YouTube UK Blog
YouTube Symphony Orchestra 2011: The Shortlist Is In, Let The Voting Begin
Friday, 10 December 2010
Musicians from Finland to New Zealand and from Austria to Vietnam have done their bit - submitting their audition videos for the chance to be part of the YouTube Symphony Orchestra 2011 at Sydney Opera House. Now, with 336 finalists from 46 countries selected, it’s your turn to play your part: voting is open for who you think should make up the orchestra.
Your votes at
youtube.com/symphony
over the next seven days will help decide which of these talented musicians will be packing up their trombones, violas, and timpani and heading to Sydney Opera House from March 14-20, 2011, to perform together for a global audience.
You can vote once per video, per day, until 23:59 EST on December 17 to help YouTube Symphony Orchestra Artistic Advisor Michael Tilson Thomas boil the 300 shortlisted hopefuls down to the final 96. Your votes are also needed to help choose four solo improvisers. “Mothership” composer
Mason Bates
will be using your input to choose from 36 soloists, including show-stopping performances on instruments like the
guzheng
, the
musical saw
and… the
udderbot
.
Congratulations to those in the running, and to all of those who submitted an audition -- thank you for your hard work. We've been blown away by your talent and determination.
Check out
the channel
now and vote for your favourites.
Jamie Dolling, Marketing Manager, recently watched “
Magic Moments: The Udderbot
”.
New Year Countdown starts today
Thursday, 2 December 2010
December begins with the return of YouTube's
New Year Countdown
, a special destination page presented by HTC, spotlighting 31 of the year's most memorable videos.
Special effects maestro freddiew kicks off the Countdown with a bang, courtesy of his eye-popping
Flower Warfare
video. As one of YouTube's break-out stars of 2010, Freddie joins some well known YouTube personalities in this year-end roll-call, which also features some of the year's most viral memes, pop parodies and other notable clips. To find out which videos made the shortlist, you'll have to check out the
Countdown
, as a new hit is revealed each day, holiday calendar style.
New Year Countdown
is just one way that we're covering the highlights of this bumper year for video. Keep your eyes peeled for more special year-in-review coverage, and check in on the Countdown channel during the month to see if your favorites are featured.
Mark Day, New Year Program Manager, recently watched '
Magic Paint
.'
Great Scott! Over 35 Hours of Video Uploaded Every Minute to YouTube
Thursday, 11 November 2010
Remember
in March
when we shared with you that more than 24 hours of video being uploaded to YouTube every minute? Well, you continue to amaze us: you’ve increased the amount of video uploaded to YouTube to 35 hours per minute. That breaks out to 2,100 hours uploaded every 60 minutes, or 50,400 hours uploaded to YouTube every day. If we were to measure that in movie terms (assuming the average Hollywood film is around 120 minutes long), 35 hours a minute is the equivalent of over 176,000 full-length Hollywood releases every week. Another way to think about it is: if three of the major US networks were broadcasting 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year for the last 60 years, they still wouldn’t have broadcast as much content as is uploaded to YouTube every 30 days.
As you can see from the above chart, the number of uploads to YouTube have more than doubled in the last two years. How come? Here are some of the factors contributing to the growth:
The time limit for videos uploaded by users
increased by 50%
from 10 to 15 minutes.
The upload file size increased over the last few years by more than 10x to 2GB via our standard uploader.
Mobile phones have improved dramatically in how quickly and easily they upload videos to YouTube.
More companies integrating our APIs to support upload from outside of YouTube.com (Activision’s
Call of Duty Black Ops.
as one very cool example where you can record and share video footage from within the game).
So, what happens in 35 hours? Here are just some of the things that can happen in that time frame:
A team can set the record for
the longest soccer
(eh hem... futbol) match in history.
Someone can
drive
non-stop from YouTube's headquarters in San Bruno, CA to Chicago, IL.
You could fly over half-way around the world
in a balloon
.
Clearly, you are able to tackle some of our most daunting challenges. So it is with that in mind that we throw down another heavy gauntlet: upload 48 hours of video every minute. That’s right: two full days and 100% growth of what we achieved back in March of 2010.
Hunter Walk, Director of product management, recently watched “
FD Sonoma: Tilt-Shift Formula Drift
”
UK Music Tuesday: Elton John's Favourites
Monday, 25 October 2010
This week Elton John shares his favourite new British acts with
UK Music Tuesday
as he prepares to release a new album with 1970s Boogie Rock and Blues legend Leon Russell. A renowned music connoisseur, if you want to know who has caught the Rocket Man's ear, read on...
But before we turn to his tips for future success, when the likes of Elton John refer to a musician as their "idol", it's worth investigating the issue. "The Union", released on October 25, is the fruit of a collaboration between Elton John and Leon Russell that picks up 40 years after the two men first worked together, at a point when Leon had already played with everyone from Herb Alpert to The Rolling Stones. "It's not often that you get the opportunity to work with your idol, or to make a record with him," explains Elton. "I decided to make a record with him because I thought he had been ignored for too long and he was my idol in the late 1960s and early 1970s."
