Internet killed the video star... Or so television would have you believe. MTV and MuchMusic have been doing their best to distance themselves from their founding content: the music video. Now, they air music videos during the unpopular timeslots of 11pm-6am. In their place, reality shows and teen dramas are throned with prime time. MuchMusic is even in the process of trying to decrease the number of music vids they're required to air from 50% to only 25% of the network's content. Yikes.
But maybe internet just killed the cable star. That's what OKGo believes. They've battled with record labels and ultimately made a break for it -- establishing their own label last month, so they can focus on distributing free videos, with no red-tape worries.
There's also the Takeawayshow phenomenon, initiated by Paris-based Blogotheque.com. As indie acts shuffle through Paris on world tours, the producers at Blogotheque challenge them to a one-take impromptu one-take music video. Unplugged, unsynthesized. It's a test of raw talent and creativity. Andrew Bird whistled his way through Montmartre. St. Vincent crooned from tiny white apartment overlooking the city. Yeasayer tapped and footstomped on the metro.
The Takeawayshow has been replicated in other places, as with the Black Cab series in England. But now, proud Canadians, we have one of our own. And there's something special about it. While Take Away Shows and Black Cabs have documented bands passing through on tour, Southern Souls documents the artist in his natural environment. That is, Canadians in Canada. Sometimes in their own homes, or the grocery store they shop in. Maybe in their childhood house, with their parents peeking in. The website, Southernsouls.ca began as a documentary of the Hamilton music scene. But it has burgeoned into, first, a video archive of southern Ontario acts. And now it is expanding outward, with the filmmaker traveling to Montreal and more. Soooo check it out: www.southernsoul.ca
So what do you think? Is the music video really dead or is this a renaissance?
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