Motion Picture Mayhem

Motion Picture Mayhem is a five-part collection of musical albums put together by Universal Records artist Michael Barber. The series is best known for being recorded using only a DVD player and computer software sampling programs. The music on the albums all pays homage to movies, including some songs having double and triple meanings. The albums have developed a cult following of fans. Barber writes and produces all the material. Barber has released two of the albums to much success, the first landed him his deal with Universal Records; the second was more of a commercial success, selling roughly 10,000 singles on iTunes. Barber has stated that he got the idea from a childhood friend from his hometown in Evansville, Indiana.
The second release was a featured download torrent on the website Frostwire
The two have combined for over 100,000 total downloads. The album featured the first ever recordings of multi-platinum producer and artist, Akon.
Part 3 was released on Christmas Day 2010, and had a special guest host and production from The Wu Tang Clan official DJ Mathematics. Barber also brought in Rock Producer, Josh Tifer in to produce the album.
Critics and accomplishments
Barber has stated in many interviews over the years that the majority of people did not understand his "big picture" behind the albums. He has said that even magazines who reviewed the albums did not write anything about the link between movies and music. He has said that third installment will come out on his own label, ECP Music Group, and that he will not be giving any away for reviews or selling them in stores.
Despite Barber's lack of liking his critics, the album was called "genius" and "ahead of its time" by two different online music blog sites.
Barber was also criticized by other sites for being "too experimental" and "heavily influenced by drugs". Barber is currently living a sober life.
After being a free download, the second installment went on to sell close to 10,000 singles.
Controversy
The second album's release party was raided by the Orlando Police department, considered to be a rave. Four arrests were made for drug-related offenses, but Barber was not arrested, and the police said he was not a suspect.
In 2010 a student was arrested in his home in Germany after causing chaos to the local branch of the biker gang, "The Hells Angels". The student was found and arrested after being found alone on his roof listening and singing the Motion Picture Mayhem album.
Awards
The video for the song "Sweet Dreams" was nominated for underground video of the year. The video was a graphic look at the world of unprotected sex and drug use. The series, 1-3 was nominated for the Southern Entertainment Awards Mix Tape/Album Series of the Year in 2009.

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