YouTube Looking For Indie Bands

YouTube has expanded its partner program and has introduced "Musicians Wanted" aimed at getting independent bands or artists to submit music videos to the site.

Interested independent bands or artist can apply for Musicians Wanted through YouTube's Partner Program. Those who are accepted will have their own page where they can add details about where they will be playing, provide links to buying music and showcase their music videos.

Independent artists will also share YouTube's advertising revenue generated by their music video plays as well as when videos are embedded on other websites, such as music blogs.

The YouTube Blog offers more details. "So whether you make hip-hop, folk, noise-rock, jazz or a genre of your own invention, we are looking for all types of original music video content."

"One thing to keep in mind is that right now this program only supports video content by U.S.-based artists, though there are plans to roll out the program more widely in the future."
 

Dynamo Player – Instant Monetization Tool for Videos Unveiled at SXSW

Rob Millis and Will Cohlan, the pair beyond the web show Political Lunch, gave a presentation at SXSW called "Beyond Advertising: Can Online Video Finally Pay?" The discussion led to the unveiling of a tool for online video monetization called Dynamo Player.

The goal (short-term at least) of the tool is to simplify the process of uploading a video to the web, making it portable, and quickly getting viewers to pay for it.

WebProNews pulled Millis and Cohlan aside after the presentation to discuss Dynamo Player a little bit more:

Dynamo's slogan is "Powering independence." This concept comes from the idea that the product lets content producers have more control than with other options. Users can set their price, upload the video, and publish it anywhere on the web, and start making money immediately. Each time a viewer pays to watch your video, the money is deposited directly into your account.

For payments, the Dynamo player uses PayPal. Viewers are asked to pay, when they press play, right from the player. Of course, you'll have to provide content that people actually want to pay for, and Millis and Cohlan made a fair case as to why paid online video content will likely become more accepted by users (with sites like iTunes already paving the way).

Dynamo is not about competing with a site like YouTube, as far as offering a destination for users to go and watch online video (at least at this point), although they did say a future option could be to present featured videos on their site. Dynamo is geared more at the producers themselves, to put their videos wherever they choose.

Content producers who want to give it a spin can send an email to the guys at beta@dynamoplayer.com, and let them know.

173 Million Internet Users Watched Online Video In January

• The top video ad networks in terms of their actual reach delivered were: BrightRoll Video Network with 27.2 percent penetration of online video viewers, SpotXchange Video Ad Network with 19.8 percent, and Tremor Media Video Network with 16.6 percent.
• 135.4 million viewers watched 12.7 billion videos on YouTube.com (93.4 videos per viewer).
• The average Hulu viewer watched 23.5 videos, totaling 2.3 hours of videos per viewer.
• The duration of the average online video was 4.1 minutes.

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Is the Future of TV Advertising Dependent on Search?

The Wall Street Journal has the Blogosphere abuzz with rumors of Google testing a new set-top box with Dish Network, which would allow people to search television and online video content like YouTube. Google has given the usual "we don't comment on rumor or speculation" statement on the subject.

According to the WSJ, only a small number of Google employees and their families are testing the box, which runs on Google software (Android is implied), and lets users create personalized lineups of shows. The testing has reportedly been going on since last year. Aside from these things, the details are sketchy at best, which can only mean one thing: let the wild speculation commence.

Assuming that this service ever comes to fruition, it could open up a lot of new opportunities for Google to dominate or at least heavily compete in areas in which it isn't dominating already. Rather than doing too much speculation myself, allow me to just list some questions and open this up for discussion:

- What if Google gets exclusive deals with Dish Network as well as other major satellite and cable providers? Google TV Ads already has deals in place to provide ads on close to a hundred cable networks.

- What if Google makes more deals to boost its movie rental selection on YouTube? How big of a player would that make YouTube in the movie rental space? This will be something to keep an eye on with or without this box as Internet-ready TVs permeate the mainstream.

- Will Yahoo and Bing be looking at opportunities like the Google/Dish Network box? Are they already?

- What would widespread integration of web search and television mean for TV advertising?

In the not-too-distant future, we may start to really see TV advertising getting more targeted, which has long been the medium's biggest downfall. People often record shows simply so they don't have to watch the commercials. What if the ads were targeted at the individuals watching the TV? What if they were relevant? Search advertising paved the way for this kind of relevancy, and may just be a key to the future of TV advertising in a world where viewers want their programming on demand.

There I go off on that speculation. This all sounds good in theory, but a lot of puzzle pieces have to fall in place, and a lot of stars have to align for this to become a reality. Deals must be made, and money must be spent. That's not to say the concept is far-fetched.

Consider that advertisers are finding online to be a better option than even the super bowl in some cases. This past Super Bowl, Pepsi skipped a TV spot for the first time in 23 years. TV is going to have to adapt.

Talk to ArisYulianta and Friends... what you think.

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