Official Blog
YouTube Musicians Gear Up for Grammys
Sunday, February 10, 2008
The 50th annual Grammy awards on February 10 marks the final crescendo of our
MyGrammyMoment contest
. All 15 musicians chosen by your votes have been in L.A. this week rehearsing their orchestral contributions to the Foo Fighters' song "The Pretender," but only one will be selected to step out from the crowd as a featured soloist. And did we mention Led Zeppelin bass player and multi-instrumentalist John Paul Jones will be conducting all this?
This group of amazingly talented violinists, cellists and trumpet players from all over the U.S. has been having a whirlwind week in L.A., juggling rehearsals with the Foos and Jones with Grammy Foundation events (where they got to walk the red carpet and rub shoulders with Musiq Soulchild, Natasha Bedingfield and Jerry Lee Lewis). Friday's rehearsal at the Staples Center gave them a chance to watch their fellow Grammy night stars tune up for the big show. (Wasn't that Alicia Keyes who just passed by?) Peek in on the rehearsals, complete with jokes supplied by Dave Grohl and a Foo fan visit from Juliette Lewis:
Tune in to the Grammy Awards on Sunday, February 10, to see all Top 15 YouTube instrumentalists in this once-in-a-lifetime performance; you can also
vote
right up until the performance for which talented 'Tuber --
Ann Marie Calhoun
,
Brian Fitzgerald
or
Tara Klein
–- should step out as a soloist. In addition, we're featuring everyone's audition video on the home page today so you can see what sparked this whole experience in the first place.
Live from La-La Land,
Michele K-Tel
YouTube Music
Experience Fashion Week Firsthand
Wednesday, February 6, 2008
This week marked the start of the fall fashion season with New York Fashion Week 2008, seven days of runway shows, parties, after-parties, parties after the after-parties, and all-around fabulousness. If your schedule doesn't allow you to jet off to the Apple, darling, our
Fashion Week 360 channel
is the one place where you can experience New York Fashion Week from all angles. For starters, we've got our very own freewheeling fashionista
William Sledd
in New York giving you the play-by-play:
In addition,
Elle Magazine
brings you into shows by top designers like Diane Von Furstenberg, Malandrino and Carolina Herrera;
Ford Models
takes you backstage where designers and models are furiously suiting up for the catwalk, and
NylonTV
takes in-depth looks at the hottest new talent like Erin Fetherston, Yigal Azrouel, and Rag & Bone.
Here's just a sampling:
The FashionWeek360 channel is updated daily, so check back to get the latest from the Big Apple. And it doesn't stop there: we'll have Fashion Week video from London, Milan, and Paris through March.
(Air) kisses,
Sadia H.
YouTube Howto & Style
Super Tuesday -- Tune In!
Tuesday, February 5, 2008
Today is the biggest day in the U.S. presidential primary race so far, and you can follow all the action right here on YouTube. Check out our
Super Tuesday platform
to see videos from voters, candidates, and news organizations from around the country. We're featuring some of the best ones on our
home page
all day today.
Here's a highlight reel:
Come back to our
Super Tuesday channel
throughout the day as videos pour in from the 24 states holding primaries. Add your own video to the mix to have your voice heard alongside everyone else's. If you're looking for ideas on the kind of video to make, we've got some suggestions
here
. But most importantly -- get out and vote!
Yours,
Steve G.
YouTube News & Politics
Stuck in Chad, and YouTube is the Communication Line
Sunday, February 3, 2008
On Saturday, when around 1500 rebel forces attacked Chad's capitol city of N'Djamena, the American organization
Stop Genocide Now
got stuck in the middle of the fighting. Sequestered in a Hotel just a few hundred yards from the presidential palace, the group turned to YouTube to broadcast reports back home.
The video are powerful. With gunfire in the background and personal commentary from the group's leader, Gabriel Stauring, you get a real sense for the gravity of the situation as the Chadian government tries to beat back the rebel forces. Friends, famliy, and supporters tuned in via their YouTube
channel
and
blog
.
