the really, really short version of this post would appear to be this - Sony. for many, just the mention of that name will see people shaking their heads and moving on. on that note, can we have a bit of applause for George Michael who, 20 years ago, clocked how anti-everyone they are with his legal case. we, or rather Sony, should have listened to him.
moving on for some detail, and David Bowie, who has sadly signed some sort of distribution deal with Sony, has released a new video from The Next Day, this time the impressive title track. it would appear not to be a new single as such, just a new video.
and what a video too, by the sounds of it! featuring no less an actor than Gary Oldman, it seems to have upset a few people with its graphic content. off, then, to the official David Bowie site, www.davidbowie.com, to have a look at it.
can you guess what happens when you press the video button/link? you have to, really. it depends where you live in the world. the standard approach would be "we have spent a lot of money on a new video. people usually do this for music videos to sell a record/download in the hope of getting an even bigger amount of money back". no problem at all there - that's how business is supposed to work, and everyone needs to make a living.
Sony take a slightly different approach. they are of the opinion that they should spend a lot of money on a video, put it on the internet but then block people from seeing it.
that's just brilliant. despite the unusually polite message, this is not Bowie blocking it, it's Sony. how do i know? because they did the same trick with another artist sadly signed to them, the Manic Street Preachers. they spent a fortune on a video starring Michael Sheen and then blocked most of the world from seeing it. well, i should say tried to block most of the world, there are always ways around it.
and the ways around it are not even as complex as changing your IP address/location/whatever it is to reflect a country that Sony has a preference for. everything always turns up on that you tube thing, and the new Bowie video is no exception to that. thank you, whoever you are Vevo.
not for the first time and i very much doubt for the last Sony have expressed a willingness to refuse to understand exactly how this thing called "the internet" works. if you do not want people to see something, then do not put it on the internet at all.
as a consequence of them not liking us at all, most people do not like Sony. that's fine, but that should be no barrier for us giving them money when they have something we want. it beggars belief that they go to the effort and hard work of blocking countries from their web things rather than leaving it open to all.
i would be pretty sure that my friends and readers in the UK, the USA and possibly Australia and NZ are baffled to read of something as simple as a music video - however controversial it may be, and it's no George Michael I Want Your Sex type of thing - being blocked by the people who made it to advertise their product. be thankful, i say, that Sony seem to like your money!
as for the video itself, it's OK, really. it does not particuarly say anything visually that Bowie didn't already cover in the Loving The Alien video some 30 years ago, to be honest. Gary Oldman and everyone else gives as good a performance in 3 minutes as anyone could! the content is certainly likely to upset a few, but there you go.
happy viewing, if you live somewhere that Sony say you can watch it!
be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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