YouTube Creator Blog: September 2011

Clearing up some policy myths

Friday, September 30, 2011

Jennifer’s baby bumpMyth #1:Truth: Community GuidelinesMyth #2:Truth: BabyMyth #3: Truth: Community GuidelinesMyth #4: Truth: Myth #5:Truth: video appeals processMyth #6: Truth:privacy removal requestMyth #7:Truth:contextMyth #8: Truth: Myth #9: Truth: Amanda Conway, Policy Associate, recently watched “Flight of the Conchords: Robot Song (HBO).”

Music review channel theneedledrop wins September’s “On The Rise”

Thursday, September 29, 2011

Congratulations to Anthony Fantano of theneedledrop, the channel that received the most votes for our September On The Rise poll. Anthony’s channel will be featured on the YouTube homepage today thanks to your support.
Hailing from Connecticut, Anthony began his independent music reviewing career in 2007 with the goal of introducing people to new songs, albums, and artists. His critiques of various indie rock, pop, and experimental bands have earned him a dedicated following across his various review outlets. And varied they are: The Needle Drop programming includes a regular blog, an NPR radio podcast, and of course the YouTube channel you voted for this month. So whether you’re into Fleet Foxes, Danny Brown or Andrew Jackson Jihad - or whether you’ve never heard of them and are just looking to expand your music library - let Anthony be your guide. He explains his channel’s history and purpose in more detail in the video below.

If you’re open to learning about new albums from bands you may not know, here’s a plug from Anythony himself:

“Hey, you! Yeah, you! Wanna try out some new music? Bend your mind with some fresh sounds? That's what this YouTube channel is all about: theneedledrop. It's hosted by the Internet's Busiest Music Nerd, Anthony Fantano, and follows him on his personal adventures through the newest albums out there. Hear some opinions and get turned on to some artists you might not know about yet in the process. Have a nice day. Thank you for reading!”

If you’ve enjoyed this monthly On The Rise blog series and want to see more rising YouTube partners, check out our On The Rise channel or look for our playlists on the browse page. Keep an eye out for next month’s blog post, as your channel may be the next one On The Rise!

Devon Storbeck, YouTube Partner Support, recently watched “Wild Flag - Self-Titled ALBUM REVIEW.”

Music Tuesday: Nirvana, Katy B and Rock in Rio

Tuesday, September 27, 2011

It’s never been a better time to be a music lover. Whether you’re looking for an intimate glimpse of an up-and-coming star, an orchestral take on hard rock songs, or a place to watch major stars perform live -- we’ve got it all this week.

Nirvana’s Nevermind Turns 20
Is this the album that launched a thousand flannel shirts (or, ahem, quite a few more)? In a word, yes. Seattle’s grunge scene had been bubbling quietly until “Smells Like Teen Spirit” began making forays into late-night play on alternative radio stations around the country back in 1991. Then Nevermind released, grunge became a household world and suddenly all kinds of bands were aping the loud-quiet-loud dynamic the Pixies invented and Kurt Cobainso successfully emulated. Two decades have not diminished the album’s power, nor its hold on the popular imagination. We’ve got the entire album in various forms for you today.

Rock in Rio: LiveWhile folks in the northern hemisphere have been obsessing over the fact that grunge is nearly old enough to vote, people in Brazil have been rocking out. Repeatedly. Rock in Rio is one of the world’s biggest music festivals, one of the few multi-weekend extravaganzas where you could find Katy Perry, Rihanna and Elton John -- all on the same night. Last weekend, the rest of the world was able to watch the event live for the first time ever on thefestival channel. The party starts up again this Thursday, September 29 with performances by Janelle Monae, Ke$ha, Stevie Wonder and more. Tune in!

Katy B “Power On Me”
The dubstep vocalist and burgeoning British pop star is storming the charts in Europe, and she’s poised to make waves in the U.S. this autumn. But for all Katy B’s high-energy dance cred, indie filmmakers Dig For Fireuncovered something much less bombastic in this acoustic video: her raw talent. The video quietly portrays the alienation of the publicity circuit -- we see her in photos shoots and makeup sessions -- and then perches on the edge of Katy B’s hotel bed one morning as she sings along to her own recording. It may not sound like much, but it’s strangely transporting.

