Weezer Responds To Fan Fundraising Attempt To Get Them To Stop Making Crappy Albums

from the connecting-with-anti-fans? dept

There are so many "fan-funding" platforms, like Kickstarter, out there that involve trying to raise a certain amount via a bunch of fan pledges, where they only have to pay if they reach the goal. Usually, we see projects on those sites used for things like funding a new album or a book or something. But what about an anti- funding project? Hypebot points us to the fact that some "fans" (and perhaps I should use that word loosely) of the band Weezer are using one of those platforms to try to raise $10 million dollars to get the band Weezer to break up. The organizer is apparently upset that the band doesn't make good albums any more:

I have never been a fan of this band. I think that they are pretty much horrible, and always have been. Even in the early 90's.

But this isn't about me. This is about the Weezer fans. They are our brothers and sisters, our friends, our lovers.

Every year, Rivers Cuomo swears that he's changed, and that their new album is the best thing that he's done since "Pinkerton," and what happens? Another pile of crap like "Beverly Hills" or "I'm Your Daddy."

This is an abusive relationship, and it needs to stop now.

I am tired of my friends being disappointed year after year.

I am tired of endless whimsical cutesy album covers and music videos.

I'm sick of hearing about whatever this terrible (and yes, even if you like the early stuff, you should be able to admit that they are wretched now) excuse for a band is up to these days.

If all 852,000 of you (really?) who bought "Pinkerton" pitch in $12, we will meet our al.

I beg you, Weezer. Take our money and disappear.

Amusingly, one of the band members responded via Twitter saying:

if they can make it 20, we'll do the "deluxe breakup"!

Nicely done. Of course, now that it's gotten attention, the guy who originally posted it is taking it down, saying that he did it (of course) for the lulz (as if anyone thought he was serious?). Anyway, perhaps we should have tried this for our $100 million offer to have us silence Techdirt.

Filed Under: fan funding, weezer

Weezer Appears In Others' Viral Videos

from the spreading-the-wealth dept

A few years back, the band Weezer put together its famous Pork & Beans video, which included a bunch of famous YouTube viral video stars. While there were some temporary issues when the band or its label screwed up and made the video itself non-embeddable, eventually things worked out. Apparently, the band is taking it up a notch this time. Rather than inviting YouTube stars into a Weezer video, the band is appearing in a bunch of videos for YouTube stars, on their own channels -- effectively distributing the wealth. The YouTubers get to keep any ad revenue, but, of course the whole thing helps promote Weezer's new album. Kind of amazing when you realize that it really wasn't that long ago that the record labels were insisting that YouTube was harming musicians, huh? Anyway, here are a few of the "Weezer Invades YouTube" videos:

Filed Under: fans, viral videos, weezer

Viral Weezer Video Not Allowed To Be Viral

from the not-so-brilliant dept

The band Weezer has been getting a lot of buzz for its latest video for the song Pork and Beans, which takes a bunch of viral video "YouTube stars" and has them reprising their roles in its own video. Others have done similar things, so perhaps it's not that unique. However, a Techdirt reader named Mike noticed something quite odd about the Weezer video on YouTube. For a supposedly "viral" video -- Weezer or Universal Music has disabled the ability to embed the video in other sites (see update below). Embedding these kinds of videos, of course, is exactly how they go viral. Specifically disabling that feature on a video that's entirely based on viral videos seems backwards.

It's difficult to believe that Weezer did this themselves -- as the band has long been seen as embracing the internet and new technologies and distribution means. Hell, just doing this type of video shows how connected to the internet scene they are. So it makes you wonder if it was the band's label, Universal Music, that has stopped the embedding. If they're going to do this, why not follow Viacom's footsteps and ask the video to be taken down completely.

Update: Aha! Within hours of us posting this, the embed feature was re-enabled. No explanation as to what happened. Someone from Weezer or Universal care to comment?

Filed Under: embedding, viral video, weezer
Companies: universal music, youtube