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Author Topic: many scholarly analyses can be picked out of this, i swear  (Read 39128 times)

Jimor

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As a last defense of sanity?

OK, found the producer info. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clarence_Jey

And somebody is having a bit of fun...  :laugh:

Quote
Since 2010, Clarence Jey and Patrice Wilson have collaborated in creating music for Ark Music Factory and it's artists.

Jey and Wilson also penned and produced the song "Friday", sung by one of Ark Music Factory's artists, Rebecca Black. The music video has become a viral sensation, but only after comedian Daniel Tosh posted it on his blog with the title "Songwriting Is Not For Everyone". The lyrics to the song Friday are commonly misunderstood and thrown off to be an example of bad songwriting. These lyrics are however about the recent democratic uprising in the Middle East. Friday, is actually pronounced Freeday and Mrs Black sings of the day where all people shall be free to live their lives. The main area of contention in the song is the question of whether to 'chill' in the 'front seat' or sit in the 'back seat'. This is a parody of International forces wondering whether to support the uprisings and sit in the back seat or to support the dictators in the 'front seat' in favour of stability. In the end International powers choose to support the rebels and Rebecca chills with her 'friends' in the back. There is no doubt that the international community is looking forward to the day the Middle East will be free, 'Friday' if you will.
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imagist42

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That's the funniest damn Wikipedia trolling I've read in a while. Mostly because Wikipedia tends to be fast about covering up trolling these days.

Guess no mods give a fuck about Clarence 'Crimes Against Music' Jey.
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I'm not really sure what the big deal is about ARK music factory. They look to be the latest in a long tradition of song poem manufacturers. Back in the day you would see an ad on the back of a magazine for a "songwriting contest", you sent in a certain amount of cash and a lyric sheet, and the company (usually just one guy) would compose a simple tune, record the lyrics over it, press a vinyl single and send it to you. Every once in awhile they would create an LP compilation of songs people would send in.

I looked around for it, and PBS made a documentary about the Song Poem legacy. It's really interesting!
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i think you guys were being super nice about me on the previous page and actually i read tommy's comment at 12:20 PM which was the final minute for me to decide whether to go to my last class of the quarter or not. guess what path i chose

(and thanks david dovey and tommy so much love <3 <3 <3)
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David_Dovey

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Any time, Anna. You can re-pay us by recording some songs and putting them somewhere where I can pay money to listen to them, if you'd like.

===

Just now realised that Friday is actually a heaven sent miracle, in that it's the meme that's finally replacing Druggy Woman-Beater Self-Consciously Spouts Self-Aggrandising Nonsense as the center of the collective Internet hive-mind's limited attention span.

Salut, Rebecca Black! You are not Charlie Sheen!





« Last Edit: 14 Mar 2011, 15:42 by David_Dovey »
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Jimor

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Any time, Anna. You can re-pay us by recording some songs and putting them somewhere where I can pay money to listen to them, if you'd like.

EDIT: On the ARK site, that producer guy is listed in the featured artists section as "coming soon". So I wouldn't be surprised that aside from the leeching money from stage mommies, one of the goals was to launch his own career on the backs of these kids.

EDIT2: A compilation of the smooooth rappin' stylings of Patrice Wilson!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z7-1BYFBngs#t=2m27s
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fivcyoJv_kc#t=2m4s
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0xHfRUW99aI#t=2m1s
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ioOEBdIgQ5g#t=2m15s
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U8WWd7x7CCA#t=2m33s
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fkp0e0Vj4lI#t=2m10s
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RMeYz-tFYoM#t=2m48s
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RsiRwvGQn_M#t=2m13s

Holy fuck, when I started I didn't realize he stuck his own mug in THAT many of the videos. Only 4 posted that didn't have him.  :-o


« Last Edit: 14 Mar 2011, 22:10 by Jimor »
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He must be a fan of Alfred Hitchcock.

though if Hitchcock saw those, he'd turn Norman Bates loose on Clarence.
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I'm pretty sure that melody was one of my piano exercises... or a round we sang at summer camp...

Omg I just figured it out, "fun fun fun fun" reminds me of "fire fire fire fire" in the song Scotland's Burning.  :psyduck:
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Jimor

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OK, after looking around at different things about this ARK Music Factory, the number that trickles to the surface the most often for the full star treatment is $20,000, with $5k-7k as the initial buy-in. That's not confirmed, but is more a combination of knowledgeable speculation and some things said by various sockpuppets while trying to defend the company in the comments sections after different online articles and blogs. The defense ranged from "this is brilliant parody!" to "this is how the music biz works, dog".

Other than that, not much going on until ARK makes its move to try to capitalize on the notoriety.
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Lupercal

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Our Summer Ball at University is looking so dreary that people are seriously considering getting Rebecca Black in for the headline spot. The headline as of now is McFly. I mean an institution where the average age of people living and studying there is 21, and they give us a pre-teen girls dream band.

