39 million plays, which means updating is in order. Or, maybe the answer is really complex and murky and really, wouldn't you rather just dance to a sweet '80s jam?

Seacats "Liar" (Sebastien Deramat, Mike Davis, dir.)

Things get meta in this homespun clip from Seacats. An old VW bug, a projected journey, a camera capturing it all onto a TV, and then another camera capturing what is the actual video. And, the good sense to know that 1:45 is all you need to make a point in the Internet age  — well, almost, since there's a 16-bit non sequiter coda that's random as the Internet can be.

Cloud Seeding "Mirage" (Ivana Helsinki, dir.)

Filmmaker Paola Suhonen and Alexa Wilding have collaborated for over six years on music films and live performances. Her music has been used many times for fashion films and for her own fashion and art line Ivana Helsinki. The Cloud Seeding "Mirage" music video features model Kai RIntamaa dressed in red, white, and blue playing a guitar filmed on 16mm reversal film against the beautiful desert back drop of Joshua Tree. The video includes brief cameo appearances by Alexa Wilding and Elvis. 

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