Video-Game Developers Become The New Rock Gods
Bands and Artists are falling over each other to get their work showcased on the video games such as “Guitar Hero” and the new MTV game “Rock Band”. This is obviously making the game-makes themselves rockstars in a way due to their demand. The work of these bands either get put into the newest releases of thegames or into special downloadable packs. Aerosmith has just launched their own version of the popular game last week… “Guitar Hero: Aerosmith”.
This new interest shows that even the rock gods of Aerosmith are keen on getting into the video-game crowd. This is not just about interest and “what’s cool”, it’s all about the money as shown by the Ad Age article…
”… Aerosmith sold 2,041 digital copies of its 1974 song “Same Old Song and Dance” — which was on the then-new “Guitar Hero III” game. It doesn’t sound like a lot, but it was a one week total — the last week of the year (which included Christmas) — and more interestingly was a 446% increase over sales the week before, according to SoundScan data provided by Activision.
They were far from alone. Alice Cooper’s 1972 track “School’s Out” sold more than 12,000 copies for an increase of 453%. Kiss’ “Rock and Roll All Nite” from 1975 sold more than 18,500 copies for a 485% increase. Newer music did just as well, such as Senses Fail’s “Can’t Be Saved,” released in 2006, which sold 8,600 tracks, jumping 386%. Sales of all but one of the 63 songs on “Guitar Hero III” jumped by more than 100% that week, with the bulk in the 200-300% range.
While a connection between the increase in digital sales at sites like iTunes and Napster and “Guitar Hero III” isn’t definitive, the evidence strongly suggests that the game played a role in the huge increase in single sales. “
This shows that the music video game category and its creators have hit a very sensitive touch point in the intersection between video-games and music. This new area gets people interacting with the music of bands on a whole new level, and hence the increased sales.
This is a very interesting marketing case study when it comes to marketing music in our New Media world.
: Marketing, Music, Video Games, Aerosmith, Guitar Hero, Rock Band
Real Hip-Hop: Immortal Technique’s “The 3rd World”
Immortal Technique just released his new album and it’s available for Pre-order from CDUniverse.com.
This CD’s was supposed to have been released like in June 2007 under the title “The Middle Passage” I guess he title has since changed. I’ve been waiting for this one for ages, Immortal techniques lyrics are the most hard-core I’ve ever heard and he does it with passion and style. Definitely a wake up call to the blinged-out , instant self-gratification generation which commercial hip-hop culture has spawned. This is REAL Hip-Hop.
He has since also released 3 mp3′s to give you a taste.. and here they are…
1) “The 3rd World”
2) “The Payback”
3) “Reverse Pimpology”
Enjoy!
: Immortal Technique, 3rd World, New Album, The Middle Passage, MP3
Let the Government Pay for Your Music Video
by Muhammad on May 29, 2008
in Uncategorized
What a Brilliant idea… the unsigned UK Band, The Get Out Clause, wanted to make a music video but couldn’t afford the high cost of all the camera crew and equipment. So they spotted suitable sights all over Britain which were covered by the surveillance cameras – Britain has about 13 million of these cameras so suitable locations for the band were not hard to come by.
They set up their sound equipment and began to play at the different locations… then they wrote to all the security companies asking them to hand over the video footage under the Freedom of Information Act! Brilliant!
Source: The Telegraph
Technorati Tags: The Get Out Clause, Cool, Music, Britain, Surveillance, Camera’s , CCTV, Music Video
Japanese Lunch Art – Album Covers
by Muhammad on April 17, 2008
in Uncategorized
How cool is this? This is called Bento Art in Japan where the lunch can be made to resemble art of all forms, these are album covers (Duh!). I would have loved to have my lunch looking like this when I was back in school. But, then again, what is the lunch made of?
Technorati Tags: Japanese, Art, Food, Lunch, Albums
Personalised Music Magazine
by Muhammad on February 1, 2008
in Uncategorized
This… this just rocks. It’s a Music Magazine which tailors itself to your tastes.
Customised content has long been held up as the Holy Grail of digital publishing, and idiomag is making that promise a reality with a personalised, daily digital magazine about music that is based entirely on members’ individual interests.Launched just over a year ago, UK-based idiomag uses a system of weighted tagging to customise both content and advertising to readers’ personal musical tastes. Readers initially name their favourite music topics and weight the relative importance of each of them in the content they will view. idiomag then uses that information to serve articles, tracks, videos and other multimedia content in a high-quality, audio-visual virtual magazine format that readers can enjoy in page-by-page fashion. idiomag has content partnerships with publications including Billboard, 365mag and Hip Hop Nation as well as popular blogs such as Aurgasm and BlogCritics. It has also built up a large team of its own journalists across the UK. As readers rate the appeal of the content they view, idiomag intelligently adapts subsequent issues to reflect those changing preferences.
Not insignificantly, advertisers benefit from idiomag’s personalisation system as well, with the ability to serve nonintrusive, full-screen and rich-media advertisements that closely match readers’ interests. A newly incorporated social element, meanwhile, uses Facebook integration to let readers get their idiomag within the social networking site, view their friends’ magazines and capture articles they like, submit articles, and view trends and favourites among the other idiomag readers on the site. idiomag also offers widgets to incorporate the magazine on other social networks, blogs or home pages. Subscriptions to idiomag are free for readers; advertisers are charged on a CPM basis, and revenue is shared with content providers based on their content’s popularity.
When readers get the content they want and advertisers reach their target audiences in a targeted way, it really is hard to see a downside. One to bring to other niches, localities and topic areas!
