What if, for 25 days, MTV swooped into your town to make a "Laguna Beach"-style show -- only instead of over-privileged bros and catty girl fights, it was actually about something important. What if it was about your local music scene? People in Seattle won't have to imagine it anymore now that MTV New Media, the innovative arm of the channel, debuted the second season of its online series "$5 Cover" on Wednesday. All 12 episodes can be found here.

Set in the heart of one of the wettest and wildest (literally and sonically) cities on the West Coast, the webisode series peels back the skin of what is the often-stereotyped capital of Starbucks and grunge. What emerges is an alchemy of musical diversity, amplified subcultures and endearing anecdotal storytelling "based on reality." No, it's not a straight-up documentary (remember, we said "'Laguna Beach'-style" show). However, it does buck the trends cultivated by MTV's reality-show culture.

The Seattle series -- crunched into a string of eight-minute episodes -- aims to capture the relationships and performances of scrappy musicians with a street savvy dive into the nooks and crannies where music is played, argued over and ultimately celebrated.

MTV hasn't been the place music fans associate with discovering new artists through music videos for at least a decade. As the channel has swapped out video clips in favor of original programming such as “Jersey Shore,” “Teen Mom” and a slew of other reality shows, the only time to catch a block of videos is typically in the late night/early morning hours.

And despite often showcasing clips from new and established artists at the tail ends of shows, and relying heavily on playing new tunes (with the song’s complete info) during them, it's doubtful that fans are paying attention to the sounds of She & Him, Waka Flocka Flame and Neon Trees as Snooki and the Situation enjoy "the Smoosh Room" or a fistpump in the club.

To remedy that discord, the network is unveiling a new music product, the Music Meter, on Tuesday. The site, which is in beta form, is the first of several music-related products MTV plans to introduce in the coming year.

MTV Music Meter will offer fans an easy-to-navigate interface where they can explore 100 of the most buzzed about up-and-coming artists (huge mainstream acts have been purposely pulled from the top feed -- though they are still accesible to explore).

So -- Lady Gaga's meat dress at the VMAs last night. Times food blogger Jessica Gelt found it unsanitary and wasteful. Times art critic Christopher Knight found it trite and passe.

While my instinct as a nine-year vegan was to promptly dry heave at the sight of such a thing, let's assume she meant what she said that it's an indictment of the treatment of gays and lesbians in America. Wearing a dress made of raw flank steak is a real funny way to make a point about compassion and empathy.

And that's not to mention the absolute inanity of the metaphor itself, as if she were saying, "America treats gay people like meat, you see, and I will call attention to this fact by draping myself in it." That's some real Helene Cixous-level gender and sexual identity discourse there.

We're partial to Gaga's music and provocations around these parts, but doing something pointlessly repellent and vicious towards animals at a video awards show and calling it a commentary on gay rights doesn't advance any conversation or change a single person's mind about the virtues of marriage equality.

This feels more like a tipping point in revealing that Gaga's antics aren't in service of any real, learned feminism, activism or even pop-art bomb throwing. It's just about her. And if something's got to die to make her point? Well. Art!

[UPDATED: If Gaga is interested in a primer on the intersection of sexual violence and meat imagery, Carol J. Adams might prove an intriguing introduction to the topic for her.]

-- August Brown

Photo credit: Mario Anzuoni / Reuters

Let's admit it: the MTV Video Music Awards often have more to do with the outrageous moments that occur during the telecast than actual music. So it's easy to forget that the awards show also typically produces some stellar performances from artists, like Sunday's appearances by top-selling musicians including Drake, Paramore, Eminem and Taylor Swift.

"You have to be very balanced to perform at the VMAs. This stage is not any regular stage," B.o.b told us outside on the white carpet before heading into the Nokia Theatre to perform his hit single "Airplanes" with Hayley Williams. "It's like an environment, it's like a real interactive stage. It's got like, couture to it, so you have to be very balanced and a well-seasoned performer."

Travie McCoy, meanwhile, was trying to be calm about performing his song "Billionaire," which will be sung by the cast of "Glee" on the first episode of the hit show's new season. "I'm always relaxed, you know. This stuff is fun," he said, showing off some grillz on his bottom teeth. "I get a little nervous right before things go down. But other than that, I'm cool. Chillin'."

Deadmau5, who was the house artist spinning popular tracks throughout the telecast, also appeared laid back -- though of course we couldn't really tell, since he was wearing his trademark mouse head (of which he said he owns about six).

"This particular project gave me enough freedom and stuff where they were just like, 'Well, we want your interpretation,' " he said. "So we're not gonna send it back and forth a million times...it didn't happen like that at all. So it was really good, for a change."

For more video interviews with Bruno Mars, Robyn and Sean Kingston, go beyond the jump.

Pop & Hiss is live -- sort of! We're about 4 miles from MTV's annual pat-on-the-back party, but we're still grading all the performances as fast as we can, complete with typos. The two hours of hype will be documented here, but we also recommend you follow the tweets of our chief pop critic Ann Powers.  

