There is a lot of online discussion about the benefits of bands recording music videos when promoting their music online. One camp claims its always good to try and visually grab people’s attention and a good video can help you stand out from the crowd, on the other side of the argument are the people who say there are much more productive and cost effective things to spend your budget on. So when this video landed in my inbox from Pop Noodle Record’s debut act Cha-Cha (www.myspace.com/wearechacha) I thought I’d get in contact with Pop Noodle Records to find out some more about the band and about their promotional work.

[IndieLab] Cha-Cha are Pop Noodle Record’s debut signing, what was it that made you sign them up? Do you think that bands still benefit from signing with a label?

[Pop Noodle Records] I feel that the main clinching factor when I choose to work with Cha-Cha (aside from their genuinely amazing songwriting skills) was the fact that it soon became clear we would all get along well and had the same vision on what we wanted to achieve with this forthcoming album release.

Having clear communication and a shared vision is certainly key to any label/artist relationship and I feel we all know what are goals are and what’s realistically achievable in today’s rather over-crowded music industry.  In regards to going it alone, I’m totally confident that they have the ability to do that, however, it’s always useful for bands/artists to have that external help, advice, representation and in general an entity present on behalf of a band, so that they themselves can focus on what they do best, which for Cha-Cha at this moment in time, is making brilliantly catchy, enjoyable and original songs.

[IL] The video is awesome! How did the idea come about? Who found & booked the director & how/where did you find them?

[PNR] Glad you like the video! The concept came about from exploring a combination of the director’s, the band and Pop initial ideas. We had a sit down together and went through all of our creative visions looking at what we could achieve in respect to our strict timeline (about 2 months)before the single was released. Once we had all agreed on the concept Pop Noodle found a wonderful location – 10Gales Gallery in Bethnal Green, London – and then handed the responsibility of the music video to the director, editor and producer Tom Sharman- a brilliant creative filmmaker from the Midlands who I have known for some time now.

Tom Sharman went to work selecting some assistants and a suitable Director Of Photography. In addition to recruiting a fantastic crew he also came back with the highly skilled D.O.P Jaime Feliu, who after hearing both the song and the concept of the video became keen to get involved in the project.

Tom Sharman was in charge of taking the collected vision and making it actually feasible by writing detailed scripts, shot lists, call times and basically everything else that needed doing. Without this great director the video wouldn’t have turned out the way it did. We’re all very grateful for his time, expertise and knowledge and I can’t recommend him more highly for other bands or labels looking to make a brilliant music video.

[IL]  The video looks very expensive! I guess partly because you can tell it’s been professionally directed, lit properly & was shot on an HD RED ONE camera. Was it as expensive as it looks?

[PNR] I’m afraid Pop Noodle can’t disclose the budget we spent but what I can tell you is that it was made for significantly less than most other music videos that are of the same standard.

[IL] How important do you feel doing videos are for promoting your music?

[PNR] I find in this digital era of discovery, music videos are even more essential than ever before. More and more music fans are turning to YouTube first to research a band’s name they might have read about on a website or magazine instead of checking out their Myspace first. Music fans have so much power at the moment in what they choose to listen to, and it’s brilliant to see more and more processes/software/applications that enable music fan’s to have an increased amount of choice in finding great new bands and artists that are exactly what they want to listen to. Music videos embedded on a band’s Myspace page also make it easier to track what part of the world a band’s fans are coming from. There are of course quite a few applications that can do this, but YouTube’s insight feature really is very useful and simple for both bands and labels to quickly learn more about who/where their fans are.

Even if you are a self-starting band, borrowing a decent digital camcorder and making (a decent) acoustic video in a room is so much better than having no video content whatsoever- it’s essential that bands keep up with this demand for audio-visual media, or their once-loyal fans may find that all the other bands who have at least some form of music video (even a low-quality live performance) have become more interesting all of a sudden…

[IL] What does 2010 hold for Cha-Cha & Pop Noodle? Album / single releases, gig dates etc….

[PNR] Pop Noodle Records will be releasing the Cha-Cha album, entitled ‘We Are’ in March 2010, followed by a second single that is currently in the process of being selected. Cha-Cha will be hitting the road on tour shortly after the album release so go check them out when they come to a town/city near you- you won’t regret it!

As for Pop Noodle, in addition to staying loyal to Cha-Cha we’re always on the lookout for quality bands to get involved with on our label side.  We will soon be making plans to open up an online PR arm to the company in order to help give respectable under-the-radar bands the exposure, advice and guidance they deserve.