Sarah Bardeen, Music Community Manager, recently watched “The Pixies - Gigantic.”

YouTube Partners on ABC's 20/20!

Monday, September 26, 2011

Generation YouTubehereMysteryGuitarManMichelle PhanTheCraftyGemini

Additional Creator Tools from YouTube

Friday, September 23, 2011

As part of our ongoing goal to foster the creation of great video content, we are announcing the release of three new features we hope will empower you to become even more imaginative with your video production.

1. Convert your 2D videos into 3D with a single click. (beta!)
Creating 3D videos was pretty tough before. You had to set up two cameras, combine the footage from each, and use special software to make the effect look just right. Today we're launching 2D to 3D conversion. Once you've uploaded your 2D videos to YouTube, you can convert them to 3D with the click of a button. Converted videos will be viewable by everyone in 3D. You'll still get best results with a 3D camera, but it's a great new way to let people enjoy your finest moments. You'll find this feature by selecting "Edit Info", then "3D Video" on a video you've uploaded. (Note, you'll still need glasses to watch on most devices.)

2. All verified users in good standing can now upload long-form videos.
YouTubers are some of the most innovative, entertaining and inspirational people in the world, and their creativity often needs more than the current upload limit of 15 minutes. Today, we’re improving upon our previous launch by enabling long uploads for users with a clean track record who complete an account verification and continue to follow the copyright rules set forth in our Community Guidelines. Check out some of the original full-length videos that can now shine on YouTube, such as student-film: “Spirit’s Revenge.”

To help you get those longer videos online, we also recently launched resumable uploads, which ensures that you won’t lose any of the minutes you’ve uploaded if your internet fails or your computer dies during the upload process. You can resume uploading right where you left off once you’re back online. (Note: Advanced uploader is no longer required to upload large files.)

3. Shoot, edit and share your videos easily with vlix and Magisto, now on youtube.com/create.
We’re adding two additional video creation platforms for you to make your videos even better: Vlix and Magisto. Vlix lets you spice up your videos by adding cool effects and text to the video intro and closing. Magisto takes your unedited video and automatically edits it into short, fun clips.

With so many tools at your fingertips, what are you waiting for? Get Ready...Set...Create!

Shenaz Zack Mistry, Product Manager, recently watched "Home."

ComScore YouTube Partner Reporting

Thursday, September 22, 2011

Many of you have requested traffic reporting to demonstrate the size and demographics of the people you entertain and inform every day on YouTube. Today, comScore announced that their August Video Metrix reporting would include viewership data across all YouTube partners. We want to make sure that you understand how comScore arrives at their numbers for your channel(s), and why there may be instances where the comScore data does not match what you see in your YouTube account.

We’ve invited comScore’s Product Manager, Dan Piech, to walk you through their methodology. If you have further questions about how things are calculated in the comScore reports, visit www.comscore.com/youtube, or ask your partner manager. Take it away, Dan!

“ComScore has invested significant time and resources toward ensuring that the data captured, processed, and presented is of the highest quality, retaining the industry-leading data integrity and privacy standards comScore is proud to have helped establish.

ComScore’s Video Metrix data for YouTube Partners comes from two primary sources:

1) A panel of roughly 1 million individuals in the U.S. and 2 million worldwide. These individuals have given comScore permission to measure their Internet activity, including video viewing. From this source, comScore is able to understand video viewers’ demographics, engagement rates, viewing patterns, and a plethora of additional attitudinal and behavioral characteristics.

2) Census-level video impression “tags” relayed through YouTube’s server infrastructure. Anytime anyone views a video that belongs to a YouTube Partner who has enabled comScore measurement, we count as an impression tag. No personally identifiable information about the viewers is contained within these tags – they are merely a notification to comScore that a video has been viewed. This data is used to calibrate comScore’s panel insights to a 100% accurate census-based measure of views, ensuring the most accurate data possible. This process is known as “Unification” and comScore is an industry-leader in pioneering this method of joining both panel and census-based market research measurements.

There may be times when comScore’s data for video views differs from what you see in your YouTube account. This could happen because comScore’s data:

1) Is only representative of computer-based viewing at home and work locations, whereas YouTube's data is for all viewing, regardless of platform.

