The RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) recently filed suit with several porn companies in order to stop the unauthorized use of music in their videos and sites. As much porn as I have seen, I can’t remember any that had a known song in it (I have some known musician friends who have made music for it though!). As a music executive who has seen some crazy stuff, we have no moral high ground, and in business, we could probably learn something from the adult entertainment world which has embraced technology pretty successfully.
After an exhaustive search, I managed to uncover one “porn” video featuring a known record, and it was an erotic dancer using Aerosmith’s classic “Dream On.” Of course, it would have to be a band from the “American Invasion,” or the 70s response to the British Invasion that included a stream of lesser groups that rode the commercial wave of rock as children of boomers bought expensive component stereos, invented concert t shirts, picture discs and everything associated with the music became more corporate – chain record stores, researched radio stations, etc.
In a similarly scientific way, porn sites must be using music to cater to a certain part of the population. The fact that the woman is wearing a shirt from Rackspace (a server technology company) implies that they made this video and planted it around the web to promote themselves to porn users (MEN).
Based on what I have seen of the culture of that company, I’m not surprised (fake tattoo sleeves look pretty weird on Robert Scoble at SXSW, but you did get me to notice!). My guess is those folks are not above using strippers to attract customers, and why not abuse Aerosmith along the way?
RIAA, go get ‘em.
NSFW: Rackspace’s “Dream On” Video after the jump
(continued)
Share on Facebook
 Google's logo echoes Manhattan Records' Mondrian-inspired label Google is becoming an ever-present part of my use of technology, for both fun and business. I use such services as Gmail, Documents, Maps, Calendar, Voice, Images, Scholar (and maybe a few others) in increasing amounts.
As competition increases between Google, Apple, Bing, Facebook, Flickr and Twitter and other major sites, their use of the content they have cataloged is beginning to add more bells and whistles.
If the most desirable things on the web are video, music and photos, YouTube, the forthcoming Google Music (also known as Google Audio) and Images are vital to the company maintaining its preeminence as a search engine and building itself into an entertainment destination that will compete with iTunes, etc.
I am constantly using image search in my quest to restore the artwork of my 4000 albums in iTunes, and in the past day or two, Google Images has been given a major update where most text is removed from the results page. Linking to a site where the image originates replaces the frame with “see larger image” with a superimposed image over the site, as if Google Image knows you are only there for the image, not the text!
We would all chose Google’s offices and design scheme over the clutter and stench of CBGB’s, but somehow it feels a bit sterile as an entertainment hub. Gymboree might be the only entertainment venue which have a similar feel as Google’s art, but there is also precedent in the Mondrian-esque logo of Manhattan Records in the early 80s.
(continued)
Share on Facebook
 (Courtesy of MySpace Music/Lisette Rioux Paulson) One of the main reasons I am so enthusiastic about the convergence of entertainment and technology is the swag. Items like the iPhone case above are indicative of a lot of money being thrown around in hope of awareness, branding and other indirect effects. How many hits to the site does a little satchel like the one above generate? Possibly a lot – the department distributing these is in charge of pursuing promotional opportunities with their record company partners.
An enhanced view of the company that might come from looking at this nice little item might make people in the business advocate for the beleaguered site when they normally might. It certainly has improved my impression of MySpace and that department, but I am easily swayed by swag!
Share on Facebook
 Roger Dean's Earbender logo resurfaces! Earbender.com started as a way to promote my promotion business more effectively online. I also found myself spending more time keeping up with technology as it changes the music business (distribution, consumer electronics innovations, mobile, advertising/branding).
Subsequently, the site and my social media profiles have enabled me to change my way of doing promotion. Earbender Digital Music News, includes stories about companies and technology that reflect a similar convergence mentality.
MTV Serves as Model for AOL Site (NY Times) – AOL, branding consultant MGX and the Jonas brothers have teamed to create Cambio, their own web portal, sponsored by Bayer. Since the Jonas Brothers are also fans of Elvis Costello, and this is such a “can’t miss” idea, I wish them the best. If the site Cambio takes off, we have Cambio soda, sneakers and whatever else to look forward to. Could be the wave of the future. What other “branded” websites should be created, and with which sponsors?
WMVY goes social with Facebook fan page – Our friends at WMVY, Martha’s Vineyard, aka www.mvyradio.com, have just announced a Facebook fan page where their listeners from around the world can interact and keep up to date with station activities. Barbara Dacey has been at the forefront of the radio/net convergence, and the little station on an island has a large footprint as a result of their great music choices and being ultra aggressive about their presence on the net. Although people jeer Yankee hats on the Vineyard, WMVY has been masterful at using the image of their unique locale to bring folks from all over the world into their realm. Join the WMVY Facebook page here.
News about WUWM, WWOZ, Grateful Dead and Pitchfork after the jump.
(continued)
Share on Facebook
 Lee puts it back together by the end of the cd! Has anybody heard 6 String Theory, the new Lee Ritenour album (at right)? One of my colleagues on the project, Dave Einstein of the Concord Music Group, is utterly convinced that the track here, “Give Me One Reason,” featuring Joe Bonamassa, is an outright smash, and I tend to agree (even though I’m bad at picking singles). The new Lee Ritenour album, 6 String Theory features the guitarist’s guitarist playing with 19 other virtuosos over 15 cuts.
You may remember that “Give Me One Reason” is a Tracy Chapman song that played a special role in her career – the comeback. It had been a few years and maybe an album or two since “Fast Car” and “Talkin’ Bout a Revolution.” There may have been a bit of Tracy Chapman backlash… I think she debuted in 1988 and this song is from the mid-90s, so that is a relatively long time between hits. So this is the song did it for her and I think my buddy “Old School” (Ron Stone), who was managing her at the time, relished in her success for this reason especially.
The Lee Ritenour version of “Give Me One Reason” featured on his new album 6 String Theory (Concord Music Group) has some smoking guitar from Lee as well as from his guest vocalist Joe Bonamassa. But as Marty DiBergi once said so immortally in his film Spinal Tap (Polymer Films 1989), “enough of my yakkin, let’s boogie.”
Lee Ritenour f. Joe Bonamassa – Give Me One Reason
For more info about Lee Ritenour’s 6 String Theory, please read on.
Share on Facebook
|
|