May 17th, 2013

What Happened to NewMusic?

I am writing this from a desk on the third floor of Google’s London HQ, listening to Steven Price and Basement Jaxx’s original music for Attack the Block. Here’s a little Friday update for you.

This last couple of weeks I’ve been tossing and turning at night about what to do, when to do what. Is what I’m making good enough? Am I pushing myself or just getting into a routine?

I use a site called 750words occasionally to dump my thoughts in the morning, like a diary. Here are some recent excerpts:

… is the Patreon model actually appealing to me in a more creative way? I’d like to think that it is. But at the same time I have to admit that a small part of it is ego. I make things that thousands of people really enjoy watching, but that I can’t seem to make any real money from. As a film maker I feel like I’m stagnating because without capital, it seems like I can’t move forward with my career*.

*I know that’s silly, but it does feel like that a lot of the time. If I can’t afford to travel somewhere, or can’t afford to buy a prop or hire a person, then my video suffers. I suffer also, because instead of concerning myself with purely creative decisions, I am worried about the dollar dollar.

See also:

I feel like I’m wallowing in a middle-ground.

How do I fix this?

Ideas. I need to think outside the box? I need to think without limitations.

But this is all just talk. I do have ideas. I’m working on a video called ‘Vlogger’, which will let me experiment with light and storytelling in a way I haven’t done since Routine. I have other ideas in the pipeline, too. And plenty of opportunities!

If you followed PBFB, you know this ‘lack of direction’ issue is a recurring theme. Don’t worry too much about it…

IN OTHER NEWS

Recently Liam and I decided to quit our channel, NewMusic. We love music and sharing our recommendations, but the audience wasn’t there. We’re both busy people nowadays, and we realised we couldn’t spare the time NewMusic needed to grow. Thank you to everyone who did watch the channel! Keep reading…

Sadly, what made the format unique (the podcast-style playlist) also made it a hard sell, and no-one was really interested. In just a couple of months, TALK reached over 10,000 subscribers. In almost 2 years, NewMusic reached only 7,000, with guest curation and endorsement not helping to retain viewers.

However, I am determined to share curated mini-playlists with you on a regular basis! Enter the NewMusic Blog, where you can browse our weekly recommendations in your own time. As the site grows, each page will deliver you three songs and the links to listen and/or buy them.

I know it doesn’t have our lovely faces, but you can still see and hear us on bingradio or worldoftheorange…

If you’re as passionate about music as I am, make sure you bookmark that site, or subscribe to the RSS feed (if you kids even do that anymore), and check back every week!

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May 16th, 2013

You should probably watch this mesmerising video for Tom Milsom’s latest single. Tom worked on the animation and as creative consultant on my video for B is for Brutus. He is an extremely weird and talented man.

Show your support by downloading his EP! I know I will be..

May 12th, 2013

Lincoln Gathering in GIFs… Micro Jupiter rocking out.

May 11th, 2013

A Little Saturday Update

I am writing this from the couch in my bedroom, listening to Ignoto (by Yourcodenameis:Milo), one of my favourite albums of all time. I’ve decided it would be a nice idea to try to write a little update every week, so let’s give it a go.

Two weeks ago I travelled 269 miles to the North Yorkshire coast with a few friends to relax and chat about ideas somewhere different. It was lovely (apart from the food poisoning). Among the many things accomplished, I threw out almost the entire script for HIDY episode 4, and wrote a preliminary script for The Bothering 2. Shh! Keep it a secret…

Then it was time for the Lincoln Gathering, organised by Elliot & Dean in the town where I learned most of what I know. It’s always interesting going back (although I think I would rather have been home in bed), and the event was brilliant. Thanks to everyone who said hi, and everyone involved in the gig!

I’m back in London for the time being and I have a lot of more boring work to do. I’m really behind, yet again (I’m very sorry), on merchandise orders. I also have some consulting work on the table this month. I’m feeling calm, but perhaps spread a little thin.

This morning I watched Jack Conte’s incredible music video, but found his epilogue even more interesting. He and his team have built a ‘Kickstarter for regular content creators’, which I think is an amazing idea. I’ve always been dubious of the Kickstarter/IndieGoGo/Sponsume model because of the hugeness of it all. (I don’t want to be indebted to so many for so much, and I don’t like how readily it can be abused with enough social influence). BUT, this is cool.

If you want to find out more, watch Jack’s profile video. If you, like me, think it’s an amazing way to fund bigger and better videos, consider becoming one of my ‘patrons’.

I’m going to go back to tidying my room, which I rearranged yesterday with a lot of help from Mandy. THANKS MANDY.

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April 29th, 2013

Destruction is so beautiful. Stills from B is for Brutus.

April 27th, 2013

Here’s a little video about a dog and a guy. Guest appearances from Tim, Oli, Jack and CoCo the Dog… If you enjoy it, why not reblog it?

April 19th, 2013

Here’s this week’s video on slomozovo, a little cover I made of the Hives B is for Brutus. I had a LOT of fun editing this together, and I hope you like it! The song is available worldwide on iTunes, Amazon and Google. Reblog if you enjoy it!

April 15th, 2013

The best thing about internet video is that if you want to do something, you can just do it. I wanted to make a series of videos exploring my nostalgic connection to a series of mediocre video games, so I did! Here’s the second episode. If you enjoy it, keep the combo going with a reblog!

April 14th, 2013

A short bingradio about friends and cameras…

April 13th, 2013

A little bingradio about golf, with Tom, Jack, Dean, Sophie and Tim.

April 13th, 2013

Perfect.

Reblogged from SWAG
April 13th, 2013

Here’s my on-the-wall bingradio from PlaylistLIVE! I had an awesome weekend…

April 8th, 2013

TALK: Video Blogging Evolved!

There have been two awesome weeks of videos on TALK so far, and you guys are engaging amazingly! I’ve had more video responses and comments than I can handle, so I’m turning ‘I’ into ‘We’ by recruiting a small team of awesome people to run the channel.

We also now have a Facebook and G+ page where you can interact on your favourite social networks and connect with other TALKers.

If you want to join in, you can start by sharing this post and the channel link. Then get stuck in with your own discussion responses!

* Edit: for followers from PBFB asking ‘why the promotion?’- TALK has grown on its own already more than I can handle, so I realised I have to go big or go home. Bigger will hopefully mean consistent quality and building a team who can handle it better than just one guy.

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My name is Christopher Bingham, and I make films for the internet. I'm involved in a lot of channels and projects including SLOMOZOVO, bingradio, GWROMG, NewMusic, TALK and more. Navigate to them at the top of the page!

If you would like to get in touch, the best way is be electronic mail to bing /a't/ smzv dot com.