Band Aid 30 "Do They Know It's Christmas?" (Andy Morahan, dir.)

It's likely the all-star line-up that draws you to this remake of "Do They Know It's Christmas," but director Andy Morahan knows not to waste those opening few seconds on mere celebrity; Instead, we get a very direct look at the devastating effects of ebola.

After that we fall into the same model as the original Band Aid video, but with a new generation of stars: Ed Sheeran, Sam Smith, Rita Ora, One Direction, Ellie Goulding and Chris Martin — plus, of course, Bono and Bob Geldof from the original Band Aid, as well.

BET's 106 & PARK Goes Digital-Only; Ends 14 Year TV Run

And then the Internet came calling for 106 & Park...

BET announces today that 106 & Park will end its 14 year cable run as a daily music video countdown and culture show on December 19, 2014. It'll continue as an online program at BET.com, and as a name for BET's New Years Eve Show and live event experiences at the BET Awards and BET Experience.

Stephen Hill, BET's President of Music Programming and Specials, released a statement that includes: 

It’s been a great 14-year run as America’s top music/variety show on cable. And now that very valuable brand is going to take its talents to the digital realm. The interactive brand you helped build, 106 & Park, is alive and well…and it’s moving to the space in which our audience NOW interacts with music the most: online. It’ll be very exciting to connect with the millions of people that are already engaged with 106 & Park and other BET digital and social media entities and bring content that will further evolve the 106 & Park brand — and enhance the overall BET Networks brand. As we transition to the digital space, we look to continue 106 & Park’s role as both a leader of and a mirror to youth culture. We’ll have more information to share about how that is to roll out very soon.

And 106 & Park will still have specials on BET. What’s a New Year’s Eve without 106 & Party? 106 & Park Presents: 106 & Party will be on-air to take our viewers into the beginning of the second half of this decade in a big way. And when it’s time for the BET Awards to come around, you can be sure that 106 & Park Presents: Live, Red and Ready will be ushering you into the show and that 106 & Park will be an integral part of the BET Experience.

I’m not trying to minimize it; this is a very big change. We thank all the people who have worked on the show over the years; the talented hosts, the hard-working staff, production crews and all the incredible guests we’ve had. Most of all, we’d like to humbly thank the “livest audience,” both in studio and at home, who fueled this landmark TV show from the very beginning. Meet you in the digital domain.

106 & Park will have its final daily on-air show on BET on December 19.

Onward and upward.

MTV Award Dates Announced for 2015

MTV has plotted out their 2015 Award Season with announced dates for all their major events across MTV, MTV2 and LOGO...

MTV:

  • "MTV Movie Awards" – Premieres Live on Sunday, April 12, 2015
  • "MTV Video Music Awards" – Premieres Live on Sunday, August 30, 2015

MTV2:

  • "MTV2 Fan Fest Featuring the MTV2 Fandom Awards" – Tapes July 9, 2015 during Comic-con International: San Diego and airs Sunday, July 12, 2015

mtvU:

30 + 2 Reasons Why Joseph Kahn is Your Most Important Video Director

Buzzfeed has 30 Reasons why Joseph Kahn is the most important video director ever.

Here's two more:

Go check it at Buzzfeed. Or, just watch his new Taylor Swift video again and again and again...

Les Sins "Why" (Matt Renoir, dir.)

The question "Why?" should never come up in regards to music videos, which thrive on the kind of plot holes and randomness that drive pedantic Christopher Nolan fans batty. I prefer the question of "Why not?" Let's take this new Les Sins video: Why is it so trippy? Why are they bouncing back and forth between reality and polygon land? Who knows. It looks cool, and shouldn't that be enough?

David Guetta f/ Sam Martin "Dangerous" (Jonas Akerlund, dir.)

Something tells me Monsieur Guetta is gunning to get back to the top of the superstar DJ list (look out, Calvin Harris). His previous clip had Ray Liotta. In this one, DG takes to the track — this was shot at Circuito de Jerez in Andalucia, Spain — for an "homage" to Formula One racing (and perhaps Rush, too) with James Purefoy as his rival.

YouTube Announces Premium Music Key Service

Get ready for YouTube Music Key, a premium service from the leading video service that promises ad free music, offline play and background listening.

Sounds simple, yet complicated, so let's think it through...

Ad Free Music - Techcrunch beat me to asking the right question, which is, "How does YouTube define music?" In this case, it's still not clearly defined. It'll include official label and artist uploads, but it can and will also include virals, parodies and all that. Defining what is and isn't included in the definition of "music" seems to be something YouTube will study during the Beta launch of the service, but it could also be a big step in a) Transitioning the web from an ad-supported model to a subscription model, and b) recognizing that modern music must always have a visual component.

It also means that it will be harder to market music through Google advertising, especially if the Music Key premium tier takes off and the biggest music consumers now live in that ad free zone. But that's not really our concern, since I'd pay almost anything to not have to watch Geico and Six Pack Ab commercials before every video.

Offline Play - Kind of like what all the streaming audio programs already offer on mobile. Want to save some music to listen to while you're out of WiFi or cellular range? Save some music — or videos — to enjoy during that time.

Background Listening - Perhaps the dirty secret of all video views is how many of them are truly views, and how many are simply people using YouTube as an on-demand radio that's kept buried in a background window? Background listening makes that a moot point, especially on mobile where you'll be able to queue up some music and move onto doing whatever else you do on your devices.

Is that worth a monthly fee? It's $7.99 for Beta testers after a six month free demo period, and $9.99 for late adaptors.

It's a no-brainer for me, and for most heavy YouTube viewers who are already driven mad by ads — and haven't discovered AdBlock — and maybe also for everyone else who have already been using YouTube instead of Spotify, Rdio or Beats Music.

More thoughts as it launches... For now, check out the Demo video and see if your video made the cut!