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Lil B’s NYU Lecture and the Social Media Wunderkind

posted April 17th, 2012 & filed under marketing/advertising, Serious Stuff, social networking

Lil B, the legendary Based God himself, hopped off of his Social Media throne last week into the real world to a give a lecture to 500 people in a crammed NYU auditorium to speak on absolutely every topic imaginable in an amazing extension of his cult-like Internet persona. The week before when the news broke that Lil B was invited to lecture the trending wheels almost fell off the bus; some were completely befuddled at the concept, the hip hop purists were thoroughly outraged, and the rest were beyond ecstatic, but how did a rapper with no major label backing and barely any official releases translate a cult following into over 400,000 Twitter followers, 60 million YouTube views, and a lecture at a prestigious university?

Over time Lil B has utilized Social Media to it’s utmost potential. Even back in the infancy of the new web, he was something of a MySpace pioneer with hundreds of different accounts chockfull of free music to download with an ever rotating and updated catalogue of absurd and relentless tracks. His success is a combination of an innate knack for promotion through Social Media coupled with extremely unique content that’s literally impossible for other artists to duplicate. The combination of these two ideas is really what’s driving the bulk of his success; if he was able to accomplish only one of those tasks he would never be as huge as he is right now, but because his prowess on Social Media is almost unmatched, he’s seamlessly translating his fanbase into real world venues.

via Pitchfork

That takes us right into the heart of his NYU lecture. Over an hour and a half he gave us unreal quotable material, life coach style affirmations, and a singular vision that’s savant like to some and absolutely awe inspiring to others. Over the course of the lecture he covered a massive laundry list of topics: adopting cats from the ASPCA, existential quandaries, the similarities between humans and insects, why we should stop hydraulic fracking, the first announcement of his California garage rock record, and that “Every single person you meet, look at them like a golden million dollar baby”.

His success though Social Media and it’s translation into real world venues is an amazing model for artists who are looking to expand their online presence and brand. There are a few key concepts that have led to his massive cult-like following.

First off, a major aspect is his singular unique vision and content; even if you were to promote yourself as much as Lil B does, without unique content it’s not going to have an inimitable mimetic quality that so much of his work effortlessly achieves. Secondly, Lil B is the perfect combination of an instantly accessible meme with a fully integrated Social Media promotional system backing him up. He’s amassed over 400,00 Twitter followers and over 60 million Youtube views simply from self promotion and word of mouth Social Media sharing. He personally responds to almost every fan that contacts him, while simultaneously releasing a new free mixtape of around 20 songs every three weeks, and on top of that one or two new music videos every week or so. Coupled with his incessant self-promotion, he has a devoted fanbase of fully enthused followers that add on another layer of promotion to what he already does, which reinforces the viral quality of everything he releases.

The reason he was asked to lecture at NYU is almost a byproduct of his success through Social Media. He has an entirely rare and singular approach to everything he releases, and his knack for Social Media has given him an unusually large audience for such strange and sometimes difficult material. On top of that he’s probably the only rapper to have invented a complete philosophy, meme, and movement in which to release and package all of his content, which has spawned an entirely new Based sub-genre unto itself. The NYU lecture is just another stepping stone in what will become a long and storied career for him, and we’re lucky enough to be able trace his entire journey through Social Media and the collective online community.

Below are links for a written transcription of the entire lecture, an audio recording, a really interesting version of the transcription as read through voice recognition software, and some of the most interesting quotables from the night.

Written Transcription

http://www.thefader.com/2012/04/12/based-scripture-the-full-transcript-of-lil-bs-lecture-at-nyu/

Audio Recording

http://soundcloud.com/trent-walker/lil-b-at-nyu

Voice Recognition Software Version

http://soundcloud.com/regular-music/the-full-transcript-lil-b

Quotes from the Lecture via Pitchfork

“I’m the first rapper to adopt a tabby cat. I adopted it straight from the ASPCA, you feel me?”
“When I was younger, I didn’t even know how to walk. I was so self-conscious.”
“Every single person you meet, look at them like a golden million dollar baby.”
“I was having these big ant problems in my house. As I was studying these ant colonies. It’s like man, they have their own communities too. I’m there with them.”
“I’m out here trying to get my Mitt Romney on.”
“You guys are the first to hear it: I’m actually releasing my rock album. This is gonna be some garage punk. This one’s for the rebels. Look out for the Lil B rock record, California Boy.”
“Let’s stop fracking. Who knows about hydraulic fracking? I’m like whodie, get that oil out the ocean!”
“Real talk, you guys are about to freak out because I got a song with one of the biggest artists on Earth coming.”
At one point, Lil B laid on a table and imitated himself going to sleep, whispering, “Honesty, integrity, friendship, passion…”
“Until further notice, I’m paying taxes and I’m loving it.”

