By Cristina Black
Each shot in one take in an offbeat location, the videos
have drawn more than 6 million views on blogotheque.net,
YouTube and band Web sites.
The brand has recently expanded to include sites dedicated
to local scenes in specific markets, such as One Take New York
and One Shot Seattle, giving regional bands exposure on the
international indie market. La Blogotheque's English and French
versions average 7,000 hits per day.
"La Blogotheque has become as relevant as a radio station
like (noncommercial) KEXP (Seattle) or a magazine like Mojo,"
Ed Horrox, head of A&R at label 4AD, says.
Helmed by Parisian producers Chryde (aka Christophe Abric)
and Vincent Moon (aka Mathieu Saura), Take-Away Shows began in
2006 and quickly evolved to include dozens of artful videos.
Popular clips include Arcade Fire in an elevator in Paris,
Vampire Weekend in a tour van in England and various street
performances by Beirut, which commissioned La Blogotheque to
shoot a live video for every song on its 2007 album, "The
Flying Club Cup," a series that is now available for viewing
and for purchase on DVD through La Blogotheque's site and
flyingclubcup.
"Here's something an artist can do in an afternoon," says
Ben Goldberg, head of Beirut's label Ba Da Bing. "There are no
overdubs or trickery, so it benefits any artist who plays well
live."
Profits are to be split 50/50 between La Blogotheque and
acts, but La Blogotheque has yet to turn a profit. Most of the
videos are distributed free, but Moon and Chryde are looking
into licensing content to French labels and are also in talks
with Chunnel rail line Eurostar about providing video
programming for passengers. The pair pay for the low-budget
productions themselves, they say, with outside gigs producing
Web videos and blogs; Moon directs traditional music videos for
such acts as R.E.M.
"We're being careful about what kind of deals we make
because we want to retain editorial control," Chryde says. "We
don't want to damage this trust we have with the artists."
Reuters/Billboard
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