Blog

The Videostatic Interview: Cameron Duddy

As is the case with many directors, Cameron Duddy can tell a good story. And since it's a long story — but a good one, I promise — I'll skip a big introduction. Let's just say you've undoubtedly seen some of his videos for Bruno Mars, AWOLNATION, Grouplove and beyond... And despite the occasional tall tale — another common director's trait — there's also some unvarnished truth. For instance, ask him why his one-take music video for "The Lazy Song" has overr a half BILLION YouTube views, his answer is, "I have no fucking clue." (Although, on second thought, maybe he's just protecting his trade secrets, like any good director would)

Read on for our conversation, which takes lots of twists and turns along the way...

TMZ Posts a Bit of Lady Gaga x R. Kelly's "Do What U Want"

The previously shelved "Do What U Want" music video — directed by Terry "Wrecking Ball" Richardson and starring R. Kelly — has been making the media rounds. Page Six gets a vicious dig in via an unnamed source, "With the theme, ‘I’m going to do whatever I want with your body’? It was literally an ad for rape."

Yikes. TMZ has a snippet if you care to see... There's a lot of writhing.

Will You Pay To Play? YouTube Rumored To Launch Subscription Video Tier

Perhaps you've seen the mass hysteria about the end of YouTube with the impending blockade of all indie label content that's not signed-up for YouTube's apparently ready-to-roll music subscription service. Or maybe you haven't. And, either way, maybe you shouldn't worry too much. (Maybe you should go outside, actually. It's summer. There's things to do besides sitting at a computer.)

Forbes has a nice breakdown which I'll use to provide this simple guide:

  • YouTube does plan to launch an advertising-free subscription tier build around music. They've signed deals with 95% of  the labels that are on the service currently.
  • The big change in the deal is that YouTube will payout revenue at a flat rate, as opposed to the advertising shares which varied based on all sorts of things beyond the scope of anything simple.
  • Some independent labels haven't signed deals in protest of the terms.
  • As a result, YouTube has CONFIRMED that videos from those non-particpating labels will indeed be removed from the site, unless they're via a VEVO channel. The big names to throw around in this conversation are Adele and Arctic Monkeys and Radiohead, because you love them.

Confusing? You bet. Go read the Forbes the article. But, I'm confused for a different reason, which is why are they making this change NOW?

If this recent report is correct about how online video advertising is one of the fastest growing segment among all ad formats — second only to mobile, and well ahead of TV, radio, search and traditional display ads — and is expected to double in value over the next two years, then why would YouTube be seeking to break that model?

And why would they do it at a point where other players are catching up in terms of features and portability —  where some of their key content providers like Maker.TV are launching their own players and sites so they don't need to split revenue and control with YouTube?

Is it possible that YouTube has done the homework and it's telling them that most people use the music side of their service as just an on-demand radio? And that video advertising growth for music videos is a bubble that will burst as soon as technology can tell us whether eyeballs are actually on that video, or if it's just playing the hits behind a bunch of other windows?

And if the video landscape does splinter with various competing (yet equal) players, can we finally stop obsessing over YouTube play counts?

Some of the immediate answers will come when the service launches — reportedly soon — but some of these other effects will come on the longtail. Should be an interesting ride...

Beats x Apple: It's Official

And the deal is done... Apple acquires Beats for around $3 billion and adds Jimmy Iovine and Dr Dre to their executive deck.

Here's one quote that jumps out from the NY Times recap of a chat session with Iovine and Apple's Eddy Cue:

Indeed, Mr. Iovine appears to recognize that bluster is part of his business magic. He said that Beats spent “zero dollars” on marketing during its first three years, relying solely on media attention and product placements to build its sales to $500 million.

“We knew how to harness the media,” he said. Mr. Jobs would have been proud.

Now, we all know any good promo man knows the truth should never get in the way of a great story — and Jimmy is a great promo man, in addition to being a legendary records man — so I don't think we should extrapolate that Beats got a totally free ride with video placements over those years.

But, like I said earlier about this deal: Beats is a perfect example of using music video as the primary means to define and market a product.

And, c eck this video so you know Jimmy Iovine has been cool since at least 1978... 

Commander Chris Hadfield and The Copyright Oddities in Space

Space may be infinite, but the Internet is not — especially in regards to copyright.

Astronaut Chris Hadfield's "Space Oddity" performance on the International Space Station is officially offline at YouTube due to the expiration of a one-year licensing deal with songwriter David Bowie and his publishers.

Does this mean that our byzantine copyright laws extend to space? If we calculate time in lightyears isn't the copyright on this song long passed? Do lightyears exist? What are magnets?

Anyway. If you missed it, you missed it... unless you decide to do a Google search during which I'm quite sure you'll find lots of places to still watch it. 

Beats x Apple: How To Make $3.2 Billion in Music Video

Now that Jimmy Iovine and Dr. Dre are apparently on the verge of selling Beats to Apple for $3.2 billion, it's worth revisiting this post from over a year ago, but mostly I want to commend them on finding the most successful music video model since MTV.

The Beats monolith was built one video at a time, first with headphones and now with the music app...  In fact, it often seemed like most UMG rap/pop videos over the past few years were part of a stealth campaign to sell the Beats By Dre brand.

