MUSIC INDUSTRY BLOG

Video is not an option these days, it’s a necessity.  You need to be able to promote your music with video on your website, MySpace, Facebook, YouTube and dozens of other social media sites.

Your success depends on it.

You’re probably nodding your head and thinking: “That’s great, but how am I going to make a video?” After all, videos traditionally cost thousands of dollars to make and you most likely don’t have the equipment or know-how to make one yourself.

I’ve found the solution to your problem!

Animoto is a cheap and easy way to make a one of a kind video.  For just three dollars, ANYONE can make a high quality MTV caliber video… and it only takes minutes.  So dead simple and intuitive ─ if you can use Facebook, Animoto will be a breeze.

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Just discovered a quirky new site for music and music video discovery called YouMusic.  Under the strapline, Make Music?  Find Fans!  Love Music? Find Talent!, the site crowd sources its content from artists and allows music consumers to rate what they hear and see.  There’s a music chart, gig schedule, contest and other community and artist opportunity bells and whistles.  I wonder how much the YouMusic.com domain is worth?

Stop motion video editing is popular on YouTube.  I first got sight of its viral potential when young Lasse Gjertsen uploaded his outrageous piano and drum montage:

More recently, Oren Lavie enjoyed tremendous success beyond his YouTube exposure with a beautifully conceived yet shoe-string budgeted piece:

Yesterday, I discovered a symphony of YouTube clips that, collectively, sound quite amazing and reflect the exciting prospects of remixing previously published and shared content:

$99 Music Videos is a brilliant ‘indie’ solution for both music artists and filmmakers.  The online video portal provides a gateway for artists and credible filmmakers to collaborate and produce music videos within 24 hours and for $99 or less.  Completed clips are submitted to the site and broadcast twice weekly, along with “making-of” video content, to be rated by viewers.  The idea is to encourage artists and filmmakers to get back to basics and dispel the myth that music videos require major label budgets.  $99 is certainly a challenge, as is a 24 hour turnaround, however, the $99 Music Videos team are confident that a budget skillset and approach will result in creative and potentially viral gems.

Anyone who has randomly surfed through YouTube has eventually landed on a video of a teen guitar virtuoso with millions of accrued views.  Search a little further and a vast world of amateur instructional guitar ‘how-to’ clips will reveal themselves with tantamount popularity.  Guitar is a massive interest category on YouTube and, with it, a traditionally unrepresented musical niche has emerged to the fore: Guitar Virtuosos.  Steve Vai, Joe Satriani, Nuno Bettencourt, and alike, were popular long before YouTube unveiled itself as the premier video portal, however, a new breed of guitarists have caught the attention of the dotcom generation with unique styles that, until now, experienced only nook-and-cranny exposure.

Enter CandyRat Records, the most visible alternative acoustic guitar label on YouTube – or anywhere, for that matter.  The boutique-sized label, founded by Rob Poland, has capitulated extraordinary guitarists through a series of low-budget video clips of their music, the most successful of which include some form of tapping, odd tuning, or any other unconventional manner of playing their instrument.  Although CandyRat represents a whole slew of talented guitarists and singer/songwriters, the company’s most notorious roster of YouTube maestros includes the likes of Erik Mongrain, Antoine Dufour, and, of course, Andy McKee, who has garnered just under 20 million views for his video performance of “Drifting“, an original composition, and over 8 million views for an innovative version of “Africa” by Toto.  And then there’s Don Ross.

Don Ross was Rob Poland’s first signing, even though Don remained contractually independent.  In 2005, Don released an album through CandyRat which marked the label’s investiture as an acoustic aficionado.  In a recent communication with Jill Katona of Paperwork Media, Don’s booking agent and Andy McKee’s former rep, I learned that it was Don who brought Andy to Poland’s  attention, who later signed him and released two of his CDs under CandyRat.  Old friends, Don Ross and Andy McKee collaborated for the label and enjoyed mutual exposure online.  However, it was McKee’s video performance of “Drifting” that truly put CandyRat on the map and significant offshoot traffic in Don’s direction, as well as the other artists on the label’s growing roster.

Don Ross and Andy McKee’s styles are comparable.  The two masters of their trade govern the art of percussive, finger-picking, neck-hammering guitar techniques which make their solo guitar compositions sound as if there are multiple instruments omnipresent.  Considering Don Ross’ lengthy tenure as an acoustic guitar performer, I can only assume that he is one of the pioneers of this style – he has certainly become renowned for it.

Don is currently on tour with Brooke Miller, a 2007 finalist in We Are Listening’s Breaking the Band, and their aggregate talent should make for an excellent series of live show.