So what does the other $13k go towards?
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Barmymoo

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I've just watched the video again and it kind of makes me nostalgic, but not for my own being-thirteen, for my brother's. He wouldn't have done anything half so tacky but he does/did have the kind of friends who would have been in a music video with him if he'd asked. (I didn't.)



Oh and also, this video is also an ARK auto-tuned song, but I quite like it. I guess Rebecca gets more views because she is so awful.


Jeez. The other videos are much more interesting than Friday. For example, this girl wants to be an ordinary pop star. Well, sorry honey, you are not any kind of pop star.
« Last Edit: 16 Mar 2011, 14:36 by Barmymoo »
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There's this really handy "other thing" I'm going to write as a footnote to my abstract that I can probably explore these issues in. I think I'll call it my "dissertation."

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Okay well if he was just sitting in his room recording Elliot Smith covers, instead of shitty pop, most of the internet (these parts) would be all over how good he is.

I think I'm doing something wrong here, where's my diehard internet love
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Jimor

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Just speculating, but the way these things usually go is first there's the initial "signing". That's probably where the $5k number comes from. They might do a demo song for that, or it might be extra. The music video is what will kick the total up to $20,000 pretty easily, particularly since they're doing it all in LA, and while they aren't very imaginative, they do have pretty decent production values. A scam like this relies on always having a next level to go to. A full album is a likely product they sell as well.

The problem they face now is The Producers dilemma. As long as all these kids were mired in obscurity the company could milk their parents for quite a lot with "success" always right around the corner. Now that they have all this attention, people will be looking for the kinds of results I don't think they can deliver. Their out is probably that the contract has a really horrible management clause that gives the producers money even if these kids sign elsewhere.

Which is what they should do if their parents have any clue whatsoever. The psychology of scams like this really put a focus on loyalty, and any wavering or defection is usually met with some pretty nasty attacks as a way of both rallying those who stay with the company, as well as make them afraid to seek out alternatives.
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Elizzybeth

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Am I crazy in thinking that $20,000 is actually a very reasonable figure?  I mean, that's only about what parents pay for a year of art school (or dance school or whatever), and having the experience of being in one of these videos is probably as valuable.  And even if the videos hadn't blown up/gone viral, having a high production value video that you can show people is better than a bunch of headshots.

It's still crazy to me that parents have that kind of money to just drop on this sort of thing, but... if they do, why not?
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KharBevNor

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Erm, getting a BA in Fine Art from a top specialist University has cost me significantly less than $20,000*. Just over half that in fact.



*Though probably not for long. Fuck you, Cleggeron.
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Elizzybeth

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Not saying you can't do it for cheaper.

But here's a list of the "top 14 undergraduate art schools in the United States" that reports tuition ranging from $9,000/yr to $37,000/yr. 
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Are you seriously saying that performing in this vid is of equal worth to a career as a year of art school? Because that sounds ... fucked up.
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Elizzybeth

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Certainly not in terms of general artistic knowledge, or ability to teach art, or improvement in skill, etc.

But in terms of getting "noticed" as a teen pop sensation, I'd say this sort of video is more valuable than a year of art school.  And if your kid's goal is to become a pop star (putting aside for a moment the pretty unrealistic nature of that goal), art school might be a waste anyway.

(I don't mean to denigrate art school.  I know a lot of people in art school who are loving it and learning a lot.  But that's not the point here.)
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Fine Art

This is why its so cheap
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squawk

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so i've kind of just been worried about this girl and her well-being because i felt bad and didn't want her to be traumatized by the merciless internet but i found her twitter and she seems to be doing okay, and exploiting it for her benefit. which is good! i mean if she ends up having a career it will be terrible, but, good to know that a thirteen year old is handling death threats through twitter maturely
now i don't have to be so sad
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Is that the twitter listed on that company page she's signed to? Cause I'm fairly certain that's controlled by the company.
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Jimor

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Am I crazy in thinking that $20,000 is actually a very reasonable figure?  I mean, that's only about what parents pay for a year of art school (or dance school or whatever), and having the experience of being in one of these videos is probably as valuable.  And even if the videos hadn't blown up/gone viral, having a high production value video that you can show people is better than a bunch of headshots.

It's still crazy to me that parents have that kind of money to just drop on this sort of thing, but... if they do, why not?

This is the fundamental dilemma when talking about the difference between vanity projects and self-publishing so to speak (I'm using that term just because it's familiar and what I've dealt with in the writing field).

The message we finally agreed to in the writing world was that the very basic difference between vanity publishing and self publishing was this: if you pay to have it done, you should control EVERY aspect of that process, particularly the rights when it's completed. That's what self-publishing is all about, and if for some reason you're giving away any aspect of that, it's vanity publishing and you'll likely regret that choice.

That's the business side of the question. The artistic side is much fuzzier.

