VidPick meets Ben Gilbert

So here it is, the moment you’ve been waiting for. Our fun in the sun (well actually more of a little room with no windows), in the company of Yahoo music blogger – Ben Gilbert. Find out why he’d be “getting involved in some sort of prank”, why he won’t be pulling a Rebecca Black any time soon and what will be standing out on the music circuit this summer.

Here's VidPicker Eruchi and the man himself.

How does Yahoo stand out from the masses of online content?

We present a broad and entertaining scope of the world of celebrity, media, politics and current affairs. Recently we’ve tried to get more editorial credibility, but it’s up to the consumers as to whether we’ve succeeded or not.

Does video play a big part in the Yahoo strategy?

You wouldn’t read a 200-word story just like that. You want to be able to see the footage of an incident there and then. I think Yahoo recognises the fact that video plays a very important role in our work.

What do you think will be big on the music scene in the next few weeks?

Well, it’s gonna’ be festival season so, I imagine there’ll be a lot of excitement about that. I think it’s going to be interesting to see what happens with the dub-step scene, which is proving quite influential; I’m looking forward to seeing where that will mutate sonically speaking.

If you wanted to become a Youtube sensation what would your act be?

I’m more likely to be behind the camera really. Getting involved in some sort of situation prank, having a bit of fun with someone. There’s no way I would be performing, I don’t have any gift in that sense. I’m not the next Rebecca Black.

Coming off the Rebecca Black saga, do you think it’s healthy for people to be living out their lives online via Facebook and Youtube?

I think it’s amazing. With participatory media, anyone can get involved. This is a world that was once cut off from you and I, but now you don’t even need to have a film crew. You can get it done with a mobile phone and a bit of imagination. It can only be a good thing.

We’re a video review blog, so as a last question, what do you think is the future of music videos?

I think I’m quite excited by animated videos, CGI, digital technology and home made videos. I think the traditional narrative storyline where the pop star goes from A to B will be less interesting. It will also be important for bands to be innovative with social media, like Arcade Fire who’ve done something very different for their song ‘Ready to Start’.

Any musician worth their salt needs to recognise that media has changed a lot in the last 15 years. They need to look at the pop acts that are really raising the bar. It doesn’t have to be over the top, it just needs to invest some element of imagination to prevent yourself from being any other band really.