Over the summer, I've been listening to a lot of music using Spotify and YouTube to find music I wouldn't normally listen to. Additionally, I've been trying to contact several artists, managers and publicists with ranging success.
As a result, I've come up with a list of artists / albums / tracks I think that we could use for this project:
Album - "Of The Blue Colour Of The Sky" by OK Go
Although this album is from 2010, very few of the songs on the album are in the charts or have had music videos made of them by the band.
It's quite hard to describe the genre and lyrics of the songs so I really believe it could stretch the imagination of the group I work with.
Copyright is definitely not an issue because I received a reply from the band's publicity manager saying, "...feel free to use any of the songs from the latest OK Go album "Of The Blue Colour Of The Sky" -- the band controls the recordings and the copyrights, so no other permission is needed."
Only one track on the album is inappropriate for mainstream broadcast because of swearing.
I think that I would probably make a music video for "White Knuckles" (see below) at this point because it seems to be the most alternative track on the album although they are an alternative band.
Artist - Opus Däi
They have had no chart hits, their most popular song is only popular because it was used in a trailer for a video game (which is how I found out about them).
I highly doubt copyright will be any issue because I got an e-mail from the band's drummer saying, "Thanks so much for reaching out to us, thats great that you want to use our song and we would be glad to help you with your project." although they are currently checking with their management for approval.
A lot of their music has a clear genre (mostly heavy metal) and most of their tracks have nothing that makes them inappropriate for a school project.
If I had to pick a song for this music video project, I think that it would be "Touch The Sun" (see below) if only because it's currently the track I like the most.
Track - "One Week" by Barenaked Ladies
This was a chart hit; it got to #5 in the UK Singles in 1998.
The lyrics cover a wide range of subjects and make a lot of pop culture references which should challenge my group to come up with a concept for the video.
The rapid-fire nature of the track makes it very hard to perform which should also be challenging.
Copyright might be an issue although I have found several fan-made music videos for this song on video sharing sites.
The lyrics have nothing that should make it unsuitable for mainstream broadcast.
Artist - Owl City
Apart from the tracks "Fireflies", "Vanilla Twilight" and "Umbrella Beach" Owl City hasn't had much success because his other tracks have not been released as singles.
The genre of his music is fairly consistent in being alternative, electronic pop.
Most of the lyrics are quite unusual which could prove to be inspiring to the group which also means it's doubtful we could make a literal music video.
Very few of his tracks contain anything inappropiate for mainstream broadcast.
Currently, Owl City's manager has not replied about whether or not we can use their music.
I guess that if I had to a choose by the artist, it would probably be "Hot Air Balloon" (see below) because it's the most optimistic song of his, I could find.
By using internet memes, this video appeals to an audience of teenagers and young adults who would have been able to recognise these references to specific viral videos such as "Dramatic Chipmunk" and "afro ninja".
