MysteryGuitarMan and Ultra Records (Vassy)

So Joe Penna (aka MysteryGuitarMan or MGM) is a very, very popular YouTuber and if you haven't seen some of his videos you should. They are very creative both musically and visually. But that's not exactly what I want to talk about today. So on June 22, MGM posted a new video using the music of Vassy with permission directly from Vassy (she's a Australian born R & B singer.)

The situation in itself is not unusual, performers often give YouTubers permission to use their songs in videos. But what happened was unusual and disapointing for MGM. Joe stated that he received a copy right infringement notification directly from the record label (Ultra Records) asking him to remove the video, which he did. I understand that once an artist signs a record contract they technically no longer control the rights to their music, but this seems a bit silly to me. I'm not saying it was his best video ever, but it was good and it was promoting one of their artists with clear links to find out more about her.

Call me old fashioned but there's a phrase that goes "all press is good press." So when a talented well known artist puts together a well thought out and well executed video FOR FREE, why would you want to put the kibosh on that? It will promote your artist, resulting in better awareness/popularity and more importantly SALES (aka money to keep your company running.)

I think what the record label is really pushing is that you have to go to their page to discover their artist, which doesn't work. For better or worse, the idea that as a label you can completely control the discovery of your content is not a reality any longer. While it might be ideal as a company for customers to come to your record label's YouTube page to find out about new artists, that's really not how it works anymore. As humans we make many of our decisions by recommendation or word of mouth. So if someone with a large audience is willing to promote your artist why not let them?

As Her record label if Vassy were to go on SNL and sing her songs you would be ok with that? You'd probably even let her go on a lesser known show to promote her music. So when a guy who consistently gets over a million views on his videos and has over 82 million total video views you'd be crazy not to roll with it, right?

Just check out these analytics on her video for an acoustic version of her song "history" after Joe took the video down and simply linked to it in a video on his SECOND channel, which has much fewer subscribers. You might see a recent spike.




The original video in question (I did not repost it, just found it):



Joe's Explanation:



Vassy:

20 Riverside Music Video

Check out this video I made for my friends 20 Riverside. Their music is awesome and very worth checking out. They've got a funky vibe, sweet horns and great lyricists.

LIVESTRONG Challenge Seattle 5K

So sunday I ran in the LIVESTRONG Challenge Seattle 5K, and it was a blast! Completing a 5K may seem difficult, but you dont have to run and it's great to get active. If you have a LIVESTRONG event near you I'd definitely encourage you to take part. It helps a great cause and is a lot fun.

For more information please visit:

www.livestrong.org

Flipped Out: The NW Pinball and Gameroom Show

So this past weekend I attended the Northwest Pinball and Gameroom Show at the Seattle Center and relived spending the afternoon at the local bowling alley arcade as a kid. It's an awesome convention that is exactly what it sounds like, a celebration of arcade games. Basically with the price of admission ($10.00) you get unlimited play all day on both the pinball machines and the arcade video games. They have 250+ pinball and arcade games, so there are plenty of games from the 50's and 60's up to modern machines to test your metal. I'd definitely recommend checking it out.

Also if you need repair parts for your machine, you're in luck! There's several vendors selling the internal components, as well as complete machines.

The Subtle Art of Ripping a Phone Book in Half

Tearing a phone book in half may seem like a herculean act but I can assure you it is far from that. A while back I was surfing around YouTube and came across a video purporting to teach how to rip a phone book in half, and it looked surprisingly easy. Now being the twenty first century guy I am, I don't have a phone book, so I couldn't take advantage of my new found knowledge.

Until the other day that was. I was hanging out a my friend Kevin's house before heading off to a Sounders game and I noticed he had about five or six old phone books on his fridge. Excited I took one out to his living room and asked if I could rip it in half. He looked at me like I was crazy and said there was no way I could do it but would like to see me try. While I was eager to show off, I hadn't seen the video for a little while but I still remembered the main parts. After messing around with the book for a minute or two I succeeded in tearing it apart and looking like a bad ass.

I showed Him how to do it and we spent the next hour taking turns tearing the rest of the phone books in half and feeling like he-men. We even grabbed the video camera and filmed one, check it out. I'll also post the video tutorial I learned from. And remember it's all about getting that crease right.