[MUSIC] Anti-MTV site delights with low-budget insights

If you frequently daydream about stumbling upon your favorite band playing a secret gig in your area, an increasingly popular Web site featuring hit groups in strange locations can provide you with virtual fulfillment.

While www.blogotheque.net cannot replicate the thrill of a small concert, it features videos of spontaneous performances in the streets of Paris by some of the leading names in pop and rock from Britain, the US and elsewhere.

The aim is to produce music videos that give the same feeling of exhilaration that comes from seeing a group perform in an intimate venue, away from the pressure of fans, reviewers and record label minders.

Hit Canadian rockers Arcade Fire perform in a lift, British pop group the Divine Comedy play under a willow tree by the river Seine and US folk-rock stars The Shins stroll through the historic streets of the Montmartre area of Paris, performing in front of a cafe terrace.

"It's 20 years now that television has been showing us music in the same way, either videos on MTV or live (recorded) sessions," says Christophe Abric, a 30-something journalist and blogger who is one half of the initiative.

Vincent Moon, the other half, is the cameraman. "The idea was that today, with the Internet and a bit of money, we can do something different," he said.

The videos are all shot in the French capital using a small video camera. Little editing takes places and improvisation is the key to their success. The result in many cases is raw, compelling footage, with the performances boosted by the backdrop and background noise.

In many cases, the videos are essentially footage of the artists busking.

The final products -- called "takeaway videos" on the site "are the antithesis of the high-budget music videos financed by big record labels that appear on MTV or other music programs.

"The important thing was to stay with a light structure: the idea of 'takeaway concerts' will be dead when there's a guy there with a big camera on his shoulder, two sound engineers and a satellite van," says Abric.

The Blogotheque was created in 2003 but the idea of filming "takeaway concerts" came to Abric after an Arcade Fire concert at Parisian nightclub Nouveau Casino in 2005.

The Montreal-based indie stars finished their performance in the bustling street outside the venue to the delight of fans and onlookers.

A new video is uploaded to the site every week, with about 80 currently available.

International hit

In one memorable episode, young British indie stars The Kooks sing their catchy hit Ooh La while walking up an empty, nondescript Paris street. The performance finishes with singer Luke Pritchard being mobbed by a gaggle of schoolgirls.

The site has built up a strong reputation on the Internet and is seen as the inspiration behind the British site www.blackcabsessions.com, which features similar videos of bands performing in the back of a London taxi. Each episode is presented by the driver.

"We're very well known in the United States, in the music world," says Abric, who claims four million videos have been watched on the site and 350,000 podcasts have been downloaded.

The site is now looking for ways of making money without changing the principle of making the videos available for free.

Beirut, an American band featured on the site, have already commissioned the two filmmakers to shoot videos for their new album, released on DVD.