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Holographic Tupac: Idea Originates from Hatsune Miku

posted April 16th, 2012 & filed under digital trends, Serious Stuff

Last night during Snoop Dogg and Dr. Dre’s peformance at Coachella a miraculous event took place: the legendary west coast rapper Tupac performed a two song set for an astounded crowd; but it wasn’t due to the myriad of theories that Pac is still alive, it was actually a Tupac hologram. He appeared on stage, gave a shout out to Dre and Snoop, then amazingly shouted out Coachella, and went into a two song set of his signature classics “Hail Mary” and the Snoop duet “Amerikaz Most Wanted”.

This is probably one of the first instances of holographically projected celebrities within an American concert, but it’s actually a concept that‘s been popular in Japan for the last few years. Back in August I wrote about the most popular Japanese virtual pop star Hatsune Miku who was created in 2007 by Yamaha and Sega. Her voice is a combination of synthesizer software and Japanese voice actress Saki Fujita, but her likeness is entirely holographic.

It definitely seems like similar technology was used to bring an incredibly lifelike version of Tupac to the stage, from his distinct vocal inflections to even his west coast dance moves in between sharing verses with Snoop. It’s only a matter of time before entire concerts in America will be performed by holograms, whether they’re entirely synthesized or amalgams of stars that have already passed. It wouldn’t be surprising if instead of a Michael Jackson tribute concert in Las Vegas they’ll just holographically project a compilation of his best performances for a different crowd every night. Holographic stars don’t even need contracts, or extensive tour riders, just a tech crew with an endless fiber optic feed.

Hatsune Miku article:

http://lunavega.net/2011/08/social-media-the-simulation-quandary/

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Deconstructing Grimes: Will Her Internet Fame Last?

posted April 13th, 2012 & filed under Serious Stuff, Trends

Since signing with record label 4AD, Canadian electronic musician Grimes aka Claire Boucher, has become the new indie darling with tons of glowing reviews everywhere from Pitchfork, Stereogum, The New York Times, and even landing the cover of avant garde fashion magazine Dazed & Confused. Her most popular tracks include the singles “Vanessa” and “Oblivion”

Photo by John Londono

She encompasses a lot of the familiar tropes you might find in indie-electronic musicians. Of course, with this comes the criticism from Hipster Runoff and other music bloggers who are already questioning how much sustenance her musical output can really maintain. Is it just a matter of time before she’s trending alongside Lana Del Rey’s poses, or can her indie buzz stand up over time?

1) DIY Generation and her early Internet Buzz

Grimes is part of the DIY generation and most of her early buzz came from Internet blogs instead of from shows she was playing. In an interview with Exclaim.ca she talked about the first Grimes release Geidi Primes, a hand-packaged cassette limited to 30 copies, but also offered as a free download in January 2010 by Arbutus Records. Boucher describes it as “just a record I made that only 20 people knew about,” and soon thereafter blogs like Gorilla Vs. Bear were quick to pick up on it as “an essential go-to late night jam.” For a while she recorded her own albums using Apple’s GarageBand until she started using keyboards, synthesizers, and other effects tools. All of her internet buzz led her to open in May 2011 for Lykke Li on her North American Tour and the following August, her debut album was re-released through No Pain in Pop Records.

2) Her unique sound, style, and aesthetic

Her entire aesthetic and unique ambient, vintage Sci-Fi sound and sometimes wordless vocals sets her apart from other electronic musicians, and it doesn’t hurt that her tracks are extremely catchy. One of the most popular song off new 4AD album Visions is “Oblivion” which combines an 80s electro backbeat and ambient synths with 50s style girl group almost doo-wop harmonies for a really interesting sound that’s both completely futuristic while also evoking the best pop music of the past. Her style also appeals to the fashionista set with her eerie, hippie-goth, futuristic sort of look. She’s also leveraged her fashion fanbase by creating a Tumblr so fans can emulate her look, in addition to her completely raw Twitter feed where she personally engages with tons of fans and shares her every unfiltered thought.

3) Will she fade into Internet oblivion?

Her rise within the indie scene has also created some comparisons to Lana Del Rey, not as much stylistically, but they’re compared more for their quick rise and buzz within indie circles In an article for San Diego City Beat, writer Seth Combs created an algorithm of sorts which calculates that it takes an average of 35 days for an artist’s buzz to turn into backlash, and cites different artists like Odd Future and Del Ray as starting off huge but eventually dissipating just as quickly.

