A Music Video Site For Producers on a Budget
The Wall Street Journal, February 19, 2009
Calling all crooners and carolers looking for time in front of a camera.
Indie bands and under-the-radar filmmakers are being brought together by the folks at Next New Networks, a Web company that set out to create a litter of niche video networks on a variety of topics. After launching more than a dozen sites on topics from autos to comic books, it is trying its hand at music videos.
La Strada’s video for “The Sun Song” on 99dollarmusicvideos.com
Today it’s launching a video network called $99 Music Videos which features music videos made for — you guessed it — just $99.
The site is designed to introduce music fans to unknown acts, says Fred Seibert, MTV’s first creative director and a co-founder of Next New Networks. Its founders saw a “unique space between what iTunes is providing and what YouTube is providing, in a branded sort of way,” he says.
The barebones structure is simple: the site matches bands and directors and asks them to shoot a music video in one day for $99 or less. Professionally produced music videos can cost upwards of $100,000 or more.