My personal opinion is that the biggest artistic danger from both methods is short-circuiting natural development. Vanity companies in particular are dangerous here because their job is to feed the delusion that using them is just as good as actually selling the work to a standard company, so they use the same language of being "accepted" and use many of the same contract terms and royalty rates. Except their royalties don't reflect that they're taking absolutely no chance on the work. I know tons of writers who are relieved that it was their 5th or 6th book that was finally accepted by a publisher, because while at the time they may have totally believed in that work, when they look at it with experience and perspective, they realize they still had a LONG way to go artistically.

A successful self-financed venture requires a very very clear idea of what the tradeoffs are against traditional paths. By hiding these tradeoffs from the client, vanity companies leave folks with a huge handicap because the client expects the promotion to come from the company, but either the company skimps because every dollar spent is a dollar less profit, or what promo they do is badly targeted and useless.

Which gets to the other heart of the matter. Vanity companies quickly get a bad reputation for putting out utter shite. I can't tell you how many copies of books from vanity presses we got at the bookstore that we immediately dumped into the recycle bin because there was absolutely no chance that the book had any merit. And we're talking about a 500-store chain where the vanity press would charge the author for promotional copies at maybe 20% off of an already inflated retail price.

We DID however end up stocking several self-published books because the author took the time to target us specifically, typically with books that had a local interest angle, and we usually did decent sales on a lot of these.

So to cut a long rant short, for $20,000 you not only get to be the boss, but you damn well better know what that means if you don't want to end up flushing it all down the toilet.

Now in these days of negative celebrity being an asset these particular stage parents may have just hit the lottery, but usually it just means being ignored, which we can all achieve for much less cash with a webcam and a youtube account.

Is that the twitter listed on that company page she's signed to? Cause I'm fairly certain that's controlled by the company.

Yeah, I've yet to see anything at all that appears to be coming from her own thoughts at this point.
« Last Edit: 16 Mar 2011, 19:38 by Jimor »
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Elizzybeth

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Now in these days of negative celebrity being an asset these particular stage parents may have just hit the lottery, but usually it just means being ignored, which we can all achieve for much less cash with a webcam and a youtube account.

Fair enough.
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can't i just believe what i want to believe
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Barmymoo

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Come on guys, they're what, 13? Who could dance better than that at 13?
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There's this really handy "other thing" I'm going to write as a footnote to my abstract that I can probably explore these issues in. I think I'll call it my "dissertation."

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Who had a viral internet video of themselves being a fucking moron at 13? I certainly wish I did but I didn't so instead I reserve the right to ridicule the ridiculous until such a time as it becomes old.
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An interview with Rebecca Black.  It seems it was $2000 for the video
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*THWEEEEEEEEEEEEEEET*

Rebecca Black, Rebecca Black, come on in.  Your fifteen minutes are up.
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Somehow this is even better than the original.

If there was more development after the initial loop went on for a while, it could almost be a song by The Field.

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Hahaha holy crap yes I was trying to pinpoint what that reminded me of
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Yeah, I was gonna say earlier (thought I did) that I was expecting it to develop into something more than that after a while, and was disappointed when it didn't.
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Friday, as performed by Bob Dylan

From the Youtube comments:

"In this song, Dylan refers to the JFK assassination. It was a Friday, and his choice of the seat in the car was critical, because if he sat in front, he would have been protected by bulletproof glass. Its a reflection on how mundane choices can make huge differences. Imagine JFK thinking about the great time he would have in Dallas that weekend (fun fun fun), while he counts down the calendar til Monday, which was when he would have to sign the legistlation that required bussing in schools."
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An interview with Rebecca Black.  It seems it was $2000 for the video

In addition, regarding the question of 'who would write/sing such a thing?' there is this:

Quote
‘Friday’ is about hanging out with friends, having fun. I felt like it was my personality in that song.

Her personality. Well, that clears that up!
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Well, to be fair, she's 13. I don't think many of us were super sophisticated at 13.
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Friday, as performed by Bob Dylan

The Youtube comments on this are the most hilarious thing I've read in a long time.
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‘Friday’ is about hanging out with friends, having fun. I felt like it was my personality in that song.

Her personality. Well, that clears that up!

Okay, now you're trying to make her look more stupid.

Quote
“The other song was about adult love – I haven’t experienced that yet. ‘Friday’ is about hanging out with friends, having fun. I felt like it was my personality in that song.”
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I don't think many of us were super sophisticated at 13.

It was at the age of 13 that I started seriously thinking about how I wanted to live my life and formed the basis of a moral philosophy which I still follow to this day, at the age of 31.

True.
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I think what that guy's getting at is the state western society is in where males can only really tell how great something is when it is compared to the greatness of beer or boobs.

Dude's got a point, they are pretty cool.
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okay that is just one step too far

what the hell, internets!
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Downloads of the single passed 2 million. This girl may have made a lot of money over all this irrational antipathy.
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Turns out she donated it all to Japanese tsunami relief. The kids are alright?
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