He definitely has a point where the online indie sphere has an inherent timeline in place to give an artist early compliments, only to half-heartedly retract or diminish them later, which is something Pitchfork has almost been built on, but as Combs states in the article, even though Grimes exists in the same indie sphere as someone like Del Rey, their overall career trajectory is worlds apart. Grimes has produced and wrote every song she’s ever released while although Del Rey co-wrote every track on her debut Interscope album, she’s didn’t produce the actual music for any of the tracks. Also, Grimes had been releasing music for over two years and courting a slow building buzz on different indie tastemaker sites before she crossed over to a more relevant indie position. Del Ray’s ascension was so meteoric that the backlash was almost built in just for that notion beyond whether or not her music even deserved the negative press.

via Dazed & Confused

It also seems like Grimes has a more diverse array of tools at her disposal that can sustain the short attention of the indie glitterati. She’s using bits and pieces of warm pop and eclectic electronic sounds from different eras that are entirely familiar but at the same time distinctly her own. Her influences include everything from medieval music, to volatile industrial and noise stuff, to hip hop, and in the Pitchfork interview she said her favorite singer is Mariah Carey “because her voice sounds utterly groundless. It’s not even a human voice; it almost sounds mechanical.”

That’s what really makes her music so substantial right now and why it stands out amongst the other way over-saturated indie-electronic music genres. Grimes takes so many of the best aspects from ambient, new age, R&B, idm, and pop music, and creates a new sound that’s completely her own, but still so familiar that you almost feel like you’ve heard it before. It’s easy to compare two artists with substantial indie cred but when you really take a look at why they’ve become popular, it’s easier to get an idea of what will happen to their careers in the future. It almost doesn’t matter how much fame builds around an artist, some sort backlash will eventually happen. It’s really up to them to determine how that initial buzz will affect the rest of their career.

Resources:

Pitchfork

http://pitchfork.com/features/interviews/8774-grimes/

http://pitchfork.com/features/directors-cut/8783-grimes-oblivion/

The New York Times

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/08/fashion/claire-boucher-known-as-grimes-mines-beauty-from-the-dark-side.html

Complex

http://www.complex.com/music/2012/04/who-is-grimes

Fact Magzine

http://www.factmag.com/2012/02/27/grimes-visions/

Wikipedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grimes_%28musician%29

Hipster Runoff

http://www.hipsterrunoff.com/topic/grimes-claire-boucher

Exclaim.ca

http://exclaim.ca/Features/OnTheCover/grimes-accidental_pop_star/Page/2

San Diego City Beat

http://www.sdcitybeat.com/sandiego//article-10233-how-long-will-grimes-be-indie-musics-new-it-girl.html

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Television and the Interactive Realm of Social Media

posted April 11th, 2012 & filed under digital trends, marketing/advertising, Miscellaneous, Serious Stuff, social networking

Every aspect of our lives have completely merged with Social Media, including the entertainment we take in and how we interact with it. Out of all the mediums television has definitely seen the most seamless integration with a huge a presence on Facebook, Twitter, and tons of different websites that solely focus on fan participation. The viewing experience has taken on a completely new level of interactivity in addition to the benefits of essential marketing and research tools only available on Social Media.

One of the major changes that has come with Social Media integration into television are fully interactive viewing experiences. There are shows that have premiered in the last few months where Social Media has allowed the viewer to actually become another character on the show. One of the best examples is the recent NBC reality show Escape Routes. It’s an Amazing Race style series that pits teams of two against each other in urban locales as they go on scavenger hunts to accomplish different tasks, but the major difference is the viewer at home can help out the teams with their missions in real time, through Social Media as a virtual teammate. The competitors on the show update their whereabouts and specific tasks while getting assistance online from the viewers at home who become virtual team members and if you’re local enough you can go to the city they’re in and help them out with the tasks, which completely breaks down the wall between a passive audience member and actually becoming an part of the show.

Escape Routes is one of the best examples of a fully interactive and immersive television experience, but lots of producers have integrated Social Media into different facets of their shows. Watch What Happens Live, a late night talk show on Bravo hosted by reality show dilettante Andy Cohen, takes questions from Facebook and Twitter followers in real time that alter the show’s content and sometimes get a rise out of otherwise stale guests. Bravo has been one of the early adapters of Social Media presence for their stable of reality show franchises. They encourage their most prominent cast members to maintain weekly blogs that expand on each episodes weekly storylines, and they air what they call “Social” editions of some episodes that have pertinent tweets from the cast members commenting on the storylines as the action unfolds on screen.

Beyond integration with Social Media into a show’s actual storyline, producers and creators have turned to Facebook and Twitter as another gauge for a show’s success. Before the Internet one of the only ways for a network to grasp the popularity of a show was through Nielson boxes, which are doled out to a mix of different demographics to get a numerical gauge of actual viewership. Social Media hasn’t made Nielson numbers irrelevant, (they’re still the main way that advertising revenue is determined for networks), but Social Media has become a different type of barometer that can sometimes even save a low rated show from cancellation. One of the best examples is the cult favorite absurdist NBC sitcom Community. Even though it was shelved midway though it’s third season, the outpouring of support from its dedicated and mostly younger fanbase was enough for the network to let it finish out the last 12 episodes of its season and then make a final decision after that.

