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Rawkkiddoh
Rawkkiddoh
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You Tube is going to kill music videos

Posted over 2 years ago
Is it me or does it seem "homemade" videos that look like they could be on Youtube are all the rage right now. I feel this phenomenon started with the Fat Boy Slim, "Praise You" video and the ball seems to be rolling faster and faster. Youtube has become the place anyone can get their 15 minutes of fame, and it amazes me just how many hits some videos seem to get. I know Ok Go can attribute a lot of their success to this, and now it seems to be catching on with a lot more artists. I watched the video for Penny On The Train Track tonight, and it was as if the Ok Go video and Fat Boy Slim's video got put in a blender. Did I like the video, well yes. Even more so after I found out the old woman in the video is Ben Kweller's grandmother. Are the days of epic videos like Gun's and Roses "November Rain" or R. Kelly's "Trapped In A Closet" a thing of the past? These "homemade" videos seem to strike a chord with those who watch them, and their popularity grows through our fascination with sites such as Youtube. I wonder if there will be a time when the video will die, and people will be satisfied watching amateurs work their magic with the camera. Until then I give you the Kweller video, as well as another similar type of video by none other than Fat Boy Slim. If you know of similar videos to these, I would love to see them so feel free to post.Ben Kweller - "Penny On The Train Track"Fatboy Slim - "That Old Pair Of Jeans"
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Comments (26)

