Music Tuesday: The rise of the video LP, Motley Crue and more

We had an excellent in-office concert from Matisyahu last week -- possibly the first time anyone has crowd-surfed in the YouTube offices. (Nice one, Matis!) This week, we’re taking a deeper look at innovative ways musicians are using YouTube to get their music out there. Dig in!

The Rise of the Video LP
PJ Harvey did it for Let England Shake. R.E.M. did it for their final album. Even Radiohead did it for the King of Limbs remixes. Musicians are increasingly using YouTube as a way to share their entire albums with fans. Some are releasing a simple, long album video on or before the physical release date -- check out SubPop’s channel to see a slew of these. Others are working intensively with directors to create “video LPs” -- individual videos for every song on an album, released all at once or in quick succession. It’s an inspiring art form and we’re keeping our eye on it. Today we’re pleased to share Micachu and the Shape’s entire new album Never, featuring an album’s worth of videos made by the band.



Music Documentaries
YouTube is a great place to view music videos, but it’s quickly becoming a place to dive more deeply into musical movements and individual artists. As more videographers make made-for-web documentaries, fans are finding ways to dive deeper into. Case in point: Google Play’s extraordinary eight-part documentary on Motley Crue. Today we feature that piece of work along with other in-depth works that have recently inspired us.



Video Premiere: Andrew Bird
Can kids forgo candy in order to save the life of an animated pinata? This video has a sense of impending doom, until you see that people can let go of their self-interest for the greater good. Pretty hopeful message you snuck in there, Andrew Bird.



Sarah Bardeen, music community manager, recently watched “Cold Specks - Hector.”