Filed under: Features, Juice Jam Preview, Stories from Past Girl Talk Shows | Tags: Girl Talk, Gregg Gillis, Juice Jam, YouTube
You never know what to expect at a Girl Talk show -- and the infamous DJ plays Syracuse University's Juice Jam on Sunday.
MORE EXCLUSIVE JUICE JAM COVERAGE ON 20 WATTS
WATCH: Girl Talk LIVE Under the Jump
As countless YouTube cell phone videos can attest, Girl Talk shows hold the infamous distinction of being entirely unpredictable. It’s the perfect music to get drunk and dance to, so the gigs themselves can turn into madness on both sides of the stage.
For SU grad student Alex Palmer, such extreme debauchery led to a personal gig in his fraternity’s basement.
When Palmer was an undergrad at St. Louis’ Washington University two years ago, he attended a Girl Talk gig where a student got so drunk that he took his clothes off and had to be restrained by security. The student was tasered, and event staff pulled the plug on the show with half an hour left to go.
Gregg Gillis, the infamous mash-up artist otherwise known by the stage name Girl Talk, then announced that the gig was cancelled, but asked the audience if there was anywhere he could take the show.
Immediately, Palmer and his fraternity brothers in Sigma Alpha Mu yelled, “SAMMY!” (more…)
Filed under: Emerging Artists | Tags: Australia, Empire of the Sun, Jet, Luke Steele, MTV, The Sleepy Jackson, TRL, Walking on a Dream, YouTube
PREVIEW: Empire of the Sun “Walking on a Dream” MP3
The best way to experience Aussie electronic-pop duo Empire of the Sun is to do so visually. It’s a shame they are about 10-20 years too late with their “Walking on a Dream” music video. This one could have been on constant, heavy rotation on TRL — back in the days when MTV actually used to show music videos.
Their first single “Walking on a Dream” instills classic pop song structures with a deceptively simple sound and style. Singer Luke Steele (formerly of Aussie alt-rock group you’ve probably never heard of: The Sleepy Jackson) won’t be upstaged by a guitar solo with his shift in octaves from the “spoken-rather-than-sung” main verses to the ridiculously high-pitched chorus. The ethereal keyboards provide the base of the song from which all the other instruments are tethered. Meanwhile the guitar serves more as a rhythm instrument, countering the disco-esque drumbeat.
Empire of the Sun are the best thing from Australia since … Kangaroos? No … But they sure do beat Jet in the “Best Dressed from Down Under” category — not to mention that they’re one of the more unique-sounding groups currently around.
– Charlie Weeks
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Classical, experimental, hip-hop, Inka One, Paul Dateh, rap, violin, YouTube
So I’m not really a youtube fanatic. I mainly use it to create playlists for pre-gaming that consist of top 40 hits I refuse to buy. This link was sent to me by my TRF professor, who is a fellow violinist. Maybe it’s only because I play violin, but I could not take my eyes or ears off this video the first time I heard it and every time since. Many violinists have started to stray from the classical realm, but this is the first performance I have ever watched that relates to hip-hop. Since the video has over three million views, I’m sure some have you have already seen this, but I doubt you would mind watching it again.
-Kyra Zeller
Filed under: Free 4 All | Tags: download, Filckr, Firefox, Google, iTunes, last.fm, software, Songbird, Songkick, YouTube
Welcome to the launch of Ayo Technology, the newest addition to the 20W community. In this segment, resident expert Dan Bagnall will bestow upon us weekly blogs about the hottest music software trends and newest gear to hit the market.
In this installment he introduces a dope new music application (the biggest threat to iTunes) that has finally made it out of beta testing. It’s name: Songbird.
Imagine the power of Mozilla’s Firefox with the music functionality of iTunes and low and behold you have Songbird. Songbird is a cross platform, open-source media player that is under active development. Built upon the Firefox architecture, users can customize their Songbird anyway they like thanks to “add-ons.”
A few key add-ons come bundled with the download such as mashTape, a feature to discover Flickr photos, YouTube videos, last.fm biographies, Google news and more for the currently playing artist. Another favorite feature is “Concert Tickets,” powered by Songkick, where you can discover upcoming shows in your area based on the artists in your library. The consolidation of a web and media browser will have you never switching between windows again!
Download it now at www.getsongbird.com
– Dan Bagnall
YouTube and Universal Music Group have reached a deal to create a hub just for music videos, called “Vevo.”
Obviously, this is another attempt by record labels to profit off of a tough online industry. The hub would be free, but YouTube and Universal would split profits on advertising. According to the linked New York Times article, music videos account for six of the top 10 most viewed videos on YouTube.
Universal is confident Vevo will become the flagship for online music videos, which is expected to launch later this year. If all goes according to plan, other record labels will join in. Basically, Vevo will be a music video version of Hulu.
It’s hard to tell how far Vevo can go, but one thing is certain–YouTube and record labels need a fair compromise that benefits both sides.
–Jett Wells, Co-Reviews Editor
Filed under: Editor Picks, Keep It Classical | Tags: China, Classical, Tan Dun, YouTube
Last fall, YouTube called for musicians from all corners of the world to submit audition tapes for the honorary chance to be part of the YouTube Symphony Orchestra. This is a project destined to make classical music more accessible to everyone by bringing it up to speed with the current (and future) digital age of music. The orchestra will have the chance perform a concert in Carnegie Hall in April, performing piece by Chinese composer Tan Dun. Need I say that it will be broadcast live on YouTube?
-Meredith Laing, Managing Editor
Filed under: Industry News | Tags: DJ Ear Worm, Girl Talk, iTunes, Major Labels, Steve Jobs, YouTube
After watching my classmates battle head to head with a famous composer over Girl Talk’s controversial use of unlicensed samples and the related legal issue of copyright infringement, it got me wondering. How could Girl Talk possibly make these major labels happy? These are the same spoiled sports that vehemently pulled their artist’s videos from YouTube and laughed at Steve Jobs when he introduced them to the beta version of iTunes.
If someone was to try and make music such as Girl Talk’s and abide by the major labels fees for using the samples, there would be no possible way for an up-and-coming artist to afford it. If this were indeed the scenario, the barrier to entry would be so high that mash-up music would cease to exist all together.
Recently, the major record labels have be entering into licensing agreements with YouTube in order to create revenue from the most popular videos on YouTube, music videos. This got me thinking…if these mash-up artists created a mash-up video, then all of the labels could split the licensing fees recouped from the video, thereby making money from mash-up music. Then I found DJ Earworm’s music video for “United States of Pop 2008 [Viva La Pop]”. Peep it after the jump… (more…)
