Mashroom.fm – Create Music Clips Using YouTube Videos

 

Name: Mashroom.fm
URL: http://mashroom.fm

Mashing up online videos is the order of the day here. Mashroom.fm is a service that lets you take different clips as found on YouTube, and then have them mixed in order to create something unique. You can choose up to six different YouTube videos, and use them to create a single track. And you can also record yourself, and add sounds to what you’re mashing up.

The end result will obviously depend on how much time and effort you’ve put into the edition of what you’ve created, but even if you’re in a bit of a hurry you’ll still be able to come up with something to make your Facebook friends laugh a little. And in any case, there’s no 1000-page treatise defining what memes are made up of. You never know what might end up happening to a video you’ve created on a whim, just as a way to humor a good friend…

Mashroom.fm is a free service, and you can start using it just by authenticating who you are via Facebook. Once your mixes are ready, then they can be spread in all the usual ways – email, Twitter, Facebook, Megaupload…

Wait a mo…

Forget that last name.

(Sobs and sighs)

ListnPlay – A Better Way To Watch Music Videos Online

Name: ListnPlay
URL: http://www.listnplay.com

As far as watching music videos online goes, YouTube is the port of call for many for many of us. But that’s mainly because there’s nothing better around. The amount of filtering one must do just to get to these clips he wants to watch and move past content which has got nothing to do with music is certainly infuriating. And VEVO (the one platform that was touted as the YouTube for the music industry) has been derided from day one, with users scoffing at this “Very Evil Video Organization”, visibly irked by the constant video ads that plague it.

Well, that’s exactly what ListnPlay intends to fix. A free-to-use service, it presents users with a simple search interface for music videos, and it also lets them create playlists that they can share with all of their friends. Those who think Debby Harry is the sexiest frontwoman in the history of music will be able to bring all these videos that have her commanding the stage, and create a playlist to support their point of view. They won’t manage to convince people like me (who wouldn’t change Emmylou Harris for anyone in the world), but they’ll be able to rest their case that little more easily. Continue reading

Creating Jazz Music From Random YouTube Videos

No, I'm not stoned. That's an actual screenshot of the site!

And now, your weekly dose of madness on MusicKO…

Quite a curious site, YouTube Free Jazz can take random YouTube videos and use them to create sonic collages. The idea is that these should resemble the kind of music one can listen to when attending any outdoors Jazz concert.

That’s in theory. In practice, the site seems to create an almighty racket and little else. Only sporadically does it sound like Jazz. Hey, and I know what I’m talking about! I reviewed a social network for Jazz lovers recently, so I know what I’m on! And I even interviewed its creator.

Speaking of which, YouTube Free Jazz was built by a David Kraftsow, famous for creating a first person version of Tetris (which actually means businesses) and another music-oriented service that turns YouTube videos into parties. You might find these good or not, but you can’t accuse David of not thinking originally.

LYRICSnMUSIC – Lyrics, Band Bios, Tour Dates & Everything Else In Between

Name: LYRICSnMUSIC
URL: http://www.lyricsnmusic.com

The first thing people do when wanting to learn more about any band that’s been brought into their attention is heading straight to Wikipedia to see what can be learned about that artist there. Either that, or they are on their way to YouTube to catch the band in sonic flight. And looking up some lyrics is the next link in the chain, specially if English’s not their first language.

By all reckonings, that’s an almighty amount of toing and froing. It would be great if there were a way to get all that info at once, wouldn’t it? And it would be even better if The Who finally decided to tour South America.

Well, as far as the Shepherd Bush’s contingent coming all the way to this balmy region of the world is concerned I’ve almost lost all hope by now. And I don’t love them any less for that, nor do I listen to their music any less enthusiastically. But I refuse to believe nobody has ever come with a site to let you search the whole Internet in an organic way when looking for music-related information. Somebody must have done something about it. And I’ve scoured the whole digital universe looking for an answer. And hey, look what I’ve found.

LYRICSnMUSIC is a search aggregator that collects together results for sites like YouTube, Wikipedia and the best of the many lyrics repositories that are currently available online. All these are accessible using a tabbed interface that makes for a really cool user experience. You input your query, pick the suitable tab and Bob’s your uncle. Continue reading

Eminem Becomes The Latest Artist With A Billion Video Views On YouTube

Eminem (The Most Popular Living Person On Facebook, With Over 29 Million Page Likes) Has Finally Reached 1 Billion Views On YouTube

Eminem (The Most Popular Living Person On Facebook, With Over 29 Million Page Likes) Has Finally Amassed 1 Billion Views On YouTube

Some thought that Michael Jackson was going to become the next artist with one billion video views on YouTube, and join Lady Gaga and Justin Bieber in that most exclusive of clubs.

Well, things have turned out quite differently. Somebody got there first.

This week, Eminem crossed that threshold.

And that is surprising only if you haven’t really been paying attention.

