It’s Official: Lady Gaga Is The First Artist With 1 Billion Views On YouTube

Lady Gaga Did It - She Will Go Down In History As The First Artist To Have 1 Billion Views On YouTube

Lady Gaga Did It - She Will Go Down In History As The First Artist To Have 1 Billion Views On YouTube

As predicted by those who have long beards and just too much time on their hands, Lady Gaga is now the first artist with 1 billion views on YouTube. She won’t be alone for long, though – Justin Bieber will join her in a couple of days.

In having 1 billion video hits on YouTube, that is.
What did you think I was talking about??

Have Atomic Tom Come Up With The Best iPhone Band Performance So Far?

Atomic Tom Have Put Together What Must Rank As The Best iPhone Band Performances So Far.

Atomic Tom Have Delivered What Must Rank As The Best iPhone Band Performance So Far.

The story goes that the members of Atomic Tom got their instruments stolen, but that couldn’t keep them from making music.

So, when they were on the NYC subway they got out their iPhones and began playing “Take Me Out” (the first single from “The Moment”) with them,while someone conveniently shot the entire performance. Oh, and what’s even more convenient is that within minutes it was uploaded to Atomic Tom’s official YouTube account.

But who cares about that? What matters is the band performance they managed to pull off. I frankly think it is the best iPhone band performance we have seen so far. Way better than the Stanford iPhone orchestra for sure.

You can judge it for yourself by watching the full video (embedded below).

“The Moment” is Atomic Tom’s debut album. You can learn more about the band here.

The Birth Of Tweetagrams

Orange Tweetagram

Few marketing campaigns have been as successful as the one run this summer featuring good Old Spice. Both punters and critics loved the antics of the muscle-bound chap who went as far as proposing to a woman for someone who didn’t have the courage to do it personally. It was only a matter of time before other marketers would try and up the ante.

Tweetagrams could be deemed as a direct evolution of the Old Spice concept. It was presented by UK-based company Orange, and it let people send tweets to be set to music and recorded by retro grip group The Rockabellas

Those tweets had the hashtag #singingtweetagrams, and they were reviewed by Orange’s marketing department. That is, not every tweet had the honor of being recorded. There was a pre-selection process.

The ones who got selected became downloadable from Orange’s website, and people were able to do whatever they wanted with them. This included setting them as their ringtones, and sending them out to friends. Continue reading

Lady Gaga & Justin Bieber Are Both Close To Having 1 Billion YouTube Views

Lady Gaga Alejandro

VS

justin bieber u smile

As I am sure you remember, just a couple of months ago Lady Gaga became the first online artist to have 1 billion views across all online video platforms.

Well, now she is nearing 1 billion views on YouTube alone. That’s an amazing feat, and a good reminder why she is called “The Internet Artist”.

However, she is not alone.

Justin Bieber is hot on her heels. And although experts are sure that Gaga will get to the milestone first (it is said she will reach that milestone on October 20), Bieber might have the last laugh. He averages 3.98 million views daily, and Gaga is pulling off just 2.04 million. If that pattern is unbroken, Bieber will eventually overtake her.

Just for the record, Michael Jackson is the third artist with more YouTube video views. But he is no threat to Gaga or Bieber at this point. As of this date, he has about 600 million video views.

The Social Network Gets Its First Video Parody By Jay Kila the Viral Rapper

“The Social Network” Opened To Glowing Reviews Despite Being Labeled By Those In The Know As Inaccurate

“The Social Network” Opened To Glowing Reviews Despite Being Labeled By Those In The Know As Inaccurate

What do you get when a movie that was as hyped as “The Social Network” finally launches? You get lots of coverage on tech blogs, you get reviews by critics, you get user reviews on sites like Rotten Tomatoes… but most of all, you get music parodies.

This rap by Jay Kila the Viral Rapper is one of these. The song is named “CEO (The Social Network Rap)”, and the lyrics are so funny that I have embedded them below along with the actual clip.

Enjoy!

CEO (The Social Network Rap)

They call me Young Zuck just a punk
Tryna be in finals clubs no girls showin’ me love
But I don’t give a fuck
I was made to be great facemashin’ all my dates
As I crash the network — college aged Bill Gates
Not really a creep — okay, maybe social geek
You can check out my blog I’m telling it when I speak
Programmin up in my sleep I don’t got many peeps
For friends — Eduardo he was one of them
I guess — yes, well lemme get this off my chest
I believe I’m the best when it comes to CS
Facebook — yo, that was my idea
Don’t let them Winklevosses tell you that I steal
For real. I got the Napster as my bro
And he knows that this thing is about to blow
So I’ma hop on a plane to Palo Alto
Call up Peter Thief and well…you know

