MTV Going Back To It's Roots

I am not one to fixate my eyes on MTV, but I do randomly watch certain programs on the music network. In the last six months, I was extremely surprised to see two of my favorite artists highlighted in commercials: Tegan & Sara and The Gossip. MTV used to actually play music videos all day, but now the channel is flooded with reality TV programs. Last week, I spent a total of 25 minutes watching a program called "Parental Control" on MTV. During that time period, there were six commercials promoting The Gossip. In recent years, MTV has offered ringtones on their website and has allowed TV viewers to text a 5-digit number to MTV in order to retrieve a ringtone directly to their phone. MTV has taken this media a step further by offering ringtones from an artists live show...one that cannot be purchased online from another corporation or cell phone provider. The most interesting thing about this is that Tegan & Sara and The Gossip are not artists that you would hear on the radio, nor would you catch their video on MTV. They are the type of bands that you would need to search YouTube in order to watch their new music videos. MTV, however, is taking a step forward by highlighting these small indie bands during their reality TV programming.

MTV is a large enterprise that has influenced community-building through music. While it has since changed its line-up of music video programming to reality television programming, commercials have had a huge impact in terms of marketing up-and-coming artists in the music industry. In regards to The Gossip, an indie-political band from Washington, MTV ran commercials called "Ask Beth" (Beth Ditto is the lead singer of The Gossip). The commercials were all based on political issues including the presidential election. While many people may choose to flip the channel during commercials, young MTV viewers may actually learn something during these "Ask Beth" commercials. It may even influence viewers to get involved and vote in November.

Controversy over Myspace music

Now that myspace has it's own record label, you would think that this would be beneficial for less well-known bands, such as indie bands, in the music industry. The problem, however, is that myspace is signing bands like Pennywise, who had hit songs in the 90s, and other slightly-known bands onto the label. When you click on myspace music, these bands are shown in the forefront. But what about the underdogs? Didn't myspace start out as a networking outlet for bands? I understand that myspace became a larger phenomenon that has continued to attract people of all ages, many of who do not play in bands, in search of friends and love matches. It makes you wonder how influential corporate buyouts are on different media outlets. Now that Rupert Murdoch owns myspace and myspace records, indie musicians and bands are yet again pushed to the side. Myspace should be promoting the diversity of music on its site and highlight different indie bands, rap artists, folk singers, jazz musicians, and other talented and less, well-known musicians to connect to a larger audience. I am interested to see what myspace records will do in the future...

rock band is the new 1st grade

ok... so maybe the title of my current blog doesn't quite make sense to most people, but it absolutely makes sense to the young individuals who are into musical video games (i.e. rock band or guitar hero). Recently, I filmed a video of my girlfriend playing drums to a the song "Maps" by the Yeah Yeah Yeahs on the video game "Rock Band" while her six-year-old sister, Maddie,sang the vocals. For nearly ten days, I tried to upload the video, that I originally d0wnloaded on my hardrive, onto Youtube and Blogger.com...without much success. I waited more than 24 hours to publish a 2-minute video online...but even then, the websites would not upload the material I was planning on using. Although I do plan on figuring out how to link my personally taped Rock Band video to my blog, I don't know how long it will continue to take me. However, I must express how this particular video game benefits the education of young children. My girlfriend's sister, Maddie, has a limited amount of reading comprehension at the age of six. However, this specific video game has been used as a tutorial for her progressive reading abilities. While Maddie is no stranger to the relative "Rock Band" game called "Guitar Hero", she has been insistent on singing the vocals for the career mode on "Rock Band". She may not sing loudly during gameplay, but she enjoys reading and singing the lyrics that run across the top of the screen. These types of video games may provide additional educational opportunities for children, but it's a far stretch from the normative process of traditional reading in grade school. I hope that I can produce further footage, emphasizing my recent researh on this topic within the near future.

More ways to rock out on your cell phone

Interested in starting a band with your cell phones? Recently, iPhone developer Mister Aardvark created a new application that allows iPhone users to turn their cell phone into a virtual instrument. As of now, there are two different programs that can turn your iPhone into a piano or guitar. If you are interested in playing piano, download Aardvark’s new iAno program. Currently, iAno provides you with a complete 88-key keyboard and allows you to press up to 5 keys at once in order to create chords. iAno also allows piano players to switch the sounds of their keys to non-traditional piano sounds such as samples called “honky tonk”. Another great feature is the user’s ability to play along with mp3’s. So if you’re not in the mood to become the next Beethoven, you can accompany some of your favorite musicians on one of their greatest hits.