 
Eminem, "Not Afraid/Love the Way You Lie." The show begins with a close-up of Eminem, his face shrouded in a hoodie, all Dungeons & Dragons sorcerer-like. But there's no 20-sided playfulness here, as Em is all solemn and serious -- stalking the stage face-down and plundering it with rhymes. "Not Afraid" is an overly forced tale of overcoming addiction, but it's stronger than anything off of last year's "Relapse." It comes alive as Em struts from a brick-adorned back room to a stage that's spread among a host of Googie-inspired symmetrics, allowing for some creative displays of light. Eminem has stolen some of Kanye West's "Heartless" drum line, and it gives the cut some award-show oomph, but doesn't add to the song's tenseness so much as explode it. The tautness comes courtesy of Rihanna, who appears onstage with a colorful, Hayley Williams-like hairdo. Her vocal delivery is straight-up stern, the perfect counterpoint to Em's more forceful hits. Overall, a solid opening: B

Justin Bieber, "Baby." Remember a couple years ago when the Jonas Brothers performed outdoors at the MTV VMAs? This year it's Bieber who’s the young'un who can't play inside with the grown-ups. He rolls up to the  downtown L.A. venue in a red convertible, chased by teenage girls. His "Baby" is fluffy retro-teen pop, and the vintage car and screaming girls attempt to connect Bieber to idols of yore. But Bieber is no Beatle, and his "Baby" is the kind of inescapable pop hit that already sounds dated, forever affixed to spring 2010. It's a sugar high, and Bieber isn't here to sing it so much as to show off his high-flying dance moves in his Team Bieber varsity jackets. But lest we think he's completely void of musical talent, he makes a brief racket on the drum set, immediately after dancing with some tykes half his size. The giant "B" on Beiber's jacket tells us what squad he’s playing for, but this belongs to the Mickey Mouse Club: D

Warner Music Group hears music in MTV's online advertising network.

The music conglomerate on Wednesday announced a multiyear, nonexclusive deal to let MTV sell the ads for thousands of Warner's online music videos.

The music video business, which MTV pioneered three decades ago but has largely abandoned, has migrated online in recent years to sites such as YouTube, Vevo and on artists' individual home pages. The diaspora, however, has meant that artists and labels have collected very little advertising money from the videos because the clips have been spread far and wide across the Web.

That's now beginning to change. Universal Music Group, Sony and EMI are pursuing one strategy: Combine all the videos to get critical mass though a company called Vevo and charge more for ads.

Warner appears to be charting a different course with its MTV alliance. Instead of pooling the videos into one online destination, Warner wants to keep the stuff on its artists' individual websites. All told, Warner's music videos garnered 26.3 million unique visitors in May, according to comScore, an online tracking firm.

Such an audience can command several million dollars a year in online advertising revenue, a substantial amount when the industry is struggling against massive declines in CD sales. Warner last year outsourced the ad sales for its videos to Outrigger, an independent Internet ad sales company. But advertisers prefer to sign a handful of deals with companies that have access to large audiences, rather than pursue a large number of deals with smaller outfits such as Outrigger.

Warner is hoping that its shift to MTV would allow it to command higher ad rates and sell more ads, using MTV's online advertising sales force. The agreement also gives MTV the option to contract Warner artists to appear on the network's shows or provide licensed music for its TV series.

If things don't work out with MTV, Warner maintains the option to go elsewhere, including Vevo, according to an executive familiar with the discussions.

-- Alex Pham

twitter.com/alexpham

Photo: Warner Music Group represents a number of groups, including the Canadian metal band Nickelback. Credit: Chapman Baehler.

Is Kanye West about to make good on his promise to take some time off? Could the fallout from his interruption of Taylor Swift’s acceptance speech actually persuade the artist to stay home this fall?

That all may sound a bit drastic -- and perhaps a bit unlikely -- but there appears to be a burgeoning mystery surrounding his upcoming Fame Kills tour with Lady Gaga, which was reported to go on sale this week. The full dates were first revealed on the website for industry trade Pollstar yesterday morning, but no official information from either West or Lady Gaga’s camp has followed.

This morning, however, a smattering of tour dates for the trek were listed in the Ticketmaster website. They have since been removed. As of 6 p.m. Tuesday, Ticketmaster currently lists no upcoming dates for West.

Thanks to the power of Google cache, one can call up one of the first listings – a Dec. 12 date in Greensboro, N.C. Internet presales for some of the dates were initially listed to go on sale Wednesday morning at 10 a.m., but now that seems unlikely as it's only hours away and no official information on the tour has been released.

West and Lady Gaga are reported to be scheduled to play the Staples Center on Nov. 16 in Los Angeles, according to the dates released on Pollstar.com. AEG Live, which owns the downtown arena, declined to comment and instead referred questions to Live Nation, which is promoting the tour.

A spokesman for Live Nation, based in Los Angeles, said he had no information regarding a West/Lady Gaga date in Los Angeles and no details on when the tour would be announced.

A spokesman for Lady Gaga says the initial run of dates circulating the Web are not confirmed, adding that the package tour has not even been announced. “Live Nation has yet to officially announce the tour and the correct routing,” says the spokesman. The tour was initially revealed by West on “The View” back in June.