Chorus:
I’ll be C.E.O (yo!) x 2

Couple years go by I’m worth a couple of bill
And all these haters want a piece they jus need to chill
I look back on the site I was about to build
And never thought or dreamed that it could be this ill
I still got Asian groupies giving me brain
But now the phoenix is the name of my private plane
I abstain from doin’ drugs cuz I know cocaine
Can really cause some peeps to go kind of insane
But it’s kind of okay yea I’ve made mistakes
500 million friends ain’t that easy to make
I went from wiring in to be in Wired magazine
And there’s no AEPI when I fly Caribbean
Facebook — yo, it was meant to be
A social network expert or my destiny
jus a hacker turned legit a slacker and misfit
But my business cards say I’m C.E.O bitch

Month In Review – September 2010

Lots of interesting news and events were covered this month, including the launch of Ping (and the initial outcome of its fight for supremacy), MTV’s new-found popularity and the original ad for Google Instant (and the parodies it gave birth to). I also wrote about two soundtrack albums that are certainly not going unnoticed: “The Social Network” (Trent Reznor) and “Tron” (Daft Punk).

Chris Rea was the new artist added to the blog, and Lucas Meyer was the one Uruguayan artist I wrote about in September. I reviewed his album “Un Accidente Feliz” (issued by Esquizodelia Records) here.

Featured startups included Shuffler.fm (the closest thing so far to a Pandora for music blogs) and Flasbck (a cool way to let others see gigs the very same way you saw them – I also managed to interview Mark Williamson, his co-founder). Besides, I reviewed a site named MusicLink.fm that basically lets you stream full albums for free.

And I still cry with laughter when I watch the “The Worst Cover Band In The World” video. I haven’t stopped wondering whether that “rehearsal video” is genuine or not. But I must say I fear the worst…

Where To Buy The Tron: Legacy OST Online

French Musicians Daft Punk Have Taken Care Of Composing The OST To Tron: Legacy

French Musicians Daft Punk Have Taken Care Of Composing The OST To Tron: Legacy

Tron: Legacy is the sequel to 1982’s immensely popular sci-fi title. This time around, the plot revolves around Sam (the son of Jeff Bridges’ original character, played by Garrett Hedlund) entering the digital world in search of his father (and eventually playing in the field against him).

The movie is one of the first ever set to be released in RealD 3D. Hey, is there any single title that would lend itself best to such technology?

And Tron: Legacy’s OST (by French musicians Daft Punk) can already be ordered from this website. You can either buy it in MP3 format for $ 10, or as a physical CD for $ 35. In the second case, you are also getting a Daft Punk poster as part of the package. Continue reading

The First Street Musician Who Uses An iPad (Video)

If You Thought iPads Were Prohibitive Pieces Of Hardware For Street Musicians To Use, The Video Attached Below Will Come As Surprising.

If You Thought iPads Were Prohibitive Pieces Of Hardware For Street Musicians To Use, The Video Attached Below Will Come As Surprising.

The girl featured on this video has the distinction of having become the first busker ever who uses an iPad caught on tape.

The video (which is shot in Moscow) may be short, but  it just highlights how times change. Gone are the days in which busking was a matter of sheer grit. Provided it is not a publicity stunt, of course.

MTV Beats Vevo As The Online Destination For Watching Music Videos

MTV Becomes The Premier Destination For Watching Music Videos Once Again

MTV Becomes The Premier Destination For Watching Music Videos Once Again

People my age (IE, 30-somethings) mostly remember MTV as the place to tune into when you wanted to watch music videos and discover new bands, not to watch an endless succession of reality shows and similar “hip” content.

Everybody agrees that the Internet drove the final nail in the coffin for MTV, stealing what audience it had left and creating a whole new hierarchy for the discovery of new talent.

The irony is that now MTV.com has become the premier destination for people wanting to watch music videos, well ahead of Vevo. A recent survey by comScore shows that MTV had over 53 million unique visitors in August, whereas Vevo came in second with 49 million. Continue reading

Google Instant Meets Bob Dylan & Billy Joel

The launch event for Google Instant

The launch event for Google Instant

Google unveiled its new search technology two weeks ago. Named “Google Instant”, it lets you see results as you type. This means you don’t have to input a query and hit return any longer. The results materialize automatically at the bottom of the page as you are typing away.

And Google hit the nail on the head when they used Bob Dylan’s “Subterranean Homesick Blues” to show off this new technology. The ad (embedded below) was featured at the launch event for Google Instant. They couldn’t have found a better song had they tried.

Or could they? Nay-sayers (because people always oppose to changes) and pranksters immediately came up with their own musical protests and parodies. This is one of my favorites, set to Billy Joel’s number one hit “We Didn’t Start The Fire”.

Again – it is a fast paced tune, and it is as suitable as Dylan’s song was for the “official” ad. And in any case, “We Didn’t Start The Fire” must be one of the most parodied songs ever. Just look it up on YouTube and see what crops up – “We Didn’t Start The Star Wars”, “We Didn’t Start The Crisis”, “We Still Didn’t Start The Fire”…