Even a cursory listen to Leon's vocals on single
"If It Wasn't For Bad"
exposes the shared musical DNA between the two artists, and as committed Elton John fans --
"Yellow Brick Road"
definitely makes the all-time Top 5 round these parts -- UK Music Tuesday is keen to hear more from "The Union". But to learn what is currently catching Elton John's ear from the UK, see below:
"
Plan B
has made probably the album of the year – it’s the album I have played most this year," enthuses Elton. "It’s an extraordinary record considering that the album he made before this was a rap record."
"I could not believe this girl’s voice," he says of
Rumer
. "Just extraordinary… a beautiful voice. They don’t come along that often and then you get one that comes along like Rumer’s and she’s going to be a huge star. In England we seem to be capable of bringing these singers out, like
Adele
,
Duffy
and
Amy Winehouse
.
Lily Allen
is another one. People with extraordinary voices..."
On which note, UK Music Tuesday is going to leave you to enjoy the music. Huge thanks to Elton John for effortlessly linking 1970 and 2010 and providing numerous jumping off points for musical discovery here on YouTube. Even a simple search for
Leon Russell
surfaces some incredible footage.
Have fun,
Jamie Dolling, YouTube UK, recently watched
"Leon Russell & Friends -- Honky Tonk Woman"
.
Musicians Wanted: Now Worldwide
Monday, 18 October 2010
Earlier this year we announced the US launch of the
YouTube Partner Programme
(YPP) for Musicians, aka
Musicians Wanted
. Today we are happy to reveal that the initiative has been extended to more territories, offering independent acts from Sweden to New Zealand the opportunity to make money from their YouTube uploads.
Users in Canada, France, Ireland, The Netherlands, South Africa, Spain, the UK, Sweden, The Czech Republic, Argentina and New Zealand now have the opportunity to apply for the ability to serve ads alongside their work and collect a share of the revenues created. Here is a recap on on the programme from YouTube musician extraordinaire
Jack Conte
and singer Nataly Dawn (aka
Pomplamoose
):
So, if you are a musician based in any of the territories listed above – or if you’re based in the US and haven’t done so yet – head to the
sign-up page
and register for the programme. After all, you’ve got nothing to lose and potentially a whole lot to gain.
Have fun,
Jamie Dolling, YouTube UK, recently watched
“Professor Green: The Next 48 Hours”
.
YouTube Play: Live From The Guggenheim
Friday, 15 October 2010
Next week the
YouTube Play jury
will announce the top 25 videos that it selected from the 23,000 submissions received. We’re busy working with the Guggenheim to make sure that this announcement is like no other. Right now we can’t tell you who those 25 are, but we can tell you a little about the event we’re going to throw to celebrate it.
YouTube Play: Live From The Guggenheim will be a live streamed event featuring music, collaborations, eye-popping projections and, of course, the most creative video. If you’re in New York, you can catch some of the projections on the façade of the building on the night of October 21. If you’re not, then head to
youtube.com/play
on October 21 to catch the event live, starting at 1 a.m. (BST).
So who’s going to be there? Here’s a sneak peek of our lineup:
OK Go:
The Chicago-based four-piece have torn up the rulebook with their music videos, picking up a Grammy and tens of millions of views in the process.
"This Too Shall Pass"
is in the YouTube Play shortlist.
Kutiman:
"ThruYOU"
was named one of Time Magazine’s top 50 best inventions for 2009, and is also in the shortlist. Kutiman shot to fame by compiling musical elements from across YouTube; at the Guggenheim, he’ll be choreographing a unique live collaboration.
Michael Showalter:
The MC for the evening is also the star of Comedy Central’s Michael and Michael Have Issues, has a hit online with CollegeHumor.com’s
The Michael Showalter Showalter
, and used to be on The Daily Show.
That’s it for now. You’re going to have to head to
youtube.com/play
on the night to find out who made the top 25 and what things really look like when YouTube meets the Guggenheim.
Tom Pursey, Product Marketing Manager, recently watched
"Tom Waits Theme For Iron Man 2 (Rejected)"
.
The YouTube Symphony Orchestra Returns!
Tuesday, 12 October 2010
The world’s first online collaborative orchestra is back, and this time a new round of performers will be playing their part onstage at the iconic Sydney Opera House.
It seems like just yesterday that Carnegie Hall was abuzz with a sold-out performance that made
headlines
around
the globe
. Ninety-six musicians arrived in New York City, from over 30 countries, to perform together after uploading an audition video and then being chosen by the YouTube community to be a part of the exciting event. We are thrilled to invite you to audition for the
YouTube Symphony Orchestra 2011
.
In addition to the new locale, this “second act” includes another new element: “Mothership,” a musical work from composer
Mason Bates
. Right now, it’s still missing something: an improvisation provided by you. Take a listen to it here and start planning your contribution.
This time there are two ways to audition, for the classical audition perform the pieces listed on the channel according to instrument. For the opportunity to contribute your own creation, choose the solo improviser—it doesn’t matter if you play trumpet, viola or didgeridoo. If you proceed to the final stages, you will join musicians from around the world in a week-long music summit with Grammy-award-winning conductor
Michael Tilson Thomas
, who returns to guide the orchestra.
The YouTube Symphony Orchestra 2011 is a collaboration with partners the Sydney Symphony, the London Symphony Orchestra, Berliner Philharmoniker and many other leading institutions of the classical music world. This event is being made possible by Hyundai.
Michele Flannery, Music Manager, recently watched “
Eucalyptus Didgeridoo Solo
”
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