Who doesn’t like getting an award — Especially if is as solid as the Barclay. Movies have the Oscars and indie music videos have the Barclays. The Barclay Award recognizes exceptional independent music videos and is awarded seasonally to the producer of the video with the highest Tikikiti rating (See How We Rate). In case you have forgotten — the competition is worldwide.
Let’s step back in time….
TikiKiti was started a few years ago by two guys who prefer to remain nameless. But, let’s call them John and Mark. With a background in film and video production, they both enjoyed music videos, having worked together on them in the past. This is a unique and thoroughly modern art form largely ignored by mainstream production companies who no longer see the profit in their production. But the music video refused to die just because big record labels stopped wanting them.
One day John said he had been seeing a lot of independent video producers on YouTube™ who where making what was then, and now, known as the fan-made and unofficial music video. These were different then the official music video in that they were more creative. Many still used the same performer singing and dancing, but many also used a narrative or story format. Some were plainly abstract. Many were so well-produced they seemed professional — that is, they were actually produced for the artist
TikiKiti was created as a place to showcase the independently produced music videos (this mean the fan-made and unofficial music video) and to foster a community of filmmakers who share this love. But also a place where these producers can get the recognition they deserve, a chance to network with other producers, and an opportunity to win a prize for their outstanding productions.
Each new video we review is added to our database. This database has become a “Rolodex” of sorts of independent music video producers. (Many of you may need to Google what a “Rolodex” is — or, more specifically, was.) Many of these producers have used the fan-made music video as a way to launch their career. And looking at our previous award winners it’s easy to see how that happens.
You can start by clicking the button at the top of the page — or, try this link — Submit a Video. Basically, just publish an independent music video (this means a fan-made/unofficial music video in case we lost you along the way) on YouTube — That’s it.
We find most videos tagged unofficial music video, fan music video, student music video, etc. To make sure we find yours, you can also place the word “Tikikiti” in your video’s description and add hashtags. You can find out more about adding hashtags on the Submit a Video page.
Again, all of this is explained in detail on the page How we rate. But, in a nutshell, the types of videos we look at are: narrative, abstract, performance, and vérité.
Two awards will be given out. One will be a Fan Favorite — for the fan-made music video that has the most views and "likes;" and one Judges Award chosen by our panel. If you are selected as an award winner we will contact you by a YouTube™ comment or other social media such as Instagram DM or Facebook Messenger. You can always contact us at info@tikikiti.com.
We will need a physical address to send you the Barclay or a T-shirt award. We handle all shipping expenses.
To find out more information award recipients you can visit our past winners on our Community page. Here we have the most current winners.
The Barclay is an imposing statue. It is solid bronze with a black patina on an ebony base. Measuring 16-inches (40 cm) and weighing 6 pounds (2.8 kg) it’s an appropriate tribute to the effort and creativity that goes into an indie video.
