OK Go really wants you to be able to embed its videos where you please, but you’ll just have to go straight to the source from now on. The Chicago pop rock outfit apologized on its message board Monday for label EMI‘s decision to forbid YouTube embedding, NME reports. Frontman Damian Kulash explains in this portion of the letter:
Unfortunately, as of now you can’t embed diddlycrap. And depending on where you are in the world, you might not even be able to watch it.
We’ve been flooded with complaints recently because our YouTube videos can’t be embedded on websites, and in certain countries can’t be seen at all. And we want you to know: we hear you, and we’re sorry. We wish there was something we could do. Believe us, we want you to pass our videos around more than you do, but, crazy as it may seem, it’s now far harder for bands to make videos accessible online than it was four years ago.
Four years ago, as in 2006, when “Here it Goes Again” became an Internet and cultural sensation specifically because of YouTube and the mass sharing of the video. The video, featuring the four-piece doing a well-choreographed treadmill routine, “spread across the globe faster than swine flu,” as Kulash eloquently puts it. Now, Kulash complains, EMI is employing tactics that conflict with his aim of getting the band’s music heard. He says the band is “stuck in the position of arguing with our own label about the merits of having our videos be easily shared. It’s like the world has gone backwards.” Ah, major labels. How smart are thee!
That said, embedding is still possible on some sites, including Vimeo. Or… you could just stick to the ol’ fashioned record. OK Go released its third studio album, Of the Blue Colour of the Sky, on January 12th. Kulash calls it the band’s “best yet.” Watch their new music video for “This Too Shall Pass” below, I mean, here.
OK Go 2010 Tour Dates:
01/21 – Brussels, BE @ AB Box
01/22 – Amsterdam, NL @ Melkweg
01/25 – Cologne, DK @ Werkstatt
01/26 – Paris, FR @ Noveau Casino
01/28 – Copenhagen, DK @ Vega Musikkens Hus
02/13 – Kansas City, MO @ The Midland
02/17 – Brisbane, AU @ The Hi Fi
02/18 – Sydney, AU @ Oxford Art Factory
02/19 – Webbs Creek, AU @ Playground Weekender Festival
02/21 – Melbourne, AU @ The Hi Fi
