Lockd.tv Update (We’re live!)
Lots has been going on so it seems like a good time to publish a little update.
First and foremost, the stream is live! Look → http://lockd.tv — note: If you’re on a phone or tablet, your experience is going to be less than perfect. It might not even play at all. That’s the main reason we haven’t been shouting about it yet. There are still a few issues to iron out, but we have a wonderful technical team and are making steady progress with it.
I’m really happy with how the look-and-feel of the channel has been developing. This is due to the talented, creative people we’ve been lucky enough to work with at this early stage. The site itself is looking sexy and we’ve had a number of cool “idents” made. Here are a few of my favourites:
Speaking of team, we’ve been holding lots of interviews and meeting some really cool people. It’s encouraging that people are into the concept and the project and want to be involved.
We’re looking for new people too. Current open positions are for a graphic designer and for a creative video editor. If you know anyone who might be suitable, please pass this info on. We’ll be posting a number of new positions in the coming months on http://crew.lockd.tv
Lots of work and planning has been going in to the weekly schedule. We have defined a number of shows which are scheduled in to different times in the week. For example, if you’re watching at 4am on a Wednesday, you’ll be tuned in to the Rapid Eye Movement show — which plays anything from modern classical to ambient sounds to chilled electronica. If you’re watching at 10pm on Saturday night, you’ll get the more dancefloor focused show Super Conductor. The schedule is a key aspect of the channel so I’m sure it’ll develop a lot over time.
Another important aspect that has come up while developing the content is defining our ethical policy on playing certain music videos. Should we give air time to videos which sexualise women or display male entitlement? What about homophobia, or videos that glorify violence? The immediate and obvious answer is no. We shouldn’t. But of course that puts significant restrictions on what styles of music we can play. It takes Hip-hop and Dancehall off the table for example. The focus until very recently has been on finding the best music we possibly can, with the visual aspect almost of lesser importance. But this is something we want to get right. Should the channel make a stand against selected (or all?) forms of oppression by choosing to not play certain videos — or — should the channel focus on playing the best music possible with little or no regard to the underlying messages within. We’ll be discussing it more and hopefully coming up with a policy soon.
This month we’re having our first meetings to plan some of the original content we’ll be producing. I’m very much looking forward to seeing how they go. We’ll also be developing the marketing strategy for how to best promote the channel. I’ll write more about that stuff in the future. Stay tuned.
