Tag: youtube

Categories
Musique

Musicians find fame and fortune at YouTube

The Google-owned video-sharing website has catapulted Psy, Macklemore, Justin Bieber and others onto global stages where they can cash in on digital downloads of songs; packed concerts; online ads, or even sponsored music videos.

"Music has always been a universal language, and YouTube is a perfect platform to build community around the energy that is music," said Vivien Lewit, artists attorney turned YouTube music content partnerships director.

"It crosses territories; people in the US have access to what Psy is doing in Korea," she continued. "It’s not just him. The boundaries have come down and other artists have broadened the horizon."

After racking up more than a billion views of his ‘Gangnam Style’ music video at YouTube, Psy used the website to debut a new ‘Gentleman’ clip in April that had logged more than 275 million views as of Sunday.

Psy, a 35-year-old South Korean rapper born Park Jae-sang, is reported to have earned more than eight million dollars by capitalizing on the Gangnam Style video at YouTube.

YouTube splits ad revenue from popular music videos with performers but does not disclose figures.

"Thousands of individual creators make more than $100,000 per year," Lewit told AFP. "Not only do they make money through their own uploads of video, they make money every time a fan uploads."

YouTube lets music owners provide reference files of songs that the website uses to scan for matches in uploaded videos.

When matches are found, the owner of the music can opt to make money from ads, track where the songs go, or block it.

YouTube has paid the record industry more than a half billion dollars in the past two years from ad revenue, according to Lewit.

Lindsey Stirling went from obscurity to celebrity after putting her captivating mix of dance and classical violin on stage at YouTube.

More than two million fans now subscribe to the 26-year-old California artist’s YouTube channels.

Her self-released debut album sold about 108,000 copies as a digital download and she has been touring almost non-stop since its release late last year. Her European tour has sold out.

"If it wasn’t for YouTube, I wouldn’t be touring right now," Stirling said. "I would probably have an album, but I think my grandma and mom would be the only ones who bought it."

While she takes in money from ads, and even has an ‘Assassin’s Creed 3’ music video that ends with a sponsored link to a trailer for the hit Ubisoft videogame, the real payoff comes from tours and sales at Apple’s iTunes shop.

"Yes, I make some money from ads but, for me, it is about using YouTube to expand everywhere," Stirling said. "YouTube is a free marketing platform you can build yourself."

YouTube chat features, and the ability to link with ‘Hangout’ online group video chats at Google+ social network, enable artists to build relationships with fans.

"Record labels, agencies want to mold you into the artist they want you to be," she continued. "On YouTube, your fans are the only ones you want to cater to. You can be yourself and do what you love."

Engaging fans online and maintaining flows of fresh content means that self-made Internet-age musicians can wind up working harder off-stage than on.

"It looks like being a YouTuber is all fun and games," Stirling said with a laugh. "Any YouTuber has to love what they do or they will get burned out. It takes a lot of hard work."

Some genres have been revived at YouTube by the likes of Ukrainian-born pianist Valentina Lisitsa or ukulele sensation Jake Shimabukuro, who performs Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen on the small stringed instrument.

The attraction of the YouTube stage has also lured already established music stars.

Taylor Swift last year took part in a live YouTube interview and unveiled her "Red" album at the website.

Alicia Keys in November hosted her first YouTube live stream performance along and Google+ Hangout to premier her "Girl On Fire" album.

"The Internet is seen as the new place people listen to their music," Stirling said.

"This is a new way that you can be an original artist, and do all of it without a record label."

Categories
Pets Files

Talking dog signs on with American Humane Association

“Probably the most famous rescued shelter dog in the world, Clark G, who has over 95 million views on YouTube of the ‘Ultimate Dog Tease Video’ is the perfect national ambassador for this year’s Hero Dog Awards," said Robin Ganzert, President of the American Humane Association.

"We work to elevate the status of animals in society, in our homes, and in our families by recognizing the important role they play in our lives every day. Clark G’s devotion to his family – who he loves even more than bacon – demonstrates that powerful bond between people and animals that we embrace and recognize through the Hero Dog Awards."

Created by the association to celebrate the relationship between dogs and people, the annual national competition searches out and recognizes heroic canines – often ordinary dogs who do extraordinary things, whether saving lives on the battlefield, lending sight or hearing to a human companion, or just welcoming you home at the end of a hard day.

Finalists will be selected by the public and flown to Hollywood with two of their human friends to the Hero Dog Awards black-tie gala at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Los Angeles, California on October 6, 2012. There they will walk the red carpet, attend the awards show and be recognized in a video tribute. Broadcast by the Hallmark channel, the winning American Hero Dog will be announced that evening.