If playing piano on your cell phone seems complicated, I cannot imagine what the difficulty factor is for those who want to play guitar. If you’re up for the challenge, you can download the program Pocket Guitar, created by Shinya Kasatani, and jam out on your virtual guitar. No matter what type of music you like to rock out to, Pocket Guitar provides three different sounds: distorted guitar, acoustic-electric guitar, and electric bass. If you’re not in the mood to create your own guitar solo, you can also opt to jam to your own mp3s. That’s right, you supply your own riffs to your favorite songs.

Rather play drums? You won’t have to wait long because developer MooTheCow will be adding the next instrumental addition called Drummer very shortly. The program will turn your cell phone into a mobile drum set, including 4 toms, 3 high hats, 2 snares, and more. As with iAno, drummers will be able to hit up to 5 different pads at once. Rock, Dance, Jazz and Electro drum kits all come pre-installed with the Drummer software, and users will be able to add their own samples to the mix.

With Pocket Guitar being introduced in January, iAno in February, and Drummer soon to come...will there be a trend in the wave of music? Some people are already getting a head start. Check out iBand at www.iband.at. There website showcases 2 videos that they have created using iAno, PocketGuitar, iPhoneSynth and BeatPhone. iBand, featuring Marina on vocals/piano, Seb on drums, and Roger on guitar/bass, are based in Austria and their newest song "Life is Greater than the Internet", which is accompanied by a music video, is all the rage right now on MySpace and YouTube.

guitar hero on your cell phone?

Remember when cell phones came with standard simplistic games available only in black and white? Today, popular culture has exploded in terms of media convergence in American society. As a Verizon Wireless subscriber, I found out that I have more nearly 100 games available instantly at my fingertips…but for a small fee of course. Many games require a subscription fee ranging from $2.99 to $4.99, however, some games allow you to preview the game before purchasing the game. As a gamer, I’ve always looked forward to what’s next in terms of digital quality. Game characters as well as special effects largely enhance the enjoy-ability factor for many gamers such as myself. But how does the quality of games played on Playstation 3 (PS3) and Xbox consoles compare to that of the games played on a cellular phone? Furthermore, are games like Guitar Hero (available to Verizon subscribers only) worth the $4.99 monthly subscription fee that Verizon Wireless charges? Being a Guitar Hero fanatic, I was more than willing to pay the small fee for “research” purposes in order to text the graphics and gameplay capability. It took me approximately three minutes to download the software and one minute to download each song I wanted to play.

I was astounded by how great the graphics were. The sound pretty clear for a cell phone, but I still had a rumbling/vibrating sound that game out of my LG Chocolate phone speakers as the song played. (The sound was set to medium). There are three levels that a user can play on, and the players use keys 1-3 to hit the color-coded beats as they appear on the screen. Star power, ironically, is used when the player hits the * button on their phone.

Graphically, the quality of the game was extremely high...more likely comparable to Playstation 2, rather than PS3 or Xbox. For Guitar Hero addicts who want a quick fix at their fingertips, this option is not a satisfying solution. Currently, there are 15 songs available, but Verizon Wireless will be adding more songs each month. You must play on career mode in order to play more than the 5 songs available in Quick Play mode. While there are interesting challenges not offered on the home console, such as beating a song on expert level while the sound is off, players do not get to play the song in its entirety. I was extremely disappointed to find out that I could only play half of the song. The Verizon service does not offer the entire song regardless of your subscription service ($4.99/month of $11.99 for unlimited use). I consider myself to be and avid Guitar Hero player, so I find Verizon’s adaptation to be highly problematic and very unfulfilling. If the cell phone version, however, was equal to that of the console game, would I still be wiling to shell out nearly $5.00 a month? Probably not. This influence of digital convergence and popular culture has become so engrained in people, including me. Until I find that a product is not “up to my standards”, I would unconsciously hesitate to react to a surcharge for playing a game on my cell phone.

What this cell phone offering surely lacks is the sense of community that the console games offer. I know many people who have Guitar Hero parties, and there are a couple of bars in South Jersey who have Guitar Hero tournaments during the week. The video game brings music lovers together through video technology; however, the cell phone service does little to instill a community-based atmosphere. For young teens, however, challenging your friends to a little Guitar Hero tournament may be a great deal of fun...

Check out a trailer to Guitar Hero for Verizon Wireless customers on YouTube.com

http://youtube.com/watch?v=CBSTVQ70TEY