Posts by Robyn Gallagher
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The Computerworld years weren't all junkets and scoops. Here's an awesome story from 1999 about the time Telecom accidentally signed up my dad to Xtra, even though he told them he was quite happy with Ihug.
From memory, Dad emailed details of this to Nick Wood, who thought it was hilarious and gleefully contacted Russell with news of this stuff-up by Ihug's rival.
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This is driving change. NZ On Air still chips in $5000 for the cost of making a video -- the same amount since the 1990s
Since the Making Tracks scheme was introduced in 2011, music video funding has increased to $6000, with an additional compulsory $2000 contribution from the artist. Previously it was $5000 with an expected equal contribution from the artist (totalling $10,000 - an estimated average budget of the early '90s), but more often than not, the video didn't even cost $5000 to produce.
$8000 is worth about what $5000 was worth in 1991, when the video scheme started. But these days it's possible to make a really decent video on an incredibly low budget - something that just wasn't possible in the '90s (not that fact stopped anyone...). And, yeah, music television is all but dead - it's all about online now!
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Back in the land of Lorde, I was browsing the #lorde tag on Tumblr. As well as dozens of covers of "Royals" (and general declarations of adoration) there are also make-up tutorials to recreate the looks in her music videos. Lorde is a style icon!
But the best comment I saw was from a teen thrilled to bits that Lorde was a fellow curly-haired girl, embracing her natural hair texture. That stuff matters.
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Hard News: Friday Music: History, motherfuckers, in reply to Kumara Republic,
#FirstWorldProblems
I'm sure popular singers in developing countries have the same sort of issues.
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BTW, "Royals" has been nominated for a Silver Scroll this year, but I really want to know is if the overseas success of the song will be enough to knock "Don't Dream It's Over" off its decade-long reign as APRA NZ's most performed work overseas. The last song to do that was "How Bizarre", for a few years in the late '90s. I suspect it might not be until 2004 that the "Royals" numbers will be enough to surpass Mr Finn's masterpiece, but the song's earlier success in Australia might do it this year.
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Hard News: Friday Music: History, motherfuckers, in reply to Russell Brown,
It's just dislodged 'Wrecking ball' at No.1 on the iTunes chart.
Did you see Lorde's toots about getting death threats from Miley fans*, outraged their their queen has been displaced by some pretender to the throne?
That's actually pretty amazing. It puts the whole Sweetman hooha into perspective. If you're successful enough to get death threats from Miley fans, who gives an eff what some sour music blogger in New Zealand thinks?
* BTW, this isn't anything specific to Miley Cyrus and her fans. If it was One Direction or Katy Perry or Lady Gaga, etc, who had been ousted, their fans would be the ones going mental over Lorde.
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Hard News: Friday Music: History, motherfuckers, in reply to Sacha,
Under You is a brilliant pop song with the hookiest of choruses (though the video is a bit underwhelming). Esther Stephens is awesome! With all the discussion at the moment, you'd think the only popstars out there were Lorde and Miley Cyrus, but actually there's a whole lot of good stuff out there. David Dallas' new song Runnin' is another good 'un.
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Damn. That's very sad to hear, especially coming the day after Downstage's news. I never usually watched Media 3 (or 7), but it was just nice knowing that it was there. I guess that's the problem - TV shows need viewers, not supporters.
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Hard News: Friday Music: History, motherfuckers, in reply to Grant McDougall,
Maybe, but there's far less that have survived being thrown in the deep end at 16 and gone on to prosper than those thrown in the deep end at, say, 21, 22, 23, or who's success has been gradual rather than quick.
Adele is a good example of someone who's started out young and survived in the music biz. She was 18 when she got signed, and is known for being a pretty private person. She also took her time to produce her second album (which really paid off!) and is now being a mum and working on her third album. No sledgehammer licking for her. Adele does seem really gutsy, though - the sort of person who can survive the turmoil of being an international pop icon.
To me, it seems more likely that Lorde would have that sort of career rather than churning out album after album like Rihanna (seven platinum albums in eight years!).
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Does anyone remember last year when Sweetman slagged off Autozamm and so they wrote a diss track called "The Review", including a video featuring a sweaty lookalike music reviewer? No one won.