Series creator Dan Harmon attributed this turnaround to a new television audience that does most of their viewing online in unmeasured venues outside of the Nielson system. In an interview with The New York Times Mr. Harmon said, “The most coveted demographic, and most coveted of that demographic, these very smart, upwardly mobile, college-age kids just don’t watch TV anymore.” Social Media has become such a huge factor in not only changing the television experience, but also as marketing research for show developers and networks who can get tangible real world opinions from their actual audience instead of the sometimes unrealistic Nielson numbers. The Internet has completely reshaped the entire entertainment industry, and especially television has gone through a complete transformation in every venue, from the couch, to the computer screen, to the boardroom.

Resources:

Escape Routes

http://www.escaperoutes.com/welcome

http://www.nbc.com/escape-routes/

http://thefutoncritic.com/news/2012/03/07/ford-teams-up-with-nbc-and-emmy-award-winning-reality-producer-for-prime-time-tv-reality-show-escape-routes-436412/20120308ford01/

Bravo

http://www.bravotv.com/

http://www.bravotv.com/watch-what-happens-live

http://www.bravotv.com/blogs

http://www.bravotv.com/blogs/the-dish/get-social-with-the-real-housewives-of-atlanta-tonight

https://twitter.com/#!/BRAVOANDY

Community

http://www.nbc.com/community/

The New York Times

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/13/arts/television/nbc-brings-community-back-to-its-passionate-fan-base.html?pagewanted=all

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Why is The Hunger Games Not So Hot Abroad?

posted April 6th, 2012 & filed under marketing/advertising, Serious Stuff, social networking

With the amount of publicity The Hunger Games has been getting in the US and its record breaking box office numbers, I was naturally curious to see if it was getting the same reaction across the world. Even though I haven’t seen the movie, Rolling Stone and other respected publications have been giving it extremely good reviews. The Hunger Games also had a huge marketing push localizing its content across different regions including

1) Region specific Facebook pages and a Facebook game

http://www.facebook.com/thehungergamesmovie/app_234281223336412

2) Region specific Twitter accounts

3) Region specific Tumblr pages

http://hungergamessingapore.tumblr.com/

http://hungergamesphils.tumblr.com/

http://hungergamesthai.tumblr.com/

On the other hand, the new blockbuster Wrath of the Titans doesn’t have a Twitter account, and only utilized region specific Facebook pages and a Facebook game, which actually ended up being a pretty smart move considering the Facebook adoption has been much more successful abroad than the Twitter campaigns. Beyond the box office totals that show how much more weight Wrath of the Titans has overseas, the Google Search Volume Index numbers were also much stronger last week vs The Hunger Games in regions like Singapore, Philippines, Malaysia, India, Greece, Thailand, and Romania.

So why did The Hunger Games flop abroad when they clearly had a stronger and more viral marketing campaign than Wrath of Titans?

Could it have been the cast? I’ve read numerous blogs that were dissatisfied with the lack of ethnic casting and the fact there were no Asians or Latinos in significant roles. Maybe it was the storyline? Many blogs were critical that the plot of The Hunger Games was a little too similar to the 2000 Japanese cult favorite film Battle Royale, where a former high school teacher at the behest of the Japanese government kidnaps his former ninth grade class and forces them to kill each other on a remote island until only one is left standing. Oddly enough the Wrath of the Titans storyline is nowhere as sophisticated and has received overwhelmingly horrible reviews. Let’s face it – the world loves American films for their action packed special effects, and maybe not so much for our derivative storylines.

There’s also the fact that very often a film as distinctive as The Hunger Games doesn’t always correspond well on a cultural level in other countries. There are tons of films that are blockbusters in the region they’re conceived in but when they come to the states it’s hard for them to match that success, and frequently they’ll even do poorly outside of their own country.

So much of what makes The Hunger Games a hit in America might actually be the same thing that’s inhibiting its success across the pond. A lot of the plot deals with a futuristic, post-apocalyptic version of North America in the context of a reality show satire that might be hard for foreign markets to fully immerse themselves in without a prior understanding of current American entertainment and political culture.

It’s also based on a series of novels that been criticized for their simplistic writing style that are teen-centric in their focus and reference points. It might be possible too that the foreign mainstream markets have a different palette that this film underwhelms. Certain regions might not have the best grasp of the English language, so some intricacies of the storyline that are lost in translation could potentially make for a less enjoyable film. It’s hard enough predicting a successful film in one country, and being able to create something with equal popularity around the globe becomes another feat entirely.

