3 posts tagged “madonna”

Video website Stage6 shuts down, citing enormous costs to maintain its services:

Stage6 to Shut Down on February 28
Posted 13 hours ago (2/25/08 5:07AM PST) by Spinner | Comments (7921)

I’m Tom (aka Spinner), a Stage6 user and an employee of DivX, Inc., the company behind the service. I’m writing this message today to inform you that we plan to shut down Stage6 on February 28, 2008. Upload functionality has already been turned off, and you’ll be able to view and download videos until Thursday.

I know this news will come as a shock and disappointment to many Stage6 users, and I’d like to take a few moments to explain the reasons behind our decision.

We created Stage6 with the mission of empowering content creators and viewers to discover a new kind of video experience. Stage6 began as an experiment, and we always knew there was a chance that it might not succeed.

In many ways, though, the service did succeed, beyond even our own initial expectations. Stage6 became very popular very quickly. We helped gain exposure for some talented filmmakers who brought great videos to the attention of an engaged community. We helped prove that it’s possible to distribute true high definition video on the Internet. And we helped broaden the Internet video experience by offering content that is compatible with DVD players, mobile devices and other products beyond the PC.

[ Read more Stage6 to Shut Down on February 28 ]

W♥M does have an account on there, mostly because I was looking for an alternative to youtube.

I spent many, many hours watching various music videos on the website (mostly videos from foreign countries).

The best part about Stage6 was you could download the video. So check out these two videos I grabbed off Stage6: GO!GO!7188 - Jet Ninjin and Alizee - La Isle Bonita (Madonna cover).

GO!GO!7188 - Jet Ninjin

Alizee - La Isle Bonita 1 comment

:)

 02/26/2008 00:00:40  vu my♥posts weheartmusic.com

Anne Strand, better known as "Annie" is a pop singer and DJ from Bergen, Norway. She won "Best Newcomer" at the Norwegian Alarm Awards and Spellemannsprisen.

I will admit to being a pop fan, yes, I secretly listen to this stuff. It sort of reminds me a lot of a poppier version of Saint Etienne [W♥M], actually (in fact, her DJ have been spotted wearing that Fox Base Alpha T-Shirt)

Before Annie became an international star, she was the singer of The Suitcase at the age of 16 in 1993. When the band decided to go from indie rock to trip-hop, she left the band.

A few years later, she began to become romantically involved with DJ Erot (Tore Kroknes). The two of them launch Annie's career with The Greatest Hit, which uses samples of Madonna's "Everybody".

Everything was going well, until Tore died of heart conditions at the age of 23, in 2002, leaving Annie in a period of depression.

By late 2003, she had met up with producer Richard X and they worked together to release "Chewing Gum" (Sep 2004), the single did really well in the UK. It was soon followed by her debut album Anniemal in 2005.

Currently, it seems she's teaming up with various DJs (and also remixing other people's songs). Her latest teamup is with DJ Ercola, releasing Follow Me in 2007.

DISCOGRAPHY [1999] The Greatest Hit 12" [1999] The Greatest Hit 7" [1999] The Greatest Hit CD [2002] The Greatest Hit Dub 12" [2002] I Will Get On 7" [2003] Untitled 10" [Mar 2004] Anniemal (worldwide release in 2005) [2004] Chewing Gum (Promo) [2004] Chewing Gum (CD1 & CD2) [2004] Heartbeat 12" [2004] My Heartbeat (Promo) [2005] Heartbeat CD1 [2005] Heartbeat CD2 [2005] Happy Without You (Promo) [2005] Happy Without You (Remixes) [2005] Always Too Late (Promo) [2005] Anniemal Sampler (Promo) [2005] Wedding 12" [Oct 2005] DJ-Kicks: Annie [2006] Crush 12" (Remixes) * Discography courtesy of www.discogs.com

 July 27, 2007 8:40 AM  vu my♥posts vu@weheartmusic.com www.anniemusic.co.uk

Somehow, in the shower today, of all places, I got to thinking about how much I loathed Madonna. I blame this conversation I had with a friend late this morning. Anyway, I don't care about that Kabbalah, or the issue with her adopted kid. In fact, I'd say those controversies are a symptom of her overall problem. She's old, crotchety, and hasn't got a clue.

She used to create reasonably intelligent and interesting controversy. Her tensions with the roman catholic church back in the 80's veered from straight up derision to tacit agreement - Papa Don't Preach, anyone? It was kind of exciting, from what I read of it. (in full disclosure, I was too young to experience that) Now when she dances on a cross it seems tired, because she adds nothing new and even after twenty years could that theme be freshened up? What really bothered me though, was when she got all paranoid about her failed disc American Life leaking, and personally helped poison peer to peer networks with fake files.

Now, I give any artist the right to be mad over losing control over your music, however, when you respond in such a vitriolic way it shows that you haven't been keeping up with the trends, and are ignorant over what goes on nowadays. And stubborn ignorance is the first step on the path to irrelevance. I didn't care about her CD, but I personally downloaded one of her fake files, just cause I could. She says the f word, so be warned, but also the short clip is copyrighted, so don't steal it kids! And god forbid, don't sample it!

So I thought it was quaint when she sampled ABBA for her single, Hung Up. It was okay for her, since she's Madonna and has no trouble getting permission, but the song and album basically revealed that her and her producers were out of ideas. Let's make a modern 70/80's dance record! Lady, you've lived through the eighties. You've done that. It's bad enough when people half your age succumb to that sort of fetishism, but I think you're getting to the point where you're creatively done. Now, in her defense, the record was well produced and did sound contemporary, but this is from the lady that did great songs in the past that needed no retro point of reference. I may loathe you, but I acknowledge your past achievements. And if you're going to sample a relatively well known clip, you might as well do it well.

Now this is where mashup artists come in. By taking sampling to another level, they can take the most dated tunes and flip them inside out and stop them together to make something new. And if that sounds like another form of retro fetishism, some truly great mashups have been made with the latest chart hits, often surpassing the quality of the originals. Everything is fair game these days. This mashup, by DjMonsterMo, is kind of old but still a favorite of mine. He took the backing track of Hung Up and threw it together with the vocal from M.I.A.'s URAQT. It gets a bit of bite with M.I.A.'s almost obnoxious attitude, a little spice that Mrs. Richie's been missing from her music lately. And I think that after listening to this mash up and comparing it to the original, the original seems weak, since it also goes on for an interminable five minutes, the song's weakness, an overreliance on the sampled hook, becomes apparent. The mashup, while a little silly, is quite refreshing, and yes, it has no problem with brevity.