2) Is currently only presented for one country at a time, whereas YouTube’s data represents all worldwide viewing.
3) Uses different mechanisms than YouTube to filter out non-human traffic, spider/bot views, and fraud attempts.
4) Does not include views of Partners’ claimed UGC content, whereas YouTube’s data may include these in some cases.”

Thanks Dan. We hope that you’ll find this reporting helpful!

The YouTube Team

Submit Questions for the Fox News / Google Debate

Tuesday, September 20, 2011

The Fox News / Google debate will be livestreamed from Orlando, Florida on YouTube on the 22nd, and we are featuring content related to the debate both on the homepage and the Fox News channel. Think about whether there is programming you can create this week related to the debate - it may get a lift from all the buzz being created by Fox and YouTube around the event. Also: you are great at video questions and since Fox is a partner, it would be particularly exciting to have other partners participating in the exchange. Submit your questions at www.youtube.com/foxnews.

Music Tuesday: Mastodon, Warpaint and Strawburry17

Tuesday, September 20, 2011

Aaustin, Texas is accustomed to hordes of music lovers descending on its streets periodically. But at this year's Austin City Limits Music Festival, you didn’t need to be there to be part of it—the festival was streaming live all weekend on YouTube; check out some festival highlights now. And, just in case you didn’t get your fill last weekend, we have oodles of musical goodies for you today.

Mastodon The Hunter album premiereWhat is a mastodon? A massive, lumbering animal that first appeared on earth 40 million years ago. DoesMastodon, the metal band, share the same gravitas as its namesake? If you like heavy music, twin guitar squall and hard rock with a side of prog, then the answer is yes. Mastodon’s fifth release jettisons the concept-album conceits of its predecessors, liberating the band to dizzying stylistic pivots that can, at their best moments, feel like small revelations (check out the song “The Ocotopus Has No Friends”). We’re pleased to present their new album The Hunter in its entirety today, set to excellent visuals, a week before release.

Live Sessions on the ‘Tube
It’s all about the live sessions these days. Everybody’s doing them, whether they’re seated on the Big Ugly Yellow Couch, crammed into the studios at KCRW or KEXP, vibing out in Room 205 or rapping to a boombox on the Brooklyn bridge. This week we celebrate the beautiful diversity with exclusive live sessions from the indie bandWarpaint, whom we in part love just because of their website name. (Warpaintwarpaint.com — why say it once?) This is a band that manages to sweetly brood, skirting the line of psychedelia with a kind of entrancing intensity. We also include a smattering of great live performances found on other channels. Got a suggestion for live sessions we haven’t seen? Send Music Tuesday a message.

Strawburry17 Gets More Into Indie PopThe music video creator Meghan Camarena, better known as Strawburry17, has earned herself a devoted following on YouTube for her work crafting videos for up-and-coming bands. Last week, she reached out to the community to help her get more into indie pop—and you responded in a big way. Check out her favorite picks, and dig deeper into the genre with her.

Sarah Bardeen, Music Community Manager, recently watched “Das Racist - Michael Jackson.”

Update on subscribers issue

Tuesday, September 20, 2011

We had an issue with publishing to subscribers over the weekend, and we want to give you an update.
First off, thank you. Your communication helped us understand the magnitude of this problem, and our engineers began working on it immediately. They’ve had some backlog to update and the process has taken longer than we’d like, but we’ve made a lot of progress and have already restored hundreds of hours of video to subscribers. We’re happy to let you know that any videos you’ve uploaded between Friday and Monday mornings should be published to your subscribers by the end of the day tomorrow.
As for newer videos, we’re currently seeing an average of 20 minutes lag time for videos to post to your subscribers, with a maximum delay of several hours. We expect that subscription activity (as well as video publishing, which has experienced related delays) should return to normal by the end of this week.
We apologize for the inconvenience and thank you again for your patience.
The YouTube Team

Introducing Your September “On The Rise” Nominees

Thursday, September 15, 2011

Each month, we identify four YouTube Partners who are growing their subscribers but haven’t yet reached the 100,000 subscribers mark for our On The Rise program. You vote for your favorite in the top right corner of the YouTube Global blog, and the winner will be featured on the YouTube homepage and videos page.

This September, our nominees are here to help you learn and play. So go grab a football, arts supplies, headphones or popcorn and check out the nominees are below. Then vote for your favorite in the top right corner by September 22 at 6pm PT, and we’ll announce the winner on September 29.