Resources:

Global Box Office numbers

http://boxofficemojo.com/intl/

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/foreign-box-office-hunger-games-wrath-titans-dr-seuss-lorax-306653

Hunger Games Promotional Pages

http://www.thehungergamesmovie.com/

http://www.facebook.com/thehungergamesmovie/app_234281223336412

https://twitter.com/#!/TheHungerGames

https://twitter.com/#!/HungerGamesUK

http://hungergamessingapore.tumblr.com/

http://hungergamesphils.tumblr.com/

http://hungergamesthai.tumblr.com/

Wrath of the Titans Promotional Pages

http://wrathofthetitans.warnerbros.com/index.html

http://apps.facebook.com/wottgame/

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South Park and the Evolution of the Internet Meme

posted April 4th, 2012 & filed under digital trends, Serious Stuff, social networking, Trends

Last week’s episode of South Park took a satirical spin on the history and evolution of memes, and in the process came up with some hilarious and elaborate explanations for why memes exist and evolve over time. According to South Park, the first recorded meme appeared on the hieroglyphics of the pyramids, and from there they’ve been changing and rapidly spreading over time, only to be left with the modern day examples that are rampant all over the Internet. Of course South Park’s take on memes is more satirical in nature, but in all satire there’s some morsel of truth revealed, and they made some interesting and astute comments on the world of memes, and especially how and why they exist on the Internet.

via i raff i ruse

Simply stated a meme is a concept, idea, image, or behavior that spreads quickly through culture, and although they’ve existed for hundreds of years, the term was first coined by biologist Richard Dawkins in his 1976 book The Selfish Gene, as a concept within evolution to explain the spreading of cultural phenomenons. Since then memes have become a known and studied concept within the realm of modern culture, but the real evolution of memes took off with the expansion of the Internet. There have even been empirical scientific studies done that aimed to show why certain memes are successful online and others become digital debris.

South Park mocked this scenario by replacing old memes with new ones in increasingly absurd scenarios. First it was “Faith Hilling”, then it became “Taylor Swifting”, then it was “Breading” and “Reporting”, which expanded into a new take on “Oh Long Johnsoning”, and then when those became trite and passé, they started combining the most recent trends together into an all new mega-meme, but what is it about memes that gives them such a short shelf life?

via LOLVirgin

The Internet and Social Media have created such an instantaneous culture that has only added to our collective short attention spans. Everyone is always trying to get more and more done in a shorter amount of time, including frivolous things like entertainment and keeping up with trends. Memes are almost a shorthand for cultural concepts that can encompass a wide range of ideas in a very small and precise way, and when that’s coupled with the infinite diversions and short shelf life of Internet content, it only makes sense that our interest, no matter how large at first, will eventually be waning. The more memes compete with each other for our attention, the less time we have to focus on them, and the easier it is to become bored with their concept.

via icanhascheezburger

So why are certain memes more successful while others fall by the wayside? Why does the classic meme prank of Rickrolling have more viral sustenance then say something like breading, which seemed like it arrived almost as quickly as it disappeared? Partially it’s due to the older memes that arrived when Social Media was in its infancy had less competition, so if someone made one that was successful, it definitely stuck around for longer and became more ingrained into Internet culture. It seems like there’s so much competition now that memes have to really cut across all demographics and tastes to really maintain any sort of Internet presence.

There’s also the intangible entertainment value of memes which is sometimes just a random factor. The right timing, the right combination of graphics and slogan make a certain meme a success the same way a television show in the right time slot gets renewed but a higher quality one with more competition and lower ratings will get cancelled. Overall memes have become such a fascinating and integral part of the Internet and they’re definitely one of the best ways to get an accurate grasp of our culture at any given time, from caveman paintings to the virtual web of the future.

Here’s a list of some of the most notable Internet memes of the last 15 years (in no particular order)

1. Keyboard Cat

2. Numa Numa Dance

3. LOLcats

4. Chuck Norris Facts

5. Randall the Honey Badger

6. Oh Long Johnson

7. Chocolate Rain

8. Double Rainbow

9. Based God

10. People of Walmart

11. Dramatic Chipmunk

12. Rickrolling

13. Diet Coke and Mentos

14. Planking / Owling / Breading

15. Star Wars Kid

16. Epic Fail!

17. Scumbag Steve

18. Nyan Cat

19. Tebowing / Bradying

20. Dancing Baby

References:

Net For Beginners

http://netforbeginners.about.com/od/weirdwebculture/tp/The-Best-Internet-Memes.htm

Know Your Meme

http://knowyourmeme.com/

http://knowyourmeme.com/blog/meme-review/best-memes-of-2011

South Park

http://www.southparkstudios.com/full-episodes/s16e03-faith-hilling

Nature

http://www.nature.com/srep/2012/120329/srep00335/full/srep00335.html

Mashable

http://mashable.com/2009/05/25/youtube-video-memes/

Wikipedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faith_Hilling

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Selfish_Gene

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meme

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Twitter and the Celebrity Backlash

posted March 29th, 2012 & filed under digital trends, Serious Stuff, social networking

There are over 100 million people on Twitter including a countless number of celebrities, from some of the biggest stars and politicians in the world, to the smaller ones from reality shows or the Internet famous. No matter what the size of a star’s fanbase, a lot of celebrities have realized Twitter might actually not be the best platform for interaction or growing their brand.