Stop Genocide Now had been reporting from refugee camps on the Chad/Sudanese border, where hundreds of thousands of refugees remain displaced from the genocide taking place in neighboring Sudan. Gabriel and team had been filing YouTube
dispatches
from their trip every day, until the rebel invasion of the capitol left them stuck in their hotel in the city. It wasn't the first time the group had used YouTube to bring attention to the situation in Darfur - the video question they shot from a refugee camp was used in the CNN/YouTube Democratic Debate back in July:
Lucky for the group, they were evacuated from their hotel to a French Military complex on Sunday. But the fighting continues in Chad - French troops have been sent to beat back the rebel forces but progress has been limited.
The conflict in Darfur and Chad is one of the most tragic on the planet, and it deserves our attention. Keep your eyes on YouTube channels like Stop Genocide Now to keep learning more about what's happening there, and what we can do to help.
Yours,
Steve G.
YouTube News & Politics
New Face, No Significant Increase in Hair
Friday, February 1, 2008
Hi YouTubers,
I'm very excited to introduce myself. I'm your new Comedy Manager, Mark Day. Some of you might know me as a bald guy ranting in front of a yellow wall, in what some believe to be "a pretend Scottish accent." But given the countless number of users on the site, I'll be a new name to many of you. Either way, I'll be doing everything I can to bring you the full range of comedy available on YouTube today -- from the best sketch groups and the latest movie parodies to up-and-coming stand-up comedians and the kind of videobloggers who love to make their subscribers laugh.
I've been a YouTube user since March of '06, and I've been lucky enough to meet and even collaborate with many talented people since then. I know just how much work people put into creating original content, and I'm looking forward to helping our finest comedic talent find the spotlight to shine.
Now that I'm part of the YouTube team, you won't be seeing much of my big bald head any more (which is, perhaps, a blessing). But I do want to thank everyone who made it fun for me to get in front of a video camera in the first place. Now I hope I do my part to encourage more users to post their own rants, skits and amusing opinions. As for my yellow wall, it's currently hoping to film its own sitcom pilot as soon as the writers' strike is over.
Cheers,
Mark D.
YouTube Comedy
24 Hours, 24 Videos: Welcome to 2009
Thursday, January 31, 2008
So here it is: 2009. And after our 24-video marathon run through 2008’s memorable moments, hopefully you’re feeling suitably entertained and fired with enthusiasm for the year ahead.
But before we move on into the unknown, let’s take closer look at some of the videos we have featured through the day – be it for the sake of Auld Lang Syne, or just for kicks. Because here at YouTube there is nothing we like more than a bit of backstory to place a video in context.
Weezer: Pork and Beans
Weezer's video hit YouTube on May 23. Drawing on 24 of the biggest viral hits the site has seen to date -- from "Dramatic Chipmunk" to "Miss Teen USA 2007 South Carolina" to Tay Zonday's "Chocolate Rain" -- the video salutes some of the most memorable moments and people in YouTube's history, generating more than 15,500,000 clicks in the process and creating (dare we say it) a video that transcended the sum of its estimable parts.
Christian the Lion
This story of an unbreakable bond between man and beast was one of the most talked about videos of 2008. It briefly chronicles the true story of a lion being reunited with the two men who raised him, years after he'd been released back into the wild and become the leader of his own pride. The actual reunion took place in 1972, but this archive footage was rediscovered and posted to YouTube earlier this year. If one video saw tears stain the leathery cheeks of the battle-hardened YouTube Team over the past 12 months, this was it…
Frozen Grand Central
The New York-based collective Improv Everywhere have become firm favorites on YouTube, thanks to their unique public hijinks. Videos like "No Pants Subway Ride" and "Food Court Musical" offer good examples of their large-scale pranks, but the elaborate public performance "Frozen Grand Central Station" was especially popular. The video features more than 200 people simultaneously freezing in place at Grand Central Station in New York City; the reactions of onlookers are as striking as the stunt itself. They claim to ‘cause scenes’ – they don’t lie.
Where The Hell Is Matt?
Matt Harding is best known as the goofy guy who danced his way around the world. But Harding's frankly risible grooving has brought inspiration and joy to millions of people -- over 14 million have viewed it on YouTube alone. As one observant user said: "It shows that no matter how different we are on the outside, inside we all just want to dance, laugh, and have fun."
