The AL-timate Video Collection

[Dr_Dad]

I think you should just be greatful with what you got and move on.

Oh, please don't misunderstand! I most certainly *AM* grateful for The Ultimate Collection. I mean, just the WAS clips in DVD quality and the Tomorrow Show and SLO Bologna clips were unquestionably -- as Scotti said -- "worth the price of admission". And I also understand the lack of commentary track [though I'm no less disappointed about it ....]
So yes, I am officially "over it".

But my concerns lie in the future of videos in general. To be perfectly frank, videos are rather important in order to sell Al's work, since even now, radio stations are reluctant to play his stuff with any regularity. And with something like 90% of radio being controlled by robotic ClearChannel clones, the odds of future radio play remain low. The videos gave Al additional "airplay", when the radio stations would not.

And if you need any proof on how much a video helps, just look at Poodle Hat's Billboard charting. It debuted at number 17 mainly on anticipation by us, his most rabid fans. But from then on, it sank ... sank like a stone ... until one week, when it made a brief rally, then fell the next week and continued to fall until it fell off the charts. The reason for the brief rally? That week was the debut of Weird Al TV on VH1 ... videos, people!

Think about this. Would Al's popularity been as big in the eighties and nineties if the "Eat It" video had never been made?

I honestly don't mean to be so pessimistic. But even though I felt Poodle Hat was one of his strongest albums musically, it's yet to even go gold. Al's brilliance shines in his ability to take a well known video and turn it into a living Mad Magazine. [Seriously, just the other day, watching TUC, I noticed for the first time in "Bedrock Anthem" that Jim West has a "Kick Me" sign on his back in one scene!] Can Al survive without videos? For us diehard fans, of course he can. But he may never get the sheer numbers of casuAL fans on the basis of songs alone ... especially if few ever play them.

Aw, florp. Maybe this is all just insane ramblings. Maybe I'm just inna blue funk or something. Maybe I just need a pint of Haagen Daas, some time off work, and to watch TUC nonstop for a few hours. Then maybe everything will be juuuuuuust PEACHY!!! Talk amongst yourselves.


Dr. Depressing

[Manda]

I agree with you that Al's music videos help in his popularity, it also helps with his album sales. But I dont see anytime in the future him diappearing because he has a lot more diehard fans now then he did in the eighties. Thats why this DVD will fly off the shelfs. And Weird Al will to me be around forever.

[scottidog]

The music industry has changed. Videos are hardly played on the "video" channels anymore. If you recall, from Bermuda's chat:

<ChatMaster> CatraDhtem asks: Before the Eminem debacle, do you know if a second single was ever being considered, or were the costs of the planned "Couch Potato" video pretty much making it "the" song to push the whole album?

<Bermuda> Don't know. I think they were hoping to get that, and see what happened next
<Bermuda> There wouldn't have been a lot of time for a 2nd vid though, and with fewer outlets who run videos, I think 1 would have been sufficient anyway

So it sounds like there was only one video planned for Poodle Hat. And think about it, where would it have been played? AL-TV. VH1 does play videos in the dead of night. I don't know when MTV plays them. I guess just on MTV2, and how many people get that?

Of course Al's fans want him to continue to make videos. I just wonder if it's a realistic hope. I guess they could be made to be released to DVD just like movies are, but how big of a money maker would that be? And if Al were to make two videos each for the upcoming contracted three albums, that's six videos. Enough to release on DVD? Probably not. So how to distribute them?

I really hope I'm wrong on this, but I can certainly see where the videos may just be more expensive, and more trouble than they are worth to Al.

[CatraDhtem]

Still it must have been a fairly short time for the entire production, or wouldn't the Aussies have gotten the same stuff we did?  Unless of course there were licensing issues that couldn't include Australia.

My guess is that once it was decided to produce a brand-new collection, it was being targeted for a fall release (which would be a similar strategy to how the "Live!" video was released in 1999). The projected release date probably didn't have anything to do with the Australian tour at the time. But once those tour plans were finalized and announced, there obviously was an attempt to finish the DVD for the tour.

It's very possible that licensing issues got in the way of completing the Aussie DVD the same way we got it, but I have a feeling time was still a major factor. I mean, when they copied over the info from the last DVD's notes, they didn't even correct the "MFN/BH" title.

[Driew_La_27]

I think you should just be greatful with what you got and move on.

Oh, please don't misunderstand! I most certainly *AM* grateful for The Ultimate Collection.

I know you are grateful.

Also if you think something might just happen in terms of the vidoe thing dying down. Then your "pesamestic" (don't know how to spell it) thoughts WILL come down to haunt you. :biggrin:

That's what my mother told me. I'm just saying to always look on the bright side of things. Sure Al didn't make a video. But he did save around $5,000. Al will always have a big enough fan base to keep putting out records. The record company knows that Al is their big time artist. He's proven it. The tours have been a big sucess and such. I bet you can tell that I'm a optomistic :biggrin: .

[Manda]

Maybe I'm blind but I cant really see any color difference in the older videos. They dident really make them lighter but darker. Does anybody else see this? Or am I the only one.

[scottidog]

They're not really a different color, but clearer. Or so it seems to me.

Driew, do you really think a video only costs $10,000 to make? IIRC, Al says he pays for half of them. I'm betting they cost a lot more to make, even watching every penny like our boy does.

[Manda]

I thought I heard that it costs Al 5,000 to make a video. But maybe I'm wrong.

[scottidog]

I have never read anything that says how much the videos cost to make, but in the Ask Al Archives it says:

Caroll Flanery of Redding, CA asks: How do you finance your music videos? Does the money come out of your own pocket, do you have a separate production company set up just for music videos, or is there some other way?

The record company pays for all expenses up front, but half of it is reimbursable through my royalties, so in essence, I pay for half the cost of my videos. There is a production company that deals with each video, and they are paid a separate fee (which is part of the video budget). I even get to pay myself to direct, although half of my paycheck is in essence coming from my back pocket.

I am sure they cost WAY more than $5,000 to make though. Even if you hire your relatives.

[Manda]

I kind of was thinking it was too low of a price. But I know that when he makes music videos he gets hes money worth, because they turn out really good.