What makes Twitter unique is that it allows for the most direct access versus any other Social Media platform. There’s definitely celebrities that post on Facebook and will sometimes answer questions, but Twitter has become the go to venue for instantaneous unfiltered access for fans. A lot of celebrities have remarked Twitter allows them to have their own voice outside of a Publicist or a PR sculpted format; it’s almost one of the only authentic forms of expression for people in the public eye and the least censored by the people managing their career.

Some people feel that celebrities should expect to get trolled or at least sarcastically harassed on Twitter, and it’s important to remember that expectations of fans change based on the way you interact with them. If you’re constantly giving your opinion about everything in the news or pop culture, then your fans will react in a similar manner. There’s also the idea that once you’re in the public eye you lose some portion of your privacy, and when that’s combined with a platform like Twitter, it can make even the most amiable celebrity an easy target.

The term “twitter beef” has also become a common concept where instead of being trolled by snarky fans, a celebrity will engage in a war of words with other celebrities. It takes place across all avenues of entertainment, but especially in the hip hop community, where brash comments and bravado go hand in hand on a platform like Twitter. One of the most interesting and comical Twitter beefs occurred last year between Fabolous and Ray J, which escalated from the Internet to a wildly comical and surreal radio interview, which was then perfectly referenced in a classic Rick Ross couplet on his track “You the Boss”.

There’s also a handful of instances where celebrities will get caught up in how free and open Twitter is and they’ll either decide to completely close their account or hand it over to their handlers for strictly promotional purposes. John Mayer, Alec Baldwin, and others have quit Twitter after their tweets led to subsequent scandals. It’s so instantaneous and such a direct form of expression it’s easy to forget that one snafu could become a worldwide trending topic by the next afternoon.

Another aspect of celebrities quitting Twitter is due to abuse from their followers. Sometimes amassing a huge number of followers comes with the requisite Internet trolls who are merely on there just to get a rise out of you or cause backlash. English comedy star Matt Lucas recently deleted his Twitter account after one of his followers tweeted an insensitive joke about the death of his co-star Kevin McGee. With the open and direct interaction also comes the negative aspect of too much access. Sometimes people get overly comfortable with celebrities because they’re so familiar with them, and when you throw in the anonymity of Internet, it can potentially lead to these situations.

Our culture has created an incessant need for celebrity gossip and Twitter is an up to the minute feed of the backstage minutia that enhances or detracts from the public’s perception of a celebrity. Instead of waiting for the weekly tabloid magazines you can find out what’s going on every hour, and sometimes even as it’s actually happening. As with all Social Media there are definitely pros and cons that come with each platform, but because of its unfiltered and direct nature, Twitter is a platform that doesn’t always benefit every celebrity.

Resources:

Telegraph

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/twitter/9166584/Twitter-quitters-increasing-numbers-of-celebrities-leave-the-site.html

MTV

http://rapfix.mtv.com/2011/09/19/fabolous-ray-j-fight-in-las-vegas/

Rap Radar

http://rapradar.com/2011/09/19/ray-j-speaks-on-fabolous-altercation/

Vibe

http://www.vibe.com/post/fighting-words-are-celebrity-twitter-beefs-getting-tired-129570

Rolling Out

http://rollingout.com/entertainment/top-celebrity-twitter-beefs-of-2011/

Wall Street Journal

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204792404577229132810307306.html

Rolling Stone

http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/john-mayer-reveals-why-he-quit-twitter-20110713

Entertainment Weekly

http://popwatch.ew.com/2011/12/07/alec-baldwin-twitter-celebrities-who-quit/

1 Comment »

Are Human Billboards the Next Big Thing? A look at Italian Vogue’s Haute Mess

posted March 26th, 2012 & filed under marketing/advertising, Serious Stuff, Trends

via Fashionista

There’s been quite a controversy these last two weeks about the recent Vogue Italia “Haute Mess” cover story. The photospread featured flashy clothes and over the top hairdos inspired by urban culture and was criticized for its racist undertones by a myriad of websites and blogs, including Jezebel, Fashionista, and New York Magazine, which also ran an interview allowing editor Franca Sozzani to explain her vantage point and conception behind the photos.

via Fashionista

Beyond the fact that the editorial could definitely be viewed as derogatory, what was really surprising is how Vogue Italia exactly replicated images from various blogs such as No Way Girl and Yum Yucky without giving proper attribution or even referencing them as inspiration. If you look closely some of the images are nearly IDENTICAL, and basically too similar to have happened by accident. I understand in the age of the Internet that almost everyone pulls references from various online sources, but creating content that isn’t original and is simply recycled is just wrong, and it only breeds laziness.

