The iPad solves the user experience malaise. It pulls all the pieces together and makes virtually live music video consumption elegant. By Teddi Shamrock
I had an opportunity to touch an iPad this week. Even though I’m a self-avowed Apple devotee, until I got to really interact with the iPad, I wasn’t sure whether I needed one. The suspense ended the moment I held the iPad. I WANT one!
The iPad will change everything. Technology continues to change how we experience the world, but it’s the interface–the part that touches the human that proves critical. Apple has this down cold! Reading a newspaper is once again exciting. Word-processing on the go? Much easier than typing with just two thumbs! Email? Weather? It’s all here! Playing games alone or with others is utterly transformed. Home control? Completely plausible after holding the iPad.
What I hadn’t really grasped from reading the speculative press prior to the iPad release, however, was just how transformational the iPad will be on how television and movies will be consumed. The screen is bright and just big enough. This has amazing implications–worth watching. The personal, yet high quality picture is particularly poignant for music videos and the virtually live music performance space.
Once a simple marketing device, the music video became an art form all it’s own soon after the advent of MTV. Michael Jackson helped define the music video as art with Thriller helping to solidify his super-stardom. He blurred the line between movies and music as none had done before. The music video television format, however, has been suffering for a number of years. What used to be a 24/7 video format with music news at the top of the hour, is now inescapably, deplorably reality TV oriented.
Is that because the viewing experience soured as the MTV concept became a commercial juggernaut? Or did the 3 minute video become artistically constraining? Or maybe reality TV is just more lucrative for shareholders?
Whatever.
Even though MTV is increasingly less relevant musically, artists–and fans–continue to resonate with the music video medium. Lady Gaga and Beyoncé’s Telephone long-form video is nothing less than an epic mini-movie. And fans are watching. To date the video has generated over 40M hits on YouTube. The issue isn’t that the music video concept has grown stale, the issue is the user experience has languished.
Even before the launch of the iPad, professional content creators and advertisers were anticipating exponential growth in the video space, pushed in part by a massive increase in user generated-content. Similarly, there has been steady growth in wi-fi enabled establishments, all you can eat data plans for smart phones and other non-PC devices capable of streaming video. Top that off with rabid growth of social media, and the stage is set.
Technology is proving to be very democratic in a way that may be most exciting from a 3D music perspective. Digital virtual applications, such as Second Life™, and the overarching social media shift, are converging to make it easier for creatives to make a notable stir on a very small budget. We can, therefore, expect a steady growth in interactive 3D virtual environments hosting live music events–either streaming video or Machinima.
The latter is especially intriguing because of the relative simplicity over frame-based animation or traditional filming. It’s faster, less expensive, infinitely more flexible, with a vast range of readily available, high quality imagery. Similarly, virtual staging, scripting, performing and acting are all less expensive, and less dangerous or physically limiting than live action. Scenes can be precisely scripted with corrections or enhancements easily enabled during post production using traditional video editing techniques. The artist’s vision is limited only by his or her own imagination. This all bodes very well for rich, creative and compelling 3D music video content.
The iPad solves the user experience malaise. It pulls all the pieces together and makes virtually live music video consumption elegant.
Today’s Featured 3D Music Artist: Russel Eponym Compliments of Cher Herrington; Manager, SL Live RadioSecond Life™ musician, Russell Eponym, known to his face to face audiences as Russell Ashby, recently performed at the Blarney Stone Irish Bar in Dublin VL. Russell is a folk singer primarily influenced by the British and European folk tradition. He has played in bands and ensembles covering several musical genres, and has also performed as a solo artist and street singer in London, Paris and Vienna.
Russell’s musical influences include Davy Graham, Bert Jansch and John Renbourne. His unique sound is characterized by his meticulous finger-picking style, his soft lulling voice, and charming British stage presence. Though Russel plays mandolin, banjo and harmonica, his guitar music is what has become so well known and popular to Second Life™ fans.
He is one of the first musicians in Second Life™, having first played in Dublin VL at Trinity College in April, 2006. It was a pleasure to hear him again last week. Russell formed the duo, Spinning Mule along with Neil Morrison, a.k.a. Scott Frigon, and together they produced a new album, “Common Ground”. The entire album may be heard on SL Live Radio.
He played a few songs from the Common Ground album, acknowledging the songwriting talents and music of Neil Morrison and their collaboration on Spinning Mule. Also included in the set list were James Taylor’s “You Can Close Your Eyes”, Josh White’s “One Meatball” and George Gershwin’s “Summertime”. He ended the set a brand new original piece, “Rockpools”.
As he played, Russell greeted everyone in the large audience by singing out their names while fingerpicking on the guitar creating a phenomenon–every single person at the Blarney Stone was tuned in.
He ended the show graciously: “Thanks, Cher… as always, it was a delight to perform at the Blarney Stone in Dublin, a very professionally run venue with a tangible energy! I loved it and cannot wait for the next time. “
For free downloads of Russell’s recordings: http://www.thesixtyone.com/ukcowboys…ollection/all/
