This Video Costs 15 Dollars

Though I sometimes deride Sarah Mclachlan for her lack of musical output (55 original songs in a 16-year career?), she and her management have been innovators in an industry that shuns innovation. Not musical innovators, mind you, but certainly cultural innovators. You’ll recall Lilith Fair, of course, and Mclachlan’s Fumbling Towards Ecstacy was the first CD I had with magical ‘additional features’ that I could view on my PC. I’m not a big advocate of that sort of thing, but it was innovative for 1993.

Via Metafilter, I see that Mclachlan has created a politically-savvy music video for her latest single, ‘World on Fire’. As you’ll see if you watch it, she’s made a cheap-and-cheerful video for $15, and donated the other nearly $150,000 (those figures are probably in US dollars) to the developing world. Presumably she got the graphic artists to donate their time (if so, they deserve credit on the site). It’s an effective approach, and reflects her ongoing commitments to local and international charity efforts. I would have liked it at the end if the camera shooting her had turned around and shown a seven-year-old holding the camera. Cloying, yes, but there wouldn’t be a dry eye in the house.

A brief aside: I was wandering around Mclachlan’s site, and watching some of her old videos. She certainly likes to be naked a lot. I was looking around her singles too, and was reminded of this MP3 I have of her covering Peter Gabriel’s ‘Solsbury Hill’ at the Town Pump in Vancouver. I ripped it from my friend Matthew’s CD years ago. It’s a rare piece from very early in her career. If anybody wants it, let me know.