UncutSports
Kevin and George were bored with traditional TV sports reporting, so they created the Uncut Sports Show to offer unfiltered opinions on everything from football to wrestling to golf.

simplekidscrafts
When her son was four years old, Merve began this video blog to document their frequent arts and crafts projects. Now three years old, the channel offers step-by-step videos for how to turn everyday materials into fun kids crafts.

theneedledrop
Anthony Fantano is a public radio host and an avid independent music fan. For the last two years, he’s been reviewing all kinds of songs and albums from “music you like and music you hate.”

pineappleboyfilms
Jake Jarvi is a writer/videographer for luxury lifestyle magazines by day, but his real passion is film. In 2008 he produced the short film “Twisted Thicket,” and he’s now creating episodes of “The Platoon of the Power Squadron,” a series revolving around four Chicago strangers who become roommates and happen to have super powers.

Past winners like JasonMundayMusic and DestinWS2 have seen their audiences grow and even been in the news, all thanks to your support. If you’re interested in checking out more rising YouTube Partners, visit our On The Risechannel, which features nominees, trending partners and monthly blog winners. Look for more featured partners on the YouTube Browse page.

Devon Storbeck, Partner Support, recently watched “How to Edit Videos for Free.”

Edit your videos with YouTube

Wednesday, September 14, 2011

Until now, when you uploaded to YouTube, your video was hosted and shared, but couldn’t really be changed. If you wanted to trim off the end, swap out the soundtrack, or add an effect, you had to edit your video using a separate program and upload again.

Starting today, you can edit your uploaded videos right on YouTube and maintain the same video IDs. This means you keep your view count and comments, and all existing links to your video will continue to work. No re-uploading necessary!

Here’s how it works: just click Edit video on the video’s page or on your My Videos page:

You can stabilize your hand-held footage, rotate a video, and boost the contrast and colors. Try “I’m Feeling Lucky” for 1-click color correction:

Or if you’re looking for a more dramatic change, try one of our effects (developed in collaboration with our friends at Picnik):

Click Save to begin processing the edits to your video. And if you don’t like the new version, fear not: you can revert to the original and save again. You can also save your edits into a new video and try out multiple versions. Note that popular videos with over 1,000 views and videos with third-party content can only be saved as new videos once edited (learn more).

Here’s a quick video showing what you can do:

We’ll be rolling this out to all users globally over the course of the day. We know you want your videos to look their best, and we’re excited to see what you come up with using YouTube video editing!

John Gregg, Software Engineer, recently watched “Shenandoah.”

Mark Your Calendar for an International Virtual Meetup!

Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Partners - please join us for the first Europe & US combined virtual meetup!
This will be a live event on the YouTube channel (www.youtube.com/YouTube). Many of you have requested information about the Creator Hub and our new Creator Playbook - we want to answer your questions and hear all of your feedback..
Our own Bing Chen will be leading a discussion on the Creator Hub and Ryan Nugent from YouTube’s Audience Development team will be talking about the Creator Playbook. If you have questions about either, now's your opportunity to post them (and vote on others) here. This is a unique opportunity to discover everything about the Hub and the Playbook. Please submit your questions by Monday, September 12th, and then make sure to tune in to see what Bing and Ryan have to say during the live event..
Date: Wednesday, September 14th, 2011Time: 8.30 AM PST (San Francisco) / 12.30 PM EST (NewYork) / 16.30 GMT (London) / 17.30 GMT + 1 (Madrid)Web address: Live streaming at www.youtube.com/YouTube
During the stream, you’ll be able to ask follow-up questions via Twitter using the hashtag #YTPartner. We’ll monitor these tweets and address as many questions as we can during the live stream. Please note that due to its international nature, this livestreaming event will be held in English.
We look forward to seeing you on the 14th!
Maruchi Garcia, YouTube Strategic Partner Manager, recently watched "Glumpers - Meteorite."

Music Tuesday: David Choi, Meklit Hadero and more

Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Last week on youtube.com/music, we brought you a full album of vintage psychedelic music, a playlist of space-themed videos to commemorate the New Pornographers’ new sci-fi offering, and eMusic’s Six Degrees of Beirutplaylist, which traced the band’s influences. We also featured a few awesome videos we thought you should see. This week, we’re ignoring the massive bunch of new releases from everybody from Lady Antebellum and Bob Seger (!) to Blitzen Trapper, Katy B, Mogwai, Neon Indian, Laura Marling, Das Racist, The Kooks and Trombone Shorty. Instead, we’re taking music discovery to a whole new level.

