I just discovered Launch and have spent the last couple hours being amazed by the seemingly random assortment of videos they have. To wit:
A Sore Loser by Faith No More, but not Midlife Crisis (their big hit on that album)
2 Bile songs, but no Skinny Puppy
Lots of Cure, one Sisters of Mercy and no Bauhaus
Two Cannibal Corpse, one Celtic Frost, a couple Nile and Amon Amarth, but no Slayer or Morbid Angel
A couple Danzig but no Misfits
Only one Motorhead and Johnny Cash…
Even a RevCo song!
Man, if I don’t stop now, I’ll be here for a week. Anything I should check out? I’ve been pleasantly surprised so far. It’s just an odd collection, videos from the less-popular songs of certain band and, as one can see from the list above, there’s a very odd selection.
You should really check out Launchcast, the internet radio service. I’ve been a Launch user for about 5 years, and a subscriber to the pay version of the service for a little over a year (if I recall correctly – too lazy to look up dates right now). You can listen to themed stations, to other users stations, or set up your own station. There is a limit on the amount you can get at high quality without subscribing, of course, and there are commercials. I’m amazed by the service, really. I use the internet radio, and it’s been a source of a lot of great new discoveries for me. I really enjoy being able to rate the stuff I hear and have that influence what I hear in the future. And I love the fact that, for paid subscribers, there are no commercials. That alone is worth the $3.95 a month or whatever it is.
That said… yeah, they have a frankly odd collection of music videos. What they have, I suspect, is the stuff that they are allowed to have. Since their music videos are play-on-demand, unlike the internet radio, they need to either pay serious royalties or have permission. So they’re limited to just the selection that the labels want to release for promotional purposes.