According to Clark G, “We’ve been very busy around my house lately! A whole bunch of people came to visit me, then we went to visit some other people. To top it all off we went to visit a bunch of critters who are looking for homes! People keep talking about the Hero Dog Awards. I don’t know what that is yet but they say I will soon.” If you enjoyed the YouTube video, Clark G fans can "Like" and follow him at www.facebook.com/clarkgthedog.

Dogs can be nominated in eight categories: law enforcement and arson dogs; service dogs; therapy dogs; military dogs; guide dogs; search and rescue dogs; hearing dogs; and emerging hero dogs (the category for ordinary dogs).

Finalists in each category will be judged by a blue-ribbon panel consisting of both celebrities and animal experts, including Whoopi Goldberg, Candy Spelling, CBS’ Debbye Turner Bell, “America’s Veterinarian” Dr. Marty Becker, actresses Kristin Bauer Van Straten, Megyn Price, Edie McClurg, and Christie Brooke, among others.

Is your dog a hero? Nominations close on March 26, 2012, and voting by the general public will begin on April 1, 2012. Complete rules and entry information can be obtained by visiting www.herodogawards.org. 

Categories
Musique

Justin Bieber and Lady Gaga videos yanked in prank

Pop stars Justin Bieber and Lady Gaga were the victim of a prank that saw many of their popular music videos removed from video streaming site Vevo.

A YouTube user calling himself iLcreation contacted the site to file a copyright complaint, claiming he held the rights to Bieber and Gaga’s music video catalogues. Since YouTube errs on the side of copyright caution, company policy dictates that the videos be taken down until the copyright issues can be resolved.

This resulted in Bieber’s entire catalogue – including his hit single Baby which boasted a record-breaking six million views – and several Gaga videos being stripped from the website Sunday night (August 28).

"Someone is making false copyright claims against the Justin Bieber and Lady Gaga channels and YouTube has blocked access to the videos as a result," a Vevo rep told TMZ yesterday (August 29). "We are working with YouTube to resolve ASAP."

The videos are now back online.

Categories
Uncategorized

Social networking and children

A survey led by the European Commission, revealed that 38 percent of 9 to 12-year-olds use social networking sites, with one in five of the age group having a profile on Facebook, even though the network sets a minimum age of 13 to join.

Researchers who carried out the EU Kids Online survey of 25,000 young people across Europe say it shows that age restrictions are only partially effective and that a growing number of children are taking online risks.

A quarter of children on social networking sites have their profile set to ‘public.’ One fifth of children whose profile is public display their address and/or phone number, twice as many as for those with private profiles.

The findings raise the possibility that removing age restrictions from social network sites might be the most effective way of improving online safety as the rules have the consequence of driving kids’ social networking underground.

Elisabeth Staksrud, from the University of Oslo and one of the report’s authors comments that: "since children often lie about their age to join ‘forbidden’ sites it would be more practical to identify younger users and to target them with easy-to-use protective measures."

Among other findings, the survey shows that almost one in six 9 to 12-year-olds, and one in three 13 to 16-year-olds, has 100 or more online contacts. Around a quarter of social network users communicate online with people who have no connection to their offline lives.

 

Categories
Musique

Lady Gaga launches new video for Born This Way

Lady Gaga’s newest music video, Born This Way, debuted yesterday (February 28) and has already accumulated almost three million views.

The sci-fi inspired video begins with an opening sequence that is over two minutes in length, bringing the video’s total time to more than seven minutes.

"This is the manifesto of mother monster," opens the video in a voiceover, while dramatic music swells in the background. Gaga’s voiceover continues to explain the sequence of images, which resembles an epic science fiction movie.

"The song is very meaningful to me, so I wanted to make something that would really show what was going on in my head when I wrote ‘Born This Way,’" Gaga told BBC Radio 1.

"It’s the story about the birth of a new race," she explained. "A race that bears no prejudice and a race that’s primary sort of ambition in life is to inspire unity and togetherness."

The music video for Born This Way can be viewed online here.

Categories
Musique

Justin Bieber has most views on YouTube for 2010

Canadian-born singer Justin Bieber, 16, has dominated YouTube this year with his hit video for Baby. The lead single from Bieber’s album My World 2.0 was named most-watched music video in 2010 by YouTube. Hardly surprising considering that in July, Baby was tagged the most-watched music video of all time. The video, which features Ludacris, saw a staggering 406 million views in 2010.

Following Bieber in music video views, Shakira took second place with 254 million views for her video Waka Waka (This Time for Africa), Eminem held both third and fourth place with Love the Way You Lie (229 million views) and Not Afraid (164 million views). Rhianna, who was also featured on Eminem’s third place Love the Way You Lie, took fifth with her solo Rude Boy earning 118 million views.

