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The Quinnipiac Chronicle

The Student News Site of Quinnipiac University

The Quinnipiac Chronicle

The Student News Site of Quinnipiac University

The Quinnipiac Chronicle

    Then and Now Bands turn to DVDs as new medium of visual expression

    As technology comes and goes, so does the way in which we get our music. What began as vinyl records have now become compact discs.
    The day is soon approaching that even CDs will fall into the history books, following its ancestors: the record, the 8-track and the cassette tape.
    When motion pictures began being released on Digital Video Discs (DVDs) in the mid-1990’s, it was a step away from the VHS tapes, which had for so long been the standard home-access entertainment medium for movies.
    Today, the music industry has followed suit. DVD is becoming a popular way for record companies to go beyond getting songs to the public, but also putting a face to the band playing the songs.
    Bands from Santana to New Found Glory, U2 and Eminem have all released DVD docu-discs in the past year, putting concert footage, behind the scenes footage and artist biographies to new and old tunes.
    Music DVDs will soon become the prototypical way for artists to give their fans the complete multimedia experience they so crave. The DVDs bring concerts to the living room, and give a glimpse as to what a day in the life of a particular music artist is like.
    Within the next two years, all record companies will continue the trend of moving towards DVDs to release new material from their artists. With DVD technology becoming more advanced yet less expensive, DVDs could be tomorrow’s CDs.
    Many artists are quickly jumping on the DVD bandwagon, as well. While the big-ticket acts like the Dave Matthews Band, the Beatles and Elvis Presley are the big DVD sellers nationwide, lesser known bands, such as CKY, Sugarcult and Wilco, have released DVDs to the delight of fans and critics alike.
    The Chicago-based alt-country band Wilco released a DVD earlier this year entitled “I Am Trying to Break Your Heart,” detailing the challenges of recording their latest album “Yankee Hotel Foxtrot,” and the ensuing struggle to make it into the mainstream rock market. The film even won a handful of independent filmmaker awards in addition to the open arms the band’s fans met it with.
    Pop-punk superstars A New Found Glory released their DVD “The Story So Far” just this week. The DVD chronicles the band’s history from its meager South Florida beginnings to the worldwide success story it is now.
    It even has every music video in the band’s catalog, including the original version of its breakout hit “Hit or Miss” that featured former child star Corey Feldman as a police officer busting the band for illegally trading Pokemon cards among other adventures.

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