July 2009 – ku, TV and CMA
June 25th, 2009
In April, KEITH URBAN gave a rare glimpse into the creation of his animated music video for his latest radio hit Kiss A Girl via his own website and the CMT.com site. It showed Keith and his band in front of a green screen performing the song – the first step in the creation of any visual that combines live action and animation. The full clip is now released and you can view it online.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rNfuHFnUv1o
Here’s hoping that the servers didn’t crash from the demand last week as tickets went on sale for Keith’s Australian shows in December. If you missed the story On The Road with Keith Urban from Channel Seven’s Sunday Night program showing him at the "happiest place he’s ever been" life-wise, you can watch the replay at
au.tv.yahoo.com/sunday-night/video/-/watch/13970308/
Back in February we alerted you to Intune @ Tamworth, who brought us online festival footage, vodcasts, gossip and what was happening at the Tamworth Festival. Now the best of their second year of broadcasts has been compiled and begins airing on NITV (National Indigenous Television) from Wednesday 15th July at 9:30pm.
www.nitv.org.au/intune
RASCAL FLATTS recently used the US People’s Choice website to host its album-design contest. First, the band provided optional photos and design elements to aspiring designers, who then submitted potential covers. Then, the group chose a handful of favourites and let fans decide a winner. Chris Kubik, a senior graphic designer for Schumacher Electric Corp. and long-time Rascal Flatts fan, made the leap from managing artwork of battery chargers and jump starters to the cover of the superstar country trio’s new album. His design, which features the musicians sitting in high-back chairs with picture frames representing the group’s six albums behind them, won out from over 2,000 other submissions to become the cover of the album Unstoppable. Three other finalists had thumbnails of their designs inside the CD booklet. Expect to see a lot more fan interaction with musicians of all styles in the near future.
www.rascalflatts.com
NEW TECHNOLOGY AT CMA MUSIC FEST!
That was the publicity headline coming from Nashville last month. Amongst the featured technology available to country music fans this year was;
‘HotShots’, allowing fans at the CMA Music Fest to share all their photos with the world by emailing them to the website. www.cmafest.com/2009/videophotos/games/hotshots/
‘TAGs’, which meant fans could download info straight to their Blackberry, iPhone or other Smartphone to get the nightly line-up, shuttle routes, and other event schedules right on their mobile phone!
At the Microsoft booth inside the Exhibit Hall they could try out CMA Music Fest’s new Be This Close game. It was a virtual scavenger hunt with prizes and although the contest is over, you can still play the game online. You may need to download Microsoft’s new Silverlight add-on to your browser, but it is fairly small and quick.
www.cmafest.com/2009/videophotos/games/bethisclose/
And, bringing us back to where we started this month, check out the Desktop Wallpaper available from the festival, especially a great photo of KEITH URBAN and his guitar amongst the crowd.
www.cmafest.com/2009/videophotos/wallpaperIcons.aspx
Until next time, happy surfing!
