YouTube and online social media sites are far too addicting for my own good lately.
I blame my friends who keep sending me links to things.
I also blame the weather. For some reason this year, I’ve been less motivated to venture out into the rain and do the activities I usually enjoy.
I have spent far too much time browsing the pages of websites and checking the links that people send me through Steam.
Steam is an online gaming program that offers games for sale, forums, profile pages, videos and voice chat features so you can connect with your friends. I watch videos for upcoming games, webseries and music videos.
Every once in a while I’ll check out a video link and a message will pop up explaining the link has been removed because of copyright infringement.
The music industry is trying to stop people from posting music artist’s videos on the site. While I don’t agree with piracy, I believe the industry is also hurting itself by being so restrictive with its content. The crackdown is also eliminating the possibility of artists expanding their fan base.
Most of the music I listen to isn’t on the mainstream radio stations. I stopped turning on the radio in my car when I found that the same five or six songs seemed to repeat.
Most of the music I listen to I’ve discovered through sites like YouTube and LastFM. LastFM used to have a free radio channel with no signup requirement, but has since changed its policy. However, LastFM still features videos of the artists, which is usually a link to a YouTube video.
The best feature about the website is it has a comparison listing. It tells which artists are similar to the ones you like with a sliding scale and has links to those artists’ bios and videos.
I’ve started turning to these sites because traditional channels like MuchMusic and MTV have become stations that are more dedicated to reality TV shows than music videos anymore.
Some of my favourites bands or artists I discovered through this method are Nightwish, Kamelot and Mylene Farmer. Links I’ve been listening to lately include videos by Lacuna Coil, Taeyang and Seungri.
I understand that the music industry wants piracy to stop, however, watching videos on these sites have prompted me on several occasions to load up my iTunes and purchase these artist’s songs. Although iTunes has a preview feature for many songs, it’s only about five seconds or so long, and doesn’t give me enough of an impression of the song to want to purchase it.
Some people in the music industry are taking note of the power of sites like YouTube to garner interest in current and emerging artists. In December 2009, three major music partners came together to form Vevo, a music video player and entertainment site that streams content. The partners are Universal Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment and Abu Dhabi Media Company.
The site, www.vevo.com is similar to other video hosting locations on the net, but this one is done with the music industry’s blessing. Vevo’s website states that it has the most extensive catalogue of music found anywhere on the web thanks to deals with music companies such as Hollywood Records, Concord Music Group, EMI Music and more.
I still find much of the music featured on the site is mainstream, but it is nice to have an alternative site to turn to that I know has some legitimacy.
Although I like Vevo, there needs to be more sites like it. Vevo still caters to the mainstream music scene and its difficult to view foreign artists or emerging artists on the site.
I guess for now I’ll have to YouTube those videos. I hope the music industry will see the value in these kinds of sites and keep expanding the content.
reporter3@nanaimobulletin.com