YouTube is getting into music videos now, with a new Discovery Project being launched in TestTube, YouTube’s experimental features lab. From the Discovery Project you can search for music, and create your own playlist accordingly. You can mix and match results, and then view them in a custom playlist.
There are a number of services that already offered similar options, many of which were based solely on YouTube content. There has always been a wealth of music available on YouTube, though some of it is far from the official, quality content you would want for inclusion in a custom playlist. Of course, playlists can be shared with friends and saved for later plays.
YouTube’s ongoing efforts for premium content on the site has resulted in some official music videos that are part of YouTube’s Music Discovery Project, according to TechCrunch. Partnerships with distributors can only make such an offering from YouTube better and more feature-ridden for end users, which could possibly detract from the ongoing success of those services that already create music playlists from YouTube content.
Ultimately, YouTube could find itself knee-deep in a music search and recommendation service. The potential for Google-owned YouTube to move in this direction would likely be a niche effort, but a useful one nevertheless. I only say this because a number of content-aggregating services are finding ways to offer combined access to as many of your media platforms as possible, from a single point of access.
This means that the provision of getting content to users in the most efficient way possible could very well be the use of combined media on a single site. In this regard, YouTube could also become one of those access points for multimedia, making it easier for consumers to keep up with their shared content.
While we’re not likely to see a whole lot of activity for the Discovery Project in the immediate future, Google is also ramping up its efforts towards promoting music services and search results through its primary pages. The acquisition of LaLa has brought playable search results to many queries, and the Discovery Project could aid Google in its efforts to create a more contextual search experience that gives us what we’re looking for instead of a resourceful web page.
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My Shameless Video Contest Entry…Disclaimer: Please Help :-)
by tarynsouthern on December 12, 2009
First off, thank you to Brian for allowing me to do a guest post on Bub. Last week I contacted Brian to solicit some advice on how I could get the word out about a little video I recently released on YouTube.
A contest video.
First, let me preface by saying that I’ve never entered a video contest before. The opportunity cost just didn’t make sense – taking time out from other work to essentially create a free commercial for someone and then shamelessly self-promote it in hopes of winning a gift certificate (?) Didn’t seem worth it.
Then I came across this contest sponsored by Lash Allure MD. There’s a $100,000 pot at stake – which, needless to say, is much larger than most other online video contest winnings. Immediately, my mind was racing about the web content I could fund with 100k. No more brand or studio pitches in 2010? I’d be in heaven.
The best part (or, in some cases, the worst)? The winner is NOT chosen based on a subjective judging process. The system is clear: the person with the most “votes” wins. Each YouTube star rating counts as one vote, and one comment, per user, per day, counts as a vote. Simple, quantifiable. And yet, a little unfair for those who don’t have massive YouTube followings.
So I decided to enter. First with my own video, and then after realizing that I would never win on my own regards, I teamed up Olga Kay, a YouTuber with about 70,000 subscribers. To incentivise people to help, we decided to offer up $10,000 of the prize money to dedicated commenters. Every day for 20 days, we pose a new question in the annotation on the video. Answer the question, and you could win $500. $500 to twenty people = $10,000 total giveaway.
Shameless.
It’s now Dec. 12th – only 8 days before the contest ends. We are currently in 2nd place, behind a witty YouTube blogger with a big following, but with the a little nudge here and there from the right people, we could definitely win the grand prize.
We’ve received several little endorsements from friends – including tweets from Ryan Higa and Dave Days – and brought on a new, third partner – Phil DeFranco.
We are asking for your help because this isn’t about making money to put in a savings account. It’s a viral contest, and as such, Olga, Phil and I want to put that money toward advancing our own web content initiatives. Not to mention that we would still give away $10k (and a few other little surprises) to our commenters.
It’s hard for me to ask any favors of anyone, but in this case, I’m swallowing my pride.
So, please, if you have a chance today (and for the next 8 days) – rate and comment this video here —> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=df2_CZCfAaE – and RT if you can
Oh, and for all of you business owners out there looking to hold promotional video contests – take a cue from Lash Allure MD. By judging a video contest on ratings and comments, rather than on the video content itself, the company is benefiting from the self-promotional efforts of people like me as well as the engagement and interaction of potential customers who are rating/commenting on the videos. Smart.
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