31 January Is For Videos: OK Go – A Million Ways

Today is the last day of January and so our little ‘January Is For Videos’ blog series comes to an end. I hope you’ve enjoyed getting to see some of the music videos that have influenced me. This was not an exhaustive list by any means, but gives you a glimpse at what makes me tick. I liked having a project for the month and have a similar idea planned for next month. February can be equally as drab as January, so I’ve got a pick-me-up planned that I think you’ll find interesting. I’ll announce my plans February 1st, so come back tomorrow, my friends, and get all the juicy details. For the final installment of this series, I’m presenting the video “A Million Ways” by rock band OK Go. Though this Chicago-born band had connections with They Might Be Giants and made some waves on Chicago Public Radio‘s This American Life, it was their viral video spreading across the internet that eventually brought them fame. You wouldn’t think that a homemade one-take video of four dudes dancing awkwardly to their own song would catch people’s attention, but it did. Between the fall of 2005, when it was dumped into the internet tubes, and August 2006, it had been downloaded 9 million times – the most times a music video has ever been downloaded. In July of 2006, they released their famous “treadmill” music video for “Here It Goes Again,” which had just under 29 million views by the time of this blog being published. If you ask me, this signals another media master for the music industry. Much in the same way “Video Killed The Radio Star” changed the landscape of pop music, the internet is changing it again. In fact, the internet is changing things so drastically that the old music business models are failing. A new standard has not yet been established and the music industry feels a little bit like the old west. Everyone is rushing out there, trying to stake claim in something. Fortunes are being invested, sought, made, and lost. It’s an untamed world and no one knows for sure when it’s all going to settle down. So here’s to the future. Someday your kids will look back at this low budget video and ask what all the fuss was about. You can tell them – you were there. Link