Get More Into Singer-Songwriters With David Choi David Choi has become one of YouTube’s biggest stars, a singer-songwriter whose reach is equalled only by his following. This week, David put out a call to the community to help him get more into singer-songwriters on YouTube. The community responded with over a thousand suggestions. He whittled the list down to his favorites, who are featured today on the homepage and youtube.com/musictuesday.

Introducing Meklit Hadero Meklit Hadero is hardly a household name, but she should be. The Ethiopian-American singer-songwriter’s jazzy, soulful style has drawn enthusiastic accolades from anybody who heard 2010’s On A Day Like This. (And we think more folks should hear it.) Hadero spent a good part of her time honing her sound at the Red Poppy Art House in San Francisco, a crucible for innovative musicians, and the time she put in shows. In June, she visited Google and gave a live performance, which you’ll see here, paired with her debut video for “Leaving Soon.”

Raleigh Moncrief: Lament For Morning Debate has raged among music geeks about whether “chillwave” is a genuine phenomenon or just a term cooked up to link disparate, laptop-based artists. We won’t label the work by the young Sacramento, CA-based producer Raleigh Moncrief (who recently signed to the genre-defying independent label Anticon) -- but a pop-meets-ambient vibe is certainly there. The song’s basic architecture rests on Philip Glass-style repetition before wreathing itself in respectably-sized beats -- and the result is absorbing. Perhaps equally impressive is this abstract, impressionistic video, which Moncrief directed himself.

Sarah Bardeen, Music Community Manager, recently watched “Shlohmo - Just Us.”

Choose the questions for the GOP candidates in the FOX News/Google Debate

Monday, September 12, 2011

If you’ve been watching the 2012 Republican presidential race from the sidelines, now is your chance to get involved: Google and FOX News will present a GOP primary debate in Orlando, Florida on September 22, and you can drive the conversation by submitting and voting on questions for the candidates. The Fox News/Google Debate will combine the questions you submit on YouTube with maps, facts and information to enrich and guide the discussion. You can vote thumbs up or down on the questions using Google Moderator, and many of the top-voted will be put straight to the candidates to answer. The result—an informative dialogue about the future of our country centered on the issues you
care most about.

You can submit your questions, in video or in text, at www.youtube.com/foxnews. The debate will be live streamed on YouTube as well as broadcast on the FOX News Channel at 9pm ET on Thursday, September 22. Throughout the evening, we’ll use Google’s public data and search trends on air to give greater context to the questions, and help you make a more informed decision at the polls come November 2012. We hope you’ll join us—submit your question now and let your voice be heard.

Steve Grove, Head of YouTube News and Politics, recently watched, “Ask the GOP Candidates”

This week's Trends: fire, flash, and dubstep

Friday, September 9, 2011

Each weekday, we at YouTube Trends take a look at the most interesting videos and cultural phenomena on YouTube as they develop. We want take a moment to highlight some of what we've come across this week:

We studied how interest in dubstep music has risen across 2011.

We uncovered on-the-scene footage from Russia's tragic KHL plane crash.

We revealed part 2 of our exploration of the three kinds of one-man-bands.

We collected bystander footage of the wildfire in Texas.

And we learned of the "flash haka" and looked at the creativity behind 10 unique flash mobs from outside the United States.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=puXad30DSfg
Check back every day for the latest about what's trending on YouTube at: www.YouTube.com/Trends
Kevin Allocca, YouTube Trends Manager, recently watched "Back for the Future."

Surveying musicians in the digital age

Wednesday, September 7, 2011

The Internet has created a number of new opportunities for musicians to promote their work and make money -- they can upload videos on YouTube and earn revenue through advertising, fundraise on Kickstarter, sell ringtones, and much more. This range of options has grown rapidly, and only a few limited studies have attempted to understand artists’ changing revenue streams in order to help inform musicians and the wider music community.