Gizmodo has a fantastic article about how the cable/audio manufacter Monster came together with Beats By Dre to make lots of headphones and lots of money, only to then get left in the dust to an awful business deal. 

Worth reading, and re-posting here, for a few key reasons:

  • Music Videos Work! — Beats By Dre have been the most ubiquitous product placement in music videos since their 2008 launch. And guess what? All that exposure worked. Beats became the luxury accessory that was somewhat affordable (sorry, Maybach) and actually served a purpose besides looking cool (sorry, Louis Vuitton). And now: Apple is apparently plunking down $3.2 billion.
  • Sometimes Music Beats Tech — How many stories have there been about the short-sighted music industry, losing to Apple or some other tech company? This time, Interscope head Jimmy Iovine reportedly cut a deal that let them make a ton of money while owning all the patents and trademarks. Monster took all the risk, had to do all the manufacturing and distribution and then got left in the dust. 

Hopefilly somebody took my advice to sign Gizmodo's Sam Biddle to a book deal, because everyone loves a $3.2 billion happy ending...

Avril Lavigne "Hello Kitty" is a Hot 100 Hit Thanks to Rubbernecking

Keyboard Cat has not yet cracked the Billboard Top 100, but another Kitty has snuck in thanks the inclusion of video views in the chart tabulation.

The largely reviled Avril Lavigne "Hello Kitty" bows at #75 on the chart — the second highest charting single from her latest album — thanks almost entirely to YouTube views of a video that went viral for its unique mix of culural insensitivity and general oddness.

Billboard breaks it down:

"Kitty," which is not an official U.S. single, claws its way onto the Hot 100 with 92 percent of its chart points from streaming. Factoring into its rank: a weekly U.S. count of 2.9 million streams (up from 41,000 the prior frame), with 73 percent of that activity attributed to Vevo on YouTube views, according to Nielsen BDS.... The song also surges to 5,000 downloads sold in the tracking week ending Sunday, April 27, up from a negligible amount the week before, according to Nielsen SoundScan.

So a song with no radio play and that only sold 5,000 tracks over the charting week is a hit solely because of the video which gets passed around for all the wrong reasons.

The Billboard Hot 100 is meant to be the ultimate barometer for what's a hit — and even if this is an accurate depiction of the modern musical landscape, it's fairly depressing for anyone who thinks hit songs should actually be, you know, hits.

So, if you have a band and want a hit, here's some advice that I sincerely hope you don't follow: Make you video a sextape, or a beheading. All you need is a few million streams to have a hit.

note: Videostatic does not endorse or recommend making videos containing any illegal activities. Or, besmirching the fine reputation of Hello Kitty.

Sorry, kids - Yeezus: The Film Poster is Fake

The Internet moves so fast and we all want to be FIRST so bad that sometimes we neglect to pay attention to common sense. And most of what's on the purported Yeezus: The Film poster is totally made up.

Let's take it credit by credit...

A Donda Production in association with Milk Studios...

Donda is Kanye's company for all his creative endeavors, be it tour design or album packaging. The film will certainly be a Donda production. Milk Studios has a Kanye connection, having hosted events for him, but nothing in terms of video or other film production for 'Ye... 

Written by Bret Easton Ellis

Bret Easton Ellis is indeed confirmed to be working on a Kanye project. But it is not this film. 

Casting by Alfred Sergei

There is no such person.

Production Designer Ian Edward

Unless this is leisure sector finance specialist Ian Edward moonlighting as a production designer, this is also bullshit.

Film Editor More Random Names

We are dumb.

Music Composed by Kanye West

Hey, something that's true!

Director of Photography William Wolfgang

Another made-up name. I'd say whoever made the posted has a thing for classical music (Sergei, Wolfgang)...

Executive Producer Nathan John Brown Hitchcock

This is just a word salad. I do like the John Brown reference, however. Hitchcock is too easy.

Directed by Hype Williams

This is also true.

All that said... Yeezus: The Film will likely be great, even if it's just a concert film as previously tipped. And the fact that author Bret Easton Ellis is indeed cooking something up with Kanye is also very interesting.

Pharrell Williams "Happy" - The Tears, The No Music Version, and The Girl Walk Comparison

This week learned several about Pharrell Williams and the music video "Happy"..

1. The worldwide reaction to the video moves him so much that it actually makes him cry. Yes, Oprah is involved here, and she tends to make lots of people cry, but still... The music video and what happened with it moved him to tears.

2. "Happy" is very eerie when you watch it without the music. Check it out. 

3. Apparently, as Spin dug into today, the video bears a striking resemblence to Girl Walk // All Day — a 2011 longform video that accompanied Girl Talk's All Day album. See for yourself in this split-screen comparison posted under the winky/fun title "Pharrell Loves My Work" by Girl Walk // All Day star, Anne Marsen.

It says something about our post-modern times that a 24-hour music video can be decried as a rip off.... And it's a shame that we can take a very clear example of a video breaking a song — Pharrell points out in the Oprah interview that the song received zero airplay or interest before the video went live —  and find a reason to invalidate it.

That said, they do look similar in that two minute compilation taken from one video that's over 70 minutes long and another that's 1,440 minutes long.