Another interesting component in the editorial that peaked my interest was their use of a variety of corporate logos. Some of the women were completely branded and incorporated them into their overall style and aesthetic. Since 2008 I’ve been following the trend of people using logos as a fashion statement, and I had created a project in which companies could pay for models to be branded in their signature logo and color scheme from head to toe. I had the idea after seeing a surging trend of tattoo advertising, where individuals would tattoo logos in their bodies as a way to earn money.

via The Next Great Generation

With brands wanting to be more and more a part of our lives, and combined with the massive reality TV phenomenon of the last decade, it won’t be long until “regular” people are paid by brands to advertise their products. Seeing these over the top “ghetto hairdos” made me wonder how long it’ll take for this trend to actually come full circle. I really think that in the very near future it won’t be surprising if some of the younger demographics start wearing brands for sponsorship value, both as a way to earn money, and possibly for the ironic detachment of embracing corporate interests instead of rejecting them which was the common stance in previous generations.

Here are some other examples of people embracing corporate logos:

This is an interesting blogger who claims he’ll wear your brand for money:

http://vonahn.blogspot.com/2009/02/ill-wear-your-clothes-for-money.html

A woman wearing an all Louis Vuitton suit

http://nowaygirl.com/latest-fashion/everything-louis-vuitton/

The Mike Judge film Idiocracy predicts that people will be sponsored by brands:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0387808/

Artist Ryder Ripps and his fascination with the brand Under Armour

http://ryder-ripps.com/UNDER_ARMOUR/

http://www.thecreatorsproject.com/blog/wtfashion-trend-net-artists-wearing-under-armour

References:

Vogue Italia

http://www.vogue.it/en/magazine/cover-story/2012/03/over-the-top

Jezebel

http://jezebel.com/5891683/new-vogue-italia-story-pokes-fun-at-poor-blacks-and-latinas-seems-kinda-racist/gallery/1

http://jezebel.com/5894844/vogue-italia-editor-invites-everyone-who-thought-cover-story-was-racist-to-seek-psychiatric-help

Fashionista

http://fashionista.com/2012/03/vogue-italias-haute-mess-editorial-racist-or-not-the-debate-continues/

New York Magazine

http://nymag.com/daily/fashion/2012/03/franca-sozzani-talks-about-her-haute-mess.html

No Way Girl

http://nowaygirl.com/

Yum Yucky

http://www.yumyucky.com/2011/03/gallery-of-ghetto-fabulous-edible-hair-dos.html

Toilet Paper Entrepreneur

http://www.toiletpaperentrepreneur.com/managing-focus/tattoo-advertising-brands-that-permanently-market-on-your-body/

The Next Great Generation

http://www.thenextgreatgeneration.com/2011/04/would-you-tattoo-your-favorite-brand-on-your-body/

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The Social Media K-Pop Fever

posted March 22nd, 2012 & filed under Fun Stuff, insightful, Miscellaneous, social networking

A new kind of Korean pop music has been taking over the American airwaves recently and it goes by the name of K-Pop. While on my recent stay in Asia I experienced this new wave of boy bands and pop music first hand. Not only are these groups huge in their own country, but they’re also turning their success into international fame. In Korea the term is “hallyu” which translates simply into Korean wave, or an influx of Korean culture into different foreign markets. It started in the 1990s with massively popular N*Sync and Spice Girls style boy bands and girl groups, and slowly over the years they’ve begun to expand their fanbase into different Asian markets and eventually into America. Everyone from The New York Times, to Gawker, and even The Guardian have written recent stories about the growing K-Pop phenomenon.

Girls’ Generation

If you take a closer look, K-pop has actually been making huge strides in America over the last year or so. Girls’ Generation, one of the most popular K-Pop all girl groups, performed on the The David Letterman Show, and they also recently signed with Interscope Records to release their latest album in the US. Another girl group, Wonder Girls, even made a TV-movie for the TeenNick cable channel, which goes to show there’s definitely an expanding interest for K-Pop in tons of different American venues.

Last year one of the largest K-Pop production companies SM Entertainment hosted a sold out Madison Square Garden performance for their diverse roster of stars, some of which even covered American pop songs like Kesha’s “Tik Tok”, which is definitely an aesthetic parallel to the visual and musical component of the genre. Although K-Pop is popular in the US, it’s not as widely covered in the mainstream media, so the ardent fans are using Social Media and other platforms to really expand the fanbase and share in their adoration of this cult-like phenomenon. K-Pop music videos are some of the most widely watched clips on all of YouTube, with the recent Girls’ Generation #1 single “Hoot” racking up 2 million views on YouTube within 24 hours of it’s release.

Musically K-Pop shares tons of different similarities with Western Pop, Electronic Music and Hip Hop culture. A lot of the tracks are a perfect pastiche of over the top trance and electro with modern R&B and Hip Hop tropes thrown in for good measure. Famed East Coast Rap producer Swizz Beatz even recently partnered up with the Korean entertainment group O&Media to a create a cross-pollination of influences across the two diverse markets.

In a recent interview with MTV he talked about his admiration for the work ethic and marketing strategies within K-Pop culture, which is something he said was sorely lacking in American pop music: “They still do artist development [in Asia], where back here in the States, the labels and our culture lacks artist development,” he said. “Nowadays, an artist can go into the booth, put out a song the next day, and that person thinks that they’re a superstar. But within the K-Pop movement, artists actually go through artist development. They take music classes that allow them to be ready for when they do become that big star.”

