And our monthly recap continues... 

A few notes:

That's a foregone conclusion for readers of this blog.  Perhaps 30 years late to the game, but CNN is running with it as the lead story on their site this morning.  

Key quote: 

"Sell-out" doesn't come up much anymore. Musicians are artists. But they don't need to be starving artists."

Coming on the heels of the news that songwriters and music publishers are now getting a cut of music video sales, it makes for an interesting read.  Check it out here.

Grantland writer Alex Pappademas uses the new Jack White video as good reason to go deep on director Hype Williams.

Key quote: 

"Does this mean there's a Hype Williams renaissance afoot? Can we use it as an excuse to will one into being?"

I vote yes.

Check it at Grantland.

When OK Go frontman Damian Kulash talks about how to be a band in the Internet age — and the pluses/minuses of a band working with a  brand entertainment —  you should listen (or read). 

OK Go's Damian Kulash Gives Lessons in Branded Entertainment

My band has worked with brands as an alternative to major-label funding for three years now, and I'm happy to report that so far all of the brands we've worked with have been more communicative, more transparent and more supportive than the folks we used to deal with back when we were on a big label. But only a few brands have actually pushed our creativity to new heights, and the keys to these successes have been the same in every case.

My favorite video of the month is unembeddable, so you'll need to click through separately:

• ALB "Golden Chains" (Johnatan Broda, dir.)

Everything is below, and is well worth your time. Feel free to just use the fancy embedded YouTube playlist player, or click the individual links for credits and such.

BEST MUSIC VIDEOS OF JUNE 2012

DP's and directors who have fallen for shooting DSLRs should dig this Kickstarter campaign for Midas Mount's SnapFocus rig, which allows for increased handheld focus control.

The Kickstarter campaign is already way above their initial goal, but there's still Early Bird opportunities and savings available if you get in before Midnight tonight.

"Kiss My Glittery Ass"— Erykah Badu

I held off on posting the Flaming Lips + Erykah Badu video, not because I am a prude and not because I'm lazy, but because pointless nudity in music videos is lazy. As is not replacing the green screen.*

Music videos have long been held to a slew of non-artistic limitations, one of them being network standards: If you wanted your music video to air on TV, then it had to fit the rules, which at various times meant you couldn't depict fire, guns, drugs, logos, etc, etc. Also on the list, of course, was nudity.