VMA Nominations & Voting

Nominated for 'Best New Artist' and 'Video of the Year', I finally have an excuse to post Tyler the Creator's self-directed "Yonkers". In other categories, I am also opinionated:

• Best Pop Video: Katy Perry's "Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.)"
• Best Rock Video: The Black Keys' "Howlin' For You"
• Best Hip-hop Video: Chris Brown/Busta Rhymes/Lil' Wayne's "Look At Me Now"
• Best Female Video: Nicki Minaj - "Super Bass"
• Best Male Video: Cee-Lo Green - "F*** You"
• Best Collaboration: Kanye/Rihanna - "All of the Lights" (sort of a runner-up hip-hop)
• Best Art Direction: Death Cab For Cutie - "You Are A Tourist"
• Best Choreography: LMFAO/GoonRock/Lauren Bennett - "Party Rock Anthem"
• Best Cinematography: Eminem/Rihanna - "Love the Way You Lie"
• Best Direction: Beastie Boys - "Make Some Noise"
• Best Editing: Adele - "Rolling in the Deep"
• Best Special Effects: Kanye/Katy Perry - "E.T." (winning this was the point of this song)

You can vote for these (or your favorites) [here].

Old People Listen to Music Online, Record Industry Survives

The AARP has now launched their own internet radio service to cater to the listening tastes of the 55+ crowd, but despite this drastic expansion of internet listeners to an entirely new demographic, the first half of 2011 has seen a 1% increase in record sales, the first such increase since 2004. The increase comes with the strength of Eminem and Adele's record-breaking digital numbers (over a million each). Maybe the AARP will get the old folks into Adele? (via Paste)

Jonas Brothers Rant & New Jazmine Sullivan Video

I was in Wal-mart yesterday (everyone's favorite record store, of course) and saw the new Grammy compilation (purchase here). This unfortunately reminded me that the Jonas Brothers were nominated for "Best New Artist", so I checked and-you guessed it-one of their so-called songs was on the album. Now I don't know about anyone else, but for me, popularity with 12-year-olds does not equal "best". They're up against Adele, Duffy, and Jazmine Sullivan-all of which have other nominations for artistic quality! This is ridiculous! As if it wasn't enough of a travesty to pretend to cover the Beatles and Coldplay... Is there any artistry left in the world? Or will I have to put up with over-processed pop crap created and forced on the American public by mega-corporations for the rest of my life?!

While on the subject of Jazmine Sullivan, the Philly songstress who just made it big this year and is up for 5 Grammys, check out her new video for "Lions, Tigers, and Bears" (via 51:51):

By the way, do music videos even need sets anymore? Seems like it's all green-screen these days...