Rick Astley: Never Gonna Give You Up
Chances are that at some point in 2008, you or someone you know experienced a "Rick Roll": a bait-and-switch prank that dupes you into watching the video for Rick Astley's 1980s hit "Never Gonna Give You Up." The joke even transcended the Internet with organizers of football games, parades and rallies "Rick Rolling" unsuspecting attendees. But perhaps the ultimate "Rick Roll" occurred on April Fool's Day, when YouTube rigged up every feature to the video. Then he was pronounced Best Act Ever by MTV Europe after – you guessed it – an internet poll. You naughty, naughty people.
Will.i.am: Yes We Can Obama Song
When Barack Obama delivered his concession speech after the New Hampshire primary, little did he know he was providing the script -- and the inspiration -- for the most-watched political video of 2008. Will.i.am's "Yes We Can" music video, a celebrity-studded mash-up of Obama's speech, became an instant viral sensation upon its release in early February, and arguably had a massive influence on Election '08 and popular culture. Seen over six million times just on Will.i.am's official YouTube channel, the video has inspired voters, young people, and satirists alike.
Fred Loses His Meds
Who says you can't become an overnight success on YouTube? Not 15-year-old Lucas Cruikshank, or Fred Figglehorn as he is known to fans, who created a Web series in which he plays a hyperactive six-year-old with anger management issues. Fred's hyper-kinetic videos quickly caught people's attention and helped make him the fastest-rising star in YouTube history. The above video (his second) was Fred's first to break a million views, jump-starting his meteoric rise to his current position as the No. 1 Most Subscribed user on YouTube.
Star Wars according to a three-year-old
This sweet-faced little lady became a YouTube sensation with her retelling of the original Star Wars movie. Fans of the film can go on for hours discussing the plot, but this three-year-old sums it up in less than two minutes. If not the most detailed description of Star Wars ever, it's arguably the most adorable. Warning: Spoiler Alert.
The Miley Cyrus Story
Not only did Miley release a hit song (and video) this year with
7 Things
, which inspired several user-generated
parodies
(some of them nearly as popular as the original), but the Hannah Montana star also launched her own YouTube channel,
MileyMandy
with best friend Mandy Jiroux. The girls have used their channel to vlog and generally horse around for their audience of over 292,000 subscribers, and it's also where they post their
M&M Cru
dance battle videos, which together have notched nearly 15 million views and took the world's "biggest online dance battle" to a whole new level.
Super Mario Rescues The Princess: Seth MacFarlane's Cavalcade
As the creator of Family Guy and American Dad, Seth MacFarlane has had a tremendous impact on animated entertainment. This year, MacFarlane opted to launch
Seth MacFarlane's Cavalcade of Cartoon Comedy
exclusively on Google and YouTube. Not only was this a groundbreaking event for online video, it also showcased the financial opportunities that online advertising can offer film-makers (not that this comes as much surprise to members of the YouTube Partner Program).
Now we’ve had our say, we’d love to hear what you made of our end-of-year round up. Leave your comments below – it wouldn’t be YouTube without a little back and forth now, would it?
Here’s to a video-rich 2009. Happy New Year!
The YouTube Team
YouTube Partner Program: Now in the UK
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
When we announced the expansion of the
YouTube Partner Program
late last year, our goal was to offer some of the most popular and prolific original content creators in the YouTube community an easy way to generate revenue from their videos on the site. (For a quick recap of how the program works, see our
previous blog post
.)
Like the Internet itself, the YouTube community crosses borders and cultural boundaries. As part of our ongoing plan to reflect international user contribution to our service -- we've already localized our service for 18 countries -- we're excited to announce that once again we are expanding the YouTube Partner Program, this time by rolling out the program internationally. First stop, the United Kingdom. Now anyone living in the UK can apply to become a partner at
uk.youtube.com/partners
.
The program has grown significantly since its initial launch, with millions of video views each day earning revenue for our partners. We look forward to bringing the YouTube Partner Program to more international users in the near future. To where will we expand next? Stay tuned…
The YouTube Team
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