Technorati Tags: idiomag, Music, Magazine, customised content
Britney Spears may convert to Islam???
Spears and her new British-born man Adnan Ghalib
“U.S. pop star Britney Spears is allegedly so in love with her new Muslim man she’s considering converting to Islam to marry him, British press reports revealed.”
Full story here.
Ummm… Well, if she does… good for her! At least its a positive step this time.
The Inevitable Rise and Liberation of Niggy Tardust!
by Muhammad on November 6, 2007
in Uncategorized
If you ever have the need to break the boundaries of musical collaboration… you don’t have to look further than Saul Williams and Trent Reznor (Nine inch Nails). Reznor’s just produced Saul’s New Album The Inevitable Rise and Liberation of Niggy Tardust!
The music is something akin to “ghetto gothic”, but the best thing about the album is that its available to download… FOR FREE!!! (192 kb MP3) (or a $5 fee for a better quality download (300 kb))
Saul is my all time favourites when it comes to spoken word and mindbending philosophy, meshing concepts you never thought could belong in the same space. Mix that up with music, and you start feeling your soul start to rock along with your body. Hard Core.
Technorati Tags: Saul Williams, Trent Reznor, Nine Inch Nails, The Inevitable Rise and Liberation of Niggy Tardust!, Cool
Shaytaan’s Guitar…
by Muhammad on August 21, 2007
in Uncategorized
via
In yet another example of the extremist elements in the Iranian government flexing their power, over 200 Iranians were arrested at an underground music concert.* Unfortunately, this is not a new phenomenon in the region. Youth music, particularly rap and heavy metal, have been targeted by several governments in the region trying to appease extremist elements or appear like they are actually doing something. In most cases heavy metal is linked with worshiping Satan (e.g. Morocco, Egypt and Bahrain).
At those times when the local scenes can operate with out the persecution of either “moderate” or “extremist” regimes (still trying to figure out the difference between the two…) there has been an amazing array of expression, from heavy metal in Egypt, thrash and progressive rock in Bahrain and my personal favorite Circassian rock. Perhaps even more sadly, this over zealous dynamic has led to several countries baning the videos and/or concerts of the region’s eye-candy, err, I mean, pop stars. :)
Even more traditional artists can run afoul of conservatives (the bar does not seem to be too high to get them riled up). In perhaps the best way to respond to this kind of thinking, Marcel Khalife fights back in defense of creativity the best way there is (video with translations in English).
*I like that the underground concert was in an orchard. I wish more concerts were in orchards. If I can orientalize for a minute, it seems so sufi. The first person to write a “heavy metal concert in the orchard” qasidah wins a prize.
————————–
Rock on… You can’t even have Muslims anywhere near a music concert in South Africa without an array of Jummah lectures following with you as the prime example and your family waving fingers at you and ‘tsk tsk’ing away in their pompous spirituality.
I’m sorry… did I give too much away there? Next I’ll be proposing that Waahid gets Marty Friedman from Megadeth to teach them guitar :P Imagine that.. Rocking praises to Prophet (SAW) to heavy metal guitars… I think I’m shaking someone’s boat.
Technorati Tags: Heavy Metal, Egypt, Morocco, Iran, Hip Hop, Underground Concert, Orchards, Qasidah
Presenting… The Kurt Cobain Action Figure!
via
Thought this review of the soon-to-be-launched Kurt Cobain Action figure pretty funny. Apart from this being yet another way some celebrity or even corporation wants to make more money off sucking the life out of popular culture (or is it feeding it?)… Anyway… here’s the review…
Boy, I hope that Courtney Love is making a lot of money off this one. The Kurt Cobain action figure immortalizes the poster boy of grunge rock in 18 inches of dyed plastic (was the dyed part distasteful?) Sorry.
Apparently the figure is electronic, but we’re not exactly sure if that alludes to potential karate chop action or maybe a sung verse of Smells Like Teen Spirit. Look for MiniKurt sometime this month for $45. And remember, not only are you buying a timeless collectible; you’re giving hope to a starving woman with no career, talent or shame.
Technorati Tags: Kurt Cobain, Action Figure, Nirvana, Courtney love, Smells like Teen Spirit
Taqwacore: Rise of the Muslim Punk
by Muhammad on July 17, 2007
in Uncategorized
Came across this at Kim Badawi’s homepage. She chronicles this phenomenon of an Islamic Punk Band and a genre called Taqwacore.
Just like everything in the United States… Muslim Punks do exist in the United States! American Muslims, who do aspire to defeat the stereotype and challenge freedom to expression as a true Americans, as well as Muslims… Taqwacore, a genre of Muslim punk rock, existing only in the novel at the time of its writing, has since emerged as an actual genre, inspiring bands across North America. – Kim Badawi
The below is from Wikipedia.
Taqwacore is a genre of punk music dealing with Islam and its culture, originally conceived in Michael Muhammad Knight‘s novel, The Taqwacores. The name is a portmanteau of hardcoreArabic word Taqwa,
which is usually translated as “piety” or the quality of being “God-fearing”, and thus roughly denotes fear and love of the divine. and the The first bands to use the term taqwacore are The Kominas, 8-bit and Vote Hezbollah.[citation needed]There is not a definitive “taqwacore sound,” as artists incorporate various styles, ranging from punk to hip-hop, and musical traditions from the Muslim world; the Kominas (shown in the above picture) describe their sound as “Bollywood punk” while Al-Thawra uses the term “raicore,” based on Arabic rai music.[citation needed]
Very interesting indeed.
Technorati Tags: Taqwacore, Music, Islam, Punk, Islamic Punk Bands, Kominas
