The new Lady Gaga video with Beyonce came out last week, and I was just now able to sit down and watch the whole thing – the explicit version, which I didn’t know exactly what I was getting myself into by clicking the little play arrow.

I’m still not sure what I think of the whole thing. Shocked, that’s the first feeling that comes to mind. I know MTV no longer plays music videos, and the whole music video idea seems to have faded out to some extent. But what Lady Gaga and Beyonce have done is much more than simply a music video; It’s a short film. It’s nearly ten minutes long to start, and I’m kind of left thinking about their motivation for the project.

Billboard had the following to say about it: “Lady Gaga and Beyoncé unveiled the video for their “Telephone” collaboration on Thursday night (Mar. 11), and it more than measures up to the hype. Directed by Gaga’s “Paparazzi” video helmer Jonas Akerlund, the “Telephone” clip is chock full of intrigue, prison fights, makeout scenes, mass poisoning and plenty of skin-baring versions of what you might call “outfits” (if strategically placed caution tape counts as such).”

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Independent artists benefit from a more level playing field; MTV Networks creating opportunities in music.

MTV and Harmonix are to launch the Rock Band Network later this year. The Rock Band Network is a platform that will allow bands to upload their music for review by the Rock Band game creators, and possibly available as part of the game’s store, tapping into the wealth of publicity and revenue created for musicians by the Rock Band brand.

The system was devised in part to help expand the content available to the gamers, something which the limited staff was struggling to find the time to provide. And so recording artists will have the opportunity to add to the 700 tracks already part of the program by taking the stems from their original masters and creating MIDI tracks for each instrument, before sharing it with the Rock Band Network community.

Here is a short video from the people over at Joystiq, explaining the idea and the process.

There’s also a lot more detail at Billboard if you want to get into the bones of it all.

So, exciting times! Yet more ways for independent artists, studios, labels, bands, managers and many more music professionals to create their own successes, and find work in the music industry. Best of luck!

Lee Jarvis.

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