If Yndi Halda has benefited from the emergence of Web 2.0 - a term used to herald the second wave of the World Wide Web - US alt-rock band OK Go has mastered it. The Formoz headliners are signed to a major label (EMI) and have been well-received for their music; their single Get Over It debuted at No. 21 in the UK charts three years ago. But they've received significantly more recognition for a few low-budget music videos, especially Here It Goes Again, in which they perform a choreographed dance on eight treadmills.
The video was filmed for under US$10 with a borrowed camera. By August of last year, it had been downloaded 9 million times, according to published reports, making it the world's most downloaded music video.
"As weird as it is to be known for something like the treadmill video, it's nice to have people like something that we actually made, as opposed to feeling like they're some puppets of some big marketing plan," said OK Go singer Damian Kulash.
Unmediated experience
Yo La Tengo, who this year returned to play Formoz for the second time, formed in the 1980s and achieved fame the old-fashioned way: through concerts and coverage by the mainstream media, where critics have anointed them one of indie rock's most influential bands. But in an interview at their Taipei hotel, Yo La Tengo said they think consumers should bypass media gatekeepers and just listen to the music.
"My feeling about interviews [with reporters] is there's almost nothing that I want to talk about. I would honestly rather not do interviews. It's more interesting to listen to music and just kind of imagine what's going on," said Yo La Tengo guitarist and songwriter Ira Kaplan. "That encourages the listener to really get involved in participating and experiencing."
"I think nowadays things are way over-explained, and so to me the process of doing interviews is almost counter to what I think is good about listening to music. On the other hand, if people have questions, if people want to ask me stuff, I try to answer them. It's more about what other people want to know than what I think they should know - because I think they should know nothing."
He then corrected himself somewhat: "I didn't [mean to] say I don't like being interviewed. I don't mind being interviewed. I said that, I sort of said it, but it's nice when people want to talk to you."
Perhaps because they hail from an older generation, Yo La Tengo uses the Internet in a different way.
"We've got a Web site. But we don't keep a daily blog on it and tell people how our songs are coming on. Instead, every once in a while we write comedy," said bassist James McNew. "We don't really put that much band stuff on there. I think that tells you a lot about what kind of people we are, and what makes our songs go, and what makes us make the music we do. I think if you read between the lines you get a lot of answers, but we're not going to give them to you."
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