Eminem: 1) Has 29 million fans on Facebook, 2) Has 3 million followers on Twitter, and 3) Topped the Billboard’s Social 50 chart along with Rihanna and Nicki Minaj. Besides, Eminem was the prevalent face in the recent Super Bowl commercials. Continue reading

YouTube Signs A Deal With RightsFlow For The Licensing Of Music

music license

After listening to The Blues To The Bush‘s version of “After The Fire” earlier this evening I felt a tremendous urge to listen to the original recording (found on Roger Daltrey’s “Under A Raging Moon” album – the best he ever recorded). I was sitting in front of the computer, and I thought it would be faster to look the song up on YouTube and play it there than to go fishing for the CD. I remembered I once had watched it there, not that long ago.

Well, I managed to find it pretty quickly again. The video was still there.

But owing to a claim by the original record company, the audio had been taken away. Only the images remained, and the uploader thought it would be preferable to have some music playing along to the clip than leaving it mute. So, he used a song by Creed instead.

Leaving aside all the obvious (and delectably malicious) jokes that spring to mind, this just makes it clear that the way in which the rights of performers are being looked after isn’t really self-assuring.

A few might say that such a thing can’t be helped when we are talking about something as huge as YouTube – a portal with one of the largest databases of user-generated content ever. But that doesn’t alleviate the fears of performers one whit.

So, a deal like the one YouTube has just announced will be greeted more than enthusiastically. YouTube has just signed up with RightsFlow, a licensing and royalty service provider for artists, record labels, distributors and online music companies. Continue reading

Four Legal Ways To Find Music For Any Video You Upload To YouTube

illegal music

Putting a video together commemorating one of these once-in-a-lifetime occasions is lots of fun and a tearjerker for everybody… until YouTube takes it down because you used music you weren’t supposed to even get near to begin with.

If you want to ensure that isn’t ever happening to you, below you have four legal ways to find music you could use as part of your montage.

1- Creative Commons Licenses

A creative commons license denotes works that the artists have decided to share with the public, while keeping certain rights to themselves.

There are lots of free creative commons audio tracks on the Web. Check these sites out: Jamendo, Danodongs and Incompetech. The first is a repository with more than a quarter million tracks, and the other two are examples of sites created by individual artists.

2- Stock Audio

Much like stock photo libraries, stock audio libraries let people license music for specific purposes. Check iStockphoto to learn about the legalities at play, and to see all the different types of licenses that are available. Continue reading

Merton The Improv Piano Player Is On Tour

A Typical Shot Of Merton, Wearing His Glasses And His Green Parka

A Typical Shot Of Merton, Wearing His Glasses And His Green Parka

In all likelihood, Merton is the best thing that ever came out of ChatRoulette. The impromptu piano player (whose real identity is still a mystery, but who certainty isn’t Ben Folds) is actually touring the US, and entertaining audiences with his mercurial improvisations.

Just yesterday he stopped by YouTube’s headquarters, and he played in front of an audience that quickly became larger and larger. Below you will find two small clips of a performance that run much longer. And if you want to see him doing his classic stuff, then head straight to his channel.

YouTube Star Fredrik Larsson Records A Cartoon Medley (Video)

Fredrik Larsson (AKA Freddegedde) Is Sweden's YouTube Star

Fredrik Larsson (AKA FreddeGedde) Is Sweden's Number One YouTube Star

Fredrik Larsson is the YouTube star par excellence that Sweden has produced. He became popular when he recorded and uploaded a TV theme song medley way back in March, under the name “FreddeGedde”. And now he is back with more, only that this time he is singing themes from cartoons.

Duck Tales, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Animaniacs, Inspector Gadget, Ghostbusters, Digimon, Darkwing Duck… that is just the beginning of this new medley. Lasting seven minutes, it is sure to bring quite a good couple of infant memories back.

Personal favorites? The Smurfs, Bravestarr and The Gummi Bears.

And the Donald Duck impersonation at the end is radical.

YouTube’s “Musicians Wanted” Program Has Now Gone Global

YouTube’s Musicians Wanted Program Has Now Gone Global

YouTube’s "Musicians Wanted" Program Has Now Gone Global

People who live in the States became the first beneficiaries of YouTube’s “Musicians Wanted” program when it was announced just last year at South by Southwest.

For those who have never heard about it before, “Musicians Wanted” is basically a program aimed at new talent. Up-and-coming artists are given the chance to become partners of YouTube, and reap the full benefits of being advertised on the leading video portal on the Internet.

And if you had indeed never heard about “Musicians Wanted” before, then that was going to change in the next couple of days for sure. The “Musicians Wanted” program has now gone global.

Australia, Canada, France, Ireland, The Netherlands, Spain, the U.K., Sweden, the Czech Republic, Argentina and New Zealand are all supported now. If you live in any of these territories, you can proceed to fill out the application form and (to quote Cohen) “wait for the miracle to come”. Continue reading