In the near future, I will be adding more video content to this guide. For some of the twisted minds and consciences out there, this might raise a few legal issues, especially considering we're talking Music here.
Therefore, I'll do some preventive self-criticism, and make my case before the questions are even asked.
Introduction
The first thing to be said is that I'm not in the slightest way interested in starting a debate over intellectual property and God knows what. That's all capitalistic delerium as far as I'm concerned. I just listen to music, enjoy it and try as best I can to make others enjoy it too.
That being said, I will set some limits as to what kind of material we'll include here at Pifflez's comprehensive guide to musical literacy, mainly to stay out of trouble, but also not to tranform this blog into another one of those "Video of the day" type things. After all, and as I said before, we are talking Music here; so technically, video has no sense here.
Video content philosophy
Generally speaking, we will add a video when it allows us to express something that a simple album review cannot.
For instance, we'll use a video to introduce you to a new artist by showing you an example of his art in the shape of a video recording of one of his pieces. It will, of course, be a recording of the artist actually playing (be it live or in a radio studio etc.). To actually see an artist play a piece, and play it differently than on the official album, is always a fascinating experience.
We'll also use videos as multimedia support for analysing specific pieces. We will present our views on the piece and the particular interpretation of it. Having a common interpretation of the piece to base our comments on can result in a very interesting discussion. Very probable to produce our so-called "wako talk"...
A final example of the advantage of video footage is an effective way to present a new Music genre. For instance, Classical Guitar is best introduced by showing you a video of an amateur guitarist playing a well-known classical composition in his living room.
Sources
As you could expect, my sources will mostly be YouTube, Google Video and Daily Motion and other video sites. These sites offer direct links for you to embed the video content in your own webpages, therefore I assume they are encouraging people to do so.
The legitimicy of these sites is debatable, I suppose, but as long as they are still running, I consider them a valid source.
I will however limit my videos to
- Professional live recordings such as concerts, jam sessions, TV shows etc. (amateur or professional footage)
- Amateur live recordings such as amateur interpretations of famous pieces, personal compositions, improvisations etc.