One of the few artists able to make an impression during the Kanye West/Taylor Swift-dominated 2009 MTV Video Music Awards was Lady Gaga.

Her elaborate, fake blood-smeared performance of single “Paparazzi” was equally disturbing and engrossing, yet another example of Gaga putting her own indelible mark on the world around her.

Lady Gaga is proving herself to be just as creative when it comes to capitalism. Her forays into unusual merchandise (from school supplies to hooded leather jackets) have been readily documented. But she ups the ante via a new collaboration with audio accessories company Monster to design her own signature brand of high-performance in-ear headphones.

“Heartbeats by Lady Gaga” feature space-age aesthetics, innovative design (the flat cables are simple yet ingenious, all but eliminating tangles) and crisp, loud sound sure to shame your stock iPod ear buds. Monster is the same company that designed the popular “Beats by Dr. Dre” studio headphones, and Lady Gaga’s brand boasts comparable quality. They retail for $99.99, and pre-orders are available through Best Buy.

-- Scott T. Sterling

Photo: Lady Gaga attends Marc Jacobs Spring 2010 fashion show on Monday in New York City. Credit: Stephen Lovekin/Getty Images

The fourth time, apparently, was the charm.

Kanye West phoned Taylor Swift this morning to express his regrets for hijacking her acceptance speech at the MTV Video Music Awards on Sunday night, and the country star officially accepted his apology, Swift told ABC News Radio. "Kanye did call me, and he was very sincere in his apology, and I accepted his apology," Swift said to ABC's Andrea Dresdale.

For those keeping score at home, this was the fourth time West had apologized for stealing the microphone away from Swift and proclaiming that Beyoncé deserved the award for best female video. It was, however, the first time West had spoken with Swift since the incident. During an interview on "The View" this morning, Swift revealed that Kanye had not yet reached out to her.

The Sunday night incident has kept the media busy. Last night, a sullen West appeared on the debut of "The Jay Leno Show," and proclaimed that his VMA antics were "rude, period." It was a fortuitous booking for Leno, as West was originally scheduled simply to appear with Jay-Z, who has a new album to promote. West helped Leno get off to a smashing start in the ratings, as the talk show pulled in 17.7 million viewers and easily won its time slot, our sister blog Show Tracker reports. 

 

Outspoken rapper Kanye West told Jay Leno that he’s taking some time off to reflect on his actions after his controversial outburst over the weekend at the MTV Video Music Awards.

Leno didn't waste time poking fun at the situation in the opening monologue of his new hourlong prime-time program on NBC: "It's been a busy week for President Obama. I understand he's having Kanye West and Taylor Swift [over] to the White House for a root beer summit. See, she's only 19 so it's gotta be root beer."

West was lined up to perform with Rihanna and Jay-Z on Monday night’s premiere of “The Jay Leno Show” but was not originally scheduled to chat with the host. However, after West drew criticism for hijacking the stage at Sunday night’s VMA ceremony during Swift's acceptance speech for her best female music video prize, the rap star decided to take the hot seat for some damage control.

“It was rude, period,” West, wearing all black, told Leno prior to the performance.

When asked how his mother, who died in 2007 of complications from cosmetic surgery, would have reacted to his outburst, West struggled to form words. "I've never taken the time off to grieve," West said. "It's just a shame my hurt caused someone else's hurt."

He ended the brief interview by adding he would take time off to analyze his actions and how he can "improve."

No word on how that might effect his previously announced plans to tour with Lady GaGa later this year.

--Yvonne Villarreal

Photo: Kanye West and Taylor Swift/ Associated Press

Man, it's been a rough week for civil public debate with Kanye West in the audience, hasn't it?

Plenty of men know what it's like to cross a line and discover that nothing -- not flowers, not tears, not emotional blog posts -- can eradicate the skunk-like scent of jerkiness once it's sprayed. Kanye West can't seem to apologize enough for bursting in on Taylor Swift during her acceptance speech for Best Female Video at last night's MTV Video Music Awards, even though a replay of the moment reveals that West's imposition started with the words, "I'm sorry, Taylor." Whatever motivated West's words, his aggressiveness read as impossibly rude, not in small part because he is a 32-year-old man and the target of his scorn was a young woman of 19.

From one vantage point, it was a case of chivalry gone horribly wrong. West meant to stand up for Beyonce Knowles, whose "Single Ladies" video is in fact much more memorable than the one for Swift's "You Belong With Me," which took the prize in question. Knowles herself made it fairly clear that she doesn't require the blustering gallantry of West or any other guy when, upon winning Video of the Year for "Single Ladies," she ceded her own acceptance speech slot to Swift. The two women staged a quick sisterly embrace, adding another layer of meaning to an already complicated moment. Now this controversy was about women sticking up for each other, too.

If, as some bloggers are suggesting, West's intervention was staged, there had to be a reason Knowles and Swift agreed to participate. And even if his tirade was spontaneous, that climactic hug between Queen B and Princess Taylor had clearly been arranged (if only within the previous hour) and benefited both parties.