That’s why we’re excited about a new survey of musicians being launched by the Future of Music Coalition (FMC), a Washington DC-based nonprofit that advocates on behalf of musicians. Since its founding in 2000 -- when online music was just starting to take off -- FMC has worked to educate artists as well as to inform the policymaking processes in Washington that directly affect the music community.

FMC wants to hear from US-based musicians and composers of all types. They’ve created an online survey that asks questions about musician-based revenue and how it has changed over time. You can find more about FMC and its Artists Revenue Streams project here, read some of their preliminary results here, and take the survey here.

(The survey is funded by a grant from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, and YouTube is also a proud sponsor of FMC.)
Derek Slater, Policy Manager, recently watched "Rolling in the Heat"

Music Tuesday: Taylor Swift, Queen and more

Tuesday, September 6, 2011

It’s been a big week for music at YouTube. Last week Taylor Swift joined us for a Q&A, answering questions from fans around the world and proving that under that bubbly exterior is a serious artist with some seriously interesting things to say. (And yes, she does admit that she’s written songs on paper towels.) This week, youtube.com/music pays tribute to one of rock’s great bands, and introduces some new talent.
Forty years on, Queen remains an indelible part of popular music. Is there anyone who hasn’t gone hoarse screaming “We Are The Champions” at least once in their lives, or stomped along to “We Will Rock You” at a sporting event? The band even inspired Stefani Germanotta’s stage name.
 In honor of Freddie Mercury’s 65th birthday this week, the band is sharing the concert film Queen - Live At Wembley Stadium in its entirety on Queen’s official channel for 48 hours. Widely considered one of the great concert films of all time, Wembley Stadium captures the band at the height of their powers, even though their greatest albums were arguably behind them. Mercury’s charisma is stunning: when he leads the stadium in an a cappella sing-along, you can only marvel at hearing tens of thousands of people willingly following his lead.  
As an added bonus, a gaggle of celebrity musicians (including Katy Perry) recorded tributes to Freddie Mercury for his birthday -- and you can watch them all.  
Jonti exists in some alternative reality where the Beach Boys and Free Design share space with Madlib -- and we like the result. This Australian/South African transplant recently signed to Stones Throw Records, and his first album is slated to drop in October. You can get an early taste of his sound with his first video, which is as gleefully glitchy as his music. 
Sarah Bardeen, Music Community Manager, recently watched “Queen - Under Pressure.”

Reflections on September 11 - Share Your Story

Thursday, September 1, 2011

The worst terrorist attack ever on U.S. soil took place ten years ago next month. The tragic events of September 11, 2001 affected the lives of millions of people, not only in New York, Washington D.C. and Pennsylvania, but around the world.

Working with The New York Times, we’re marking the 10th anniversary of 9/11 with a dedicated YouTube channel, featuring special content from the New York Times, archived news broadcasts from September 2001, and your own personal stories and tributes. We hope this channel will provide an enduring record of what took place on that day.

We’re asking you to share with us:

Your strongest memory of that day or that time period

How 9/11 changed you, and how you believe it changed America

What you lost — or gained -- because of 9/11

Make a video answering any of these questions and submit it to youtube.com/September11. A selection of your videos will be featured on the The New York Times website and YouTube homepage on September 11 this year.

Through telling and sharing stories, we can all hope to make sense of an event that, for many of us, was one of the defining moments of our lives. Thank you for sharing yours.

Olivia Ma, YouTube News & Politics Manager, recently watched “Portraits Redrawn: Alissa Torres”

Creator Blog

Clearing up some policy myths

Music review channel theneedledrop wins September’s “On The Rise”

Music Tuesday: Nirvana, Katy B and Rock in Rio

YouTube Partners on ABC's 20/20!

Additional Creator Tools from YouTube

ComScore YouTube Partner Reporting

Submit Questions for the Fox News / Google Debate

Music Tuesday: Mastodon, Warpaint and Strawburry17

Update on subscribers issue

Introducing Your September “On The Rise” Nominees

Edit your videos with YouTube

Mark Your Calendar for an International Virtual Meetup!

Music Tuesday: David Choi, Meklit Hadero and more

Choose the questions for the GOP candidates in the FOX News/Google Debate

This week's Trends: fire, flash, and dubstep

Surveying musicians in the digital age

Music Tuesday: Taylor Swift, Queen and more

Reflections on September 11 - Share Your Story

Labels

Archive

Feed