The viral meme Bed Intruder Song by the Gregory Brothers, creators of Auto-Tune the News, earned the distinction of being the most watched original video in the US and around the world when it was viewed more than 60 million times. The meme was based on newsreel footage regarding an attempted rape in Alabama. The Gregory Brothers remixed and auto-tuned the news clip to create a catchy pop song which not only dominated YouTube but managed to climb onto the Billboard Top 100.

Second place for most-watched original video was awarded to the Ke$ha parody by Key of Awesome, which garnered more than 51 million views. In third with 34 million watchers was Greyson Chance performing Paparazzi, followed by Annoying Orange Wazzup in fourth, and the Old Spice ad, The Man Your Man Could Smell Like, rounding out the top five.
 

Categories
Musique

Gaga wins YouTube race with Bieber

This month, fans of Justin Bieber and Lady Gaga were probably glued to YouTube’s view counter to see which of their favourite artists would reach the magical one billion views mark. Until now, no other artist, personality or clip had yet managed this feat.

However on Sunday morning (October 24), pop singer Lady Gaga crossed the finish line first on this virtual race, managing to overtake Justin Bieber, who was nearing 963 million views.

Sunday morning the provocative pop singer thanked her fans for helping to drive up the number of views of her various music videos, Tweeting: “We reached 1 Billion views on youtube little monsters! If we stick together we can do anything. I dub u kings and queens of youtube! Unite!”

Although Lady Gaga, 24, has an impressive collection of videos and was favoured to reach one billion first, Bieber has managed to keep up with only a few videos to his credit, and is predicted to take the lead shortly.

Bieber, 16, holds the record for the single most watched video with Baby, viewed on YouTube by 365 million people. Bieber fans can get more of face time by checking out the online trailer of his upcoming 3-D bio-pic due to be released in February.

 

Categories
Musique

Live from New York… it’s Arcade Fire!

Arcade Fire wants fans to dive into their new album, The Suburbs. This highly anticipated follow-up to 2007’s Neon Bible marks their third studio effort.

The group invites fans around the world to tune in to a concert streamed live on YouTube from Madison Square Garden in New York City. Arcade Fire plays the Garden two nights in a row and the streamed concert will be broadcast on the second night, August 5.

The Suburbs will be released on August 2 in the UK and on August 3 in Canada and the States. The new album will feature eight different covers.

Arcade Fire headlines the Osheaga Festival in Montreal on July 31. There are tickets still available to attend this annual outdoor event. Weezer, Metric, Keane, Snoop Dogg and The Black Keys are some other big names on the ticket.

The group has more shows scheduled in the U.S. and plans a quick return to Canadian soil for one show in Toronto on August 14. After that, Arcade Fire plans to fly across the pond to headline the Reading and Leeds Festival in the UK. For more details on the tour schedule, visit their official website at www.arcadefire.com.

 

 

Categories
Musique

Justin Bieber, king of YouTube

Canadian pop star Justin Bieber shot to the top of the charts with the hit albums My World and My World 2.0. The young star can add another milestone to his credit. His hit single Baby passed Lady Gaga’s song Bad Romance and now boasts of being the most watching video on YouTube.

Bieber reacted to the news: "I started on youtube so… Wow!" The pop sensation went on to comment: "I just need to say that @ladygaga is an incredible artist who have great respect for. And her vid is incredible."

Justin Bieber’s video for the song Baby, featuring Ludacris, has logged more than 250 million hits on YouTube. Lady Gaga’s Bad Romance registered 247.6 million hits.

Bieber is still a 16-year old coming to terms with his fame. He also added a heartfelt message to fans, saying: "Thank you all for caring. Just want you to know I care too and I’m just a normal kid. Thanks."

Categories
Musique

More than a billion tune in to Gaga

For the first time in history, an artist has been viewed more than a billion times on YouTube. That’s right, a billion times! The most impressive part of this stat is that Lady Gaga did it with just three songs. The songs include Poker Face, Just Dance and Bad Romance.

Here’s a breakdown of how she broke the one billion mark: Poker Face has been viewed the most, a whopping 374,606,128 times. Bad Romance is not far behind at 360,020,327 times. Just Dance rounds out the bunch at 272,941,674.

YouTube is the most popular video sharing site in the world but Lady Gaga can be also found on other sites. If the total from all sites was calculated, the figure would be astronomical.

Lady Gaga’s new video, Telephone, lasts more than nine minutes, features Beyoncé and was released last week. More than eight million people have already flocked to view this video on YouTube.