122
AdAptAtion in the Age of MediA ConvergenCe
where the bodies of the five members coexist in the frame in a way that
refers back to their YouTube videos.
Many user-created cover song videos on YouTube share the low-res,
poorly lit and under-decorated DIY characteristics described by Vernallis
in Unruly Media. 37 At the level of visual characteristics, these videos
usually do not establish a dialogue with an off icial music video of a
base song. Instead, they establish a dialogue with a broader “movement”
of online video production, which is often the result of autodidactic
activities to master the process of creating videos; in this case, music
videos that aim to share, express, and display a set of musical skills using
familiar songs.
While many aspiring recording artists upload their performances on
YouTube hoping to be noticed by talent producers of shows such as The Voice,
the predominantly self-made video recordings of amateur-made YouTube
performances are evidently contributions to what Plasketes describes as
a diversified and accelerated cover age. 38 These small-scale contributions
also form part of an accelerated and diversified online arena that is shaped
around the core of the commercial music industry, and yet they may become
popular through an adaptation process that is not tightly linked to the
power structures of the music industry. Therefore, the non-involvement
of industry-driven image-making processes is, to a significant extent, the
reason why amateur-made YouTube cover videos are para-adaptations.
These videos exist in an intermediate position. They are neither subcultural
nor entirely monitored by the industry, but they “exploit” the success of
base songs to generate views, as well as utilizing the tools that YouTube
provides to meet the needs of its users such as the Music Insights tool. The
production of these videos is usually characterized by technical and creative
“inadequacies,” yet the “likeable” quality of these videos is precisely the result
of their inadequacies or small-scale settings. In this fashion, they echo the
manner in which other cultural products (e.g. Jeffrey Sconce’s understanding
of paracinema 39 ) that differ from mainstream forms of entertainment are
celebrated for their aesthetic “lows.”
Interestingly, not all YouTube cover song videos feature low-grade
qualities. Many user-generated cover song videos try to create the feeling
of a studio setting, or mimic the visual settings of professionally-made
37 Ibid.
38 Plasketes, “Re-flections on the Cover Age.”
39 Jeffrey Sconce, “Trashing the Academy: Taste, Excess and an Emerging Politics of Cinematic
Style,” Screen 36.4 (1995): 371–393.
AdAptAtion in the Age of MediA ConvergenCe
where the bodies of the five members coexist in the frame in a way that
refers back to their YouTube videos.
Many user-created cover song videos on YouTube share the low-res,
poorly lit and under-decorated DIY characteristics described by Vernallis
in Unruly Media. 37 At the level of visual characteristics, these videos
usually do not establish a dialogue with an off icial music video of a
base song. Instead, they establish a dialogue with a broader “movement”
of online video production, which is often the result of autodidactic
activities to master the process of creating videos; in this case, music
videos that aim to share, express, and display a set of musical skills using
familiar songs.
While many aspiring recording artists upload their performances on
YouTube hoping to be noticed by talent producers of shows such as The Voice,
the predominantly self-made video recordings of amateur-made YouTube
performances are evidently contributions to what Plasketes describes as
a diversified and accelerated cover age. 38 These small-scale contributions
also form part of an accelerated and diversified online arena that is shaped
around the core of the commercial music industry, and yet they may become
popular through an adaptation process that is not tightly linked to the
power structures of the music industry. Therefore, the non-involvement
of industry-driven image-making processes is, to a significant extent, the
reason why amateur-made YouTube cover videos are para-adaptations.
These videos exist in an intermediate position. They are neither subcultural
nor entirely monitored by the industry, but they “exploit” the success of
base songs to generate views, as well as utilizing the tools that YouTube
provides to meet the needs of its users such as the Music Insights tool. The
production of these videos is usually characterized by technical and creative
“inadequacies,” yet the “likeable” quality of these videos is precisely the result
of their inadequacies or small-scale settings. In this fashion, they echo the
manner in which other cultural products (e.g. Jeffrey Sconce’s understanding
of paracinema 39 ) that differ from mainstream forms of entertainment are
celebrated for their aesthetic “lows.”
Interestingly, not all YouTube cover song videos feature low-grade
qualities. Many user-generated cover song videos try to create the feeling
of a studio setting, or mimic the visual settings of professionally-made
37 Ibid.
38 Plasketes, “Re-flections on the Cover Age.”
39 Jeffrey Sconce, “Trashing the Academy: Taste, Excess and an Emerging Politics of Cinematic
Style,” Screen 36.4 (1995): 371–393.