  1. SatisfiedMind614
    SatisfiedMind614 says Its a youtube nation man...i like the whole DIY yourself vibe...i even have my own channel! I started making them for MOG before you could post songs...there are some real gems being made...and a tone of bad ones, but to me they are all preferable to monstrosities like 'November Rain"
    Permalink posted 03/20/2007
  2. Marta
    Marta says This is my fave homemade video clip on youtube (he has no connection with the artist though) it's that this guy is just plain funny!
    Permalink posted 03/20/2007
  3. Marta
    Marta says p.s. he's the splitting image of one of my ex-boyfriends!
    Permalink posted 03/20/2007
  4. Lilithk
    Lilithk says It seems RHCP has joined this trend. Not only that, they are offering a contest right now for you tube viewers to make their next video.
    Permalink posted 03/20/2007
  5. SatisfiedMind614
    SatisfiedMind614 says I think it is an awesome way for fans to interact with a band and their music
    Permalink posted 03/20/2007
  6. Rawkkiddoh
    Rawkkiddoh says Blair I agree with you, I dont know how many times I heard a song and thought of the perfect video. Sometimes I feel some of the youtube videos are better than the originals to boot.
    Permalink posted 03/20/2007
  7. mktackabery
    mktackabery says I agree, this is a fantastic opportunity for bands to interact and connect with their fans - that is the way bands will survive in this new environment we live in. And they are fun. The fact that Ben's grandma was in the video, that's just cool as hell! Can you not imagine him with the camera egging his grandmother on? If I'm cool enough to dance my ass off when I'm her age and not care if I get posted on YouTube, I surely will have attained enlightenment.
    Permalink posted 03/20/2007
  8. carmensandiego
    carmensandiego says I thought it was MTV that ruined music videos.
    Permalink posted 03/20/2007
  9. Augusts1
    Augusts1 says Well, both of those videos aren't too interesting. Sure the Grandma one is cute for about a minute but I was expecting something else to happen as well. The juggler was the same cool for a minute then 'is that all?' I don't think Youtube will kill regular videos because there will always be a need for that form of artistic expression in a more polished form for people like me. Sure I like homemade videos if they keep my attention. The Ok Go vids were so fun & original that I didn't mind the format, in fact it made it more charming. So, who really knows what the future holds for vids. This trend has certainly kept the recording companies guessing I'm sure.
    Permalink posted 03/21/2007
  10. Jonh Ingham
    Jonh Ingham says It's a trend. Something else will happen. Talented people will make something on the level of lonelygirl 15 and these locked down camera amateuratics will take their rightful place lower down the foodchain.
    Permalink posted 03/21/2007
  11. brand X
    brand X says The expense for making the video is usually taken out of the band's earnings (as opposed to the label's) for a particular record, so this trend might be tied as much to dollars and cents as anything else. That being said it is most likely a fad that will end sooner or later.
    Permalink posted 03/21/2007
  12. Cody B
    Cody B says I'm not gonna say that I wasn't thrilled when MTV came on, I was in my teens and it was cool to put faces to the music I had heard, and since then I have made music videos myself, too. So I do understand the desire to attach video to audio. whether for fun, promotion,profit, or love, I am troubled by it. The visual media is a powerful communicator, but can't the music stand on its own? Does music have to have an image attached to it? Don't get me wrong there are wonderful visual interpretations of music (pro and am) and hilarious home movies with music, but in retrospect, all video, whether hyper-produced or homemade takes a little away from the soul of the music.
    Permalink posted 03/21/2007
  13. Anna
    Anna says I don't like the DIY concept. If it becomes an official reality, people in the video music production industry will become unemployed. And not to mention that the quality will be reduced. Just as I wouldn't like to see DIY films & music become solid. There is a reason that professionals handle those things. It's fun and some of them are good, but there is a reason they're called amateurs.
    Permalink posted 03/21/2007
  14. Rawkkiddoh
    Rawkkiddoh says Michelle, I am sure you are cool enough right now, but do you want the entire world watching you strut your stuff? Carmen, MTV killed the video star I believe August, I liked the juggling one quite a bit but I agree, after a while you think is that all? It just seems to be a trend that more and more artists are going to, and you are right the record companies are sure trying to guess what the public wants to see. John I am guessing you are right, and I hope its a trend that lasts about 15 minutes. While they are quirky and fun to watch here and there, I like some effort put into the videos I am watching. Brand X, that is a good point. You wonder if artists are turning to this because companies dont want to shell out the big bucks for a worthwhile video. Cody, I made a post a while back on how a video can sometimes make a song that much better. While most of my favorite artists stand on their own two feet when it comes to me liking their music, there have been a few that gained my appreciation through a well made video. Anna nicely put. I can only hope the OK Go trend goes quietly into the night.
    Permalink posted 03/21/2007
  15. River Lethe
    River Lethe says If someone else actually PLAYED music videos, I might agree with some of you. As far as it being relagated to only professionals? Nope. I don't want to take away from some of the amazing direction that has happened, but just like the music side of the industry, too many of these people aren't really using the artform as it should anyway. It's a whole new artistic medium that hasn't really been embraced to it's full potential. It's another way to tell a story, along with the music (or with just the music as soundtrack to ultra-short film). I really miss music videos, and I will agree that most of what's on Myspace or Youtube is self-indulgent journal crap, there's a lot of great content. Where else are you gonna find ANY video of Tom Waits, for instance? Nowhere, that's where. Plus, it's another way for artists, if they're saavy enough, to take back control of their art from corporate types. I'm all for it. Besides, the only real difference from an amateur and a pro is budget. Otherwise, by that logic, someone like Michael Bay is a genius, which he's clearly not.
    Permalink posted 03/21/2007
  16. RobinH
    RobinH says There are good videos and bad videos. I don't think it's the actual production method or distribution that really matters, simply the quality of the finished product (which is subjective anyway) and it's availabilty (or lack of).
    Permalink posted 03/21/2007
  17. Lizziegreeneyes
    Lizziegreeneyes says I am following the truth that River is speaking ... but also feel that MTV has merely "attempted murder" upon a artistic medium that was their original purpose for being ... MTV=MusicTeleVision - VJs=Video Jockeys. You have to have digital cable to get to any videos from MTV, that's just cracktasticly stupid. I am grateful to Youtube and myspace for bringing back the video as a form of artistic expression - I shouldn't be expected to shell out 1.99 to iTunes each time I want to watch more than 30 seconds of a video from one of the many bands I love.
    Permalink posted 03/21/2007
  18. Peggah
    Peggah says The OKGO video A Million Ways was on MTV, VH1 and it was also being showed at EVERY Coldplay concert during their summer tour in 2005 (At least, at the 4 I went to). And for some reason, they didn't get anything for it until a year or two later when it was put on youtube. Youtube is definitely the new myspace.
    Permalink posted 03/21/2007
  19. Peggah
    Peggah says Also to Lizzie... I'm curious what made iTunes start charging (cough major labels cough). I remember when they first introduced videos, they were free to watch. I would take stills and make them into icons. Then, they started charging.
    Permalink posted 03/21/2007
  20. ponchoandy
    ponchoandy says To Peggah: Yup, it's the major labels. They got totally hosed by MTV back in the day, when they were conned into providing *all* of the channel's content for free, which is part of what allowed MTV to become the multichannel behemoth it is today. Of course, now MTV doesn't even show music videos, but the major labels have started charging other media outlets for the privilege of doing so. Some of those outlets, like iTunes, are trying to pass the cost on to consumers; others, like Yahoo! Music, AOL, and iFilm (and the site I work for, ARTISTdirect) make you watch 15-second "pre-roll" ads before the video comes on. Anyway, I love the explosion of lo-fi, DIY videos, and I disagree with some people's assessment that they will take away jobs from professional filmmakers; I think people want both and they can happily coexist. And the best lo-fi videos are just as much fun as the slick, big-budget videos (just ask OK Go). This one's my favorite at the moment:
    Permalink posted 03/21/2007
  21. Cody B
    Cody B says Yo Rawk..I have no problems with videos per se and I have been introduced to many bands by them..However when the music artist is compelled to make them to be competitive, I don't like it. The youtube world, like the MTV world, expects them, and I don't like that either.
    Permalink posted 03/21/2007
  22. Rawkkiddoh
    Rawkkiddoh says Cody, I completely agree with you
    Permalink posted 03/21/2007
  23. Mike the Knife
    Mike the Knife says Who cares? It's all free, isn't it? What? It isn't? There's no free lunch? (For the record, I so loved that juggler's Beatles routine. If you haven't seen it, seek it out on, yep, YouTube...)
    Permalink posted 03/22/2007
  24. Rawkkiddoh
    Rawkkiddoh says Going to check it out now Mike
    Permalink posted 03/22/2007
  25. Lizziegreeneyes
    Lizziegreeneyes says To Peggah: yup - all we get is a lousy 30 second clip, that's ok - for the most part - I can always find them on youtube in their entirety - "SO THERE iTunes". Definitely will check out the juggler's Beatles routine - just listened to Mean Mr. Mustard.
    Permalink posted 03/22/2007
  26. kellywatchthestars
    kellywatchthestars says I don't see what the big deal is. More often than not, musicians that record their own stuff and/or self-release their albums are applauded. Shouldn't the same concept apply to videos? A lot of times, these DIY type of videos are more interesting and creative than any big production video. I'm not saying the DIY approach is right for everyone, but I think it's a great option for those who are either strapped for cash or want to a more real feel for their video.
    Permalink posted 03/23/2007

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