Disney/ABC is getting into the rather crowded field of sites claiming that they will be developing and producing a sorts of short-form original content with their site Stage9 (warning: autoplays). From LATimes:
“Pedowitz said Stage 9 would make it possible to experiment with new forms of storytelling, cultivate young talent and incubate franchises that might someday graduate to the bigger screen, namely TV. And because the financial risks are lower, there is greater creative freedom. The goal is to bridge the gap between the irregular quality of amateur video and traditional television shows.”
Their first step towards this exciting new future is a series called “Squeegees” about window-washers. I like what NewTeeVee had to say:
“…after watching both, what struck me most was how sitcom-y the show is. It’s got the goofy guys, the straight-laced boss (who happens to have a cute daughter), and all the jokes are built around wacky situations. That doesn’t mean it’s not funny: There are chuckle-inducing bits about nougat, drunken window-washing, and exposing one’s self in front of a day-care class in a particularly painful way. It just doesn’t seem as — ugh, I can’t believe I’m actually typing this — edgy as the Donkey’s previous work (Orgasmalarm, anyone?). ”
Disney also seems to be making all the same mistakes the other big players have made, as summed up by Tilzy:
“Check out Squeegees on ABC.com, but if you want to bypass half-minute pre-roll ads for the Toyota Corolla (that car seem to be sponsoring a helluva lot of online video), YouTube is the place to be. Of course, embeds for the show are currently disabled, so you’ll HAVE to go to one of those spots to watch. Just when you thought big corporations were all web savvy with their own online original series, they pull these tired, old media shenanigans. “
There’s been a bunch of news lately about the resurgence of the vinyl LP, especially among younger buyers. Now comes word that nearly one-half of all teens did not but one single CD in 2007. Not a single one!
Clearly, this is not due to the growth of LP sales (at least not entirely) but more to the explosion in digital music. Not only does “pirated” music continue to be a massive market but legal downloads are on the rise as well.
“The number of people buying music legally from online music stores jumped 21% to 29 million last year from 24 million in 2006, according to the study by NPD Group, a market research firm in Port Washington, N.Y.”
One big reason for this is that online distributors and labels have realized the need for DRM-free downloads. They’re also playing around a lot with pricing structures as I mentioned yesterday with Amie Street. (check out this post for another scheme from indistr).
We all remember the video of the Rodney King beating. Of course, that was long before YouTube, so we watched it on the evening news.
Now, as this article in the LA Times explores, there is a growing number of people from a wide variety of backgrounds, hitting the streets with cheap video cameras and shooting people in the act of committing crimes or other outrageous behavior.
From the LA Times:
“Steering wheel in one hand, camcorder in the other, Bates slowly drove a white Ford Explorer with tinted windows past a procession of sad-eyed prostitutes. But his camera was not trained on them; it was targeting their customers.
Bates, the self-styled Video Vigilante of Oklahoma City, sneaks up and surprises men consorting with prostitutes and then posts cleaned-up versions of the footage on the Internet — to disgrace them.
“If you get caught by the cops, you pay a fine. If you get caught by me, you get a life sentence,” Bates bragged as he trailed a middle-aged man who had invited a young prostitute into his red Ford pickup. “There’s no reprieve, no probation. People will be hitting that video on Google searches as long as you live.”
While Bates seems interested in some sort of social karma, others are simply in it for fun and for profit. There are going to be more and more videos hitting the internet showing everyone all sorts of dark little secrets.
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February 28, 2008 9:25 pm | 
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