Aesthetically K-Pop artists blend a huge mix of eclectic influences into their visual amalgam. Many of the K-Pop girl groups have styles reminiscent of the classic Fruits magazine candy colored Harajuku style with different contemporary stylistic changes and nuances, while the boy bands, especially the massively popular Big Bang, has a really diverse and far reaching palette that often times mimics and remixes popular western fashion trends.

Big Bang Album Art for “Alive”

At certain times they’re resembled classic but punky Ralph Lauren yuppies, to rocking old school Nike and Reebok sportswear, and recently they’re gone a little bit into the Lady Gaga route, with androgynous retro-cyberpunk costumes, mixed in with a little Harajuku avant garde street style and fully customized getups, awesomely displayed in their recent video for their single “Bad Boy” which oddly enough was filmed under the JMZ subway tracks in Williamsburg, Brooklyn (which is definitely another nod to their influence and appreciation of Western culture).

While I was in Asia I was so excited to see this K-Pop movement in all of it’s awesome poppy and eccentric glory from billboards to clothing stores, and even MTV Asia, and then coming back to the states it was interesting to see NYC and other markets really embrace this amazing new style of pop music. It’ll only be a matter of time before K-Pop has completely taken over the American charts.

Resources:

New York Times:

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/05/business/global/using-social-media-to-bring-korean-pop-music-to-the-west.html?pagewanted=all

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/25/arts/music/shinee-and-south-korean-k-pop-groups-at-madison-square-garden-review.html

Gawker:

http://gawker.com/5892072/the-real-perfect-new-pop-song-is-this-k+pop-hit-bad-boy

The Guardian:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/musicblog/2011/apr/20/k-pop-sweden-pelle-lidell

MTV News:

http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1680335/swizz-beatz-k-pop-venture.jhtml

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Marilyn Hagerty: Olive Garden & the Overnight Social Media Darling

posted March 20th, 2012 & filed under digital trends, Fun Stuff, social networking

A new meme that’s been exploding over the Web in the last week or so has given a solid foundation to the intersection between Social Media and foodie culture. Food Writer Marilyn Hagerty, a 30-year veteran with the Grand Forks, North Dakota Hearld, has seen her recent review of the newly opened Grand Forks Olive Garden become a viral hit seemingly overnight. The review eventually garnered over million page views, and a combination of 55,000 shares between Facebook and Twitter, which compelled her son James Hagerty, a writer for the Wall Street Journal to tell her about the overnight success, to which she responded: “Could you tell me what viral means?”

From there her instant fame kept growing larger by the hour. A few days after her review was posted she was invited by The New York Times for a whirlwind food tour that included sampling her first taste of a NY style street dog, and decidedly more elevated fare at the Michelin star restaurants Dovetail NYC and Le Bernadin, which she adoringly detailed in her weekly “The Eatbeat” food blog, even calling her meal at Dovetail “probably the best meal I’ve ever had”.

There are so many interesting components of this story that you almost couldn’t have made up if you wanted to. One day she was sending in a rather glowing review of the newly opened Olive Garden praising that their “…Chicken Alfredo ($10.95) was warm and comforting on a cold day“, and a week later she was being whisked away on a big city tour getting to eat at and socialize with some of the world’s most renowned chefs (including Eric Ripert of the New York French haute cuisine institution Le Bernadin).

Food Bloggers immediately caught on to the review both for its simple and folksy prose, and in an ironic, self-detached way that poked fun at the very concept of even reviewing an Olive Garden in the first place. For the most part though, her meme experience has been overwhelmingly positive. She even received praise from the self-declared “snarkologist” himself Anthony Bourdain on his twitter feed. The only real detractors she’s encountered are from the hyper-sarcastic corners of the web that view every single meme with an air of haughty condescension.

She’s really become an endearing and successful example that shows Social Media isn’t all bullying and one-upmanship. Hagerty has been reviewing her hometown restaurants for over thirty years, and as she stated in an interview with the Village Voice, there just aren’t enough fine dining restaurants in her locale, and she wanted to review places that everyone would go to and enjoy.

The culture clash aspect of this story is really interesting in how it’s being interpreted across the Web. Social Media has an uncanny ability to break down cultural and economic barriers to create an even playing field that illustrates the most captivating stories will rise to the top of the heap. It’s almost too easy to just denounce her praise of what most consider at best a sub-standard homogenized franchise; in the context of her article it’s probably completely accurate.

As she explained after being interviewed by her son following the success of her review “I’m working on my Sunday column and I’m going to play bridge this afternoon, so I don’t have time to read all this crap”, referencing the thousands of comments she received on Facebook and Twitter after the article went viral. She seems like she’s already accustomed to the immediate snark that encounters most viral sensations, and she’s ready to fight back with a salad fork in one hand and a breadstick in the other.

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