YouTube Creator Blog: Music

YouTube Indie Artist Summit: October 20th in NYC

Tuesday, October 11, 2011

Calling all indie artists - are you going to be in New York for CMJ? If so, please join us for an Indie Artist Summit to meet, mingle and learn with the YouTube Music team and other YouTube musicians.

When: October 20th, 2011, at 12pm ET

Where: Mercury Lounge, 217 East Houston St, New York

What: Learn about a new set of YouTube tools created for independent artists. Discover the tips and tricks that will help make you a YouTube success. Hear directly from independent artists who are making it on YouTube: Dru Ha and Buckshot from Duck Down Music, Ryan Leslie from Next Selection Music, Julia Nunes, Karmin, and Portugal. the Man. Meet one-on-one with YouTube employees for tailored advice. We’ll close out the event with a reception featuring live music from Nick Catchdubs of Fools Gold.

RSVP: http://goo.gl/y6jL8 and feel free to invite your friends:

Space is limited, so please RSVP by October 18th, 2011. If you have additional questions, please contact us at http://goo.gl/9bcN3. Be sure to include "CMJ 2011" in the form. Thanks and we look forward to seeing you soon!

Camille Hearst, YouTube Product Marketing Manager, recently watched “Ryan Leslie - Glory (Official Music Video).”

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.”

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.”

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.”

Creator Blog

YouTube Indie Artist Summit: October 20th in NYC

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

Music Tuesday: Nirvana, Katy B and Rock in Rio

Music Tuesday: Mastodon, Warpaint and Strawburry17

Music Tuesday: David Choi, Meklit Hadero and more

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