Welcome to the YouTube Concert! Alicia Keys and Jay-Z Perform Empire State of Mind
It’s still not a familiar feeling to watch live web streaming. But when Jay-Z appears from the shadows of a live Alicia Keys concert millions of people went nuts in front of their computers (not yet confirmed).
Where will YouTube take us next?
Live streaming has its uses. Catching sports games or watching Presidential speeches online could make waves but now a new force has emerged to support musicians: YouTube Concerts.
In November U2 streamed a concert out of the Rosebowl in California and had over 60 million people tuned in. Quickly following suit Alicia Keys dressed up her YouTube channel and joined the ranks of U2 just hours ago. Notice the live Twitter feed…nice way to start trending.
American Express tagged along with some exclusive branding so no one got a free lunch. When Jay-Z walked on stage and the song “Empire State of Mind” began you could start to see how the pieces would fit together in future concerts. This particular concert is part of World Aids Day so this new form of musical distribution has benevolent roots.
CD sales don’t exactly excite most musicians these days. Record labels take most of the cut anyway. itunes has a nice monopoly on the per song online distribution method so what’s the new hope for musicians?
Well, why just have a concert and rely solely on ticket sales and T-shirts when you can stream it live and sell advertising? At least for now big bands can tap into a new promotion/revenue/distribution model.
Cheers!
YouTube’s Top 10 Music Videos of All Time Gets Shaken Up
Looking back 5 months ago it is not a huge surprise that the top 10 music videos on YouTube have been shaken up. Of the 7 videos that remain on top, no one would be surprised that Miley Cyrus keeps climbing. Hey video is trying to close the some odd 20 million view gap between her 7 things and all time leading video by Avril Lavigne.
So who got the axe?
After Chris Brown’s public image fiasco his Kiss Kiss video soon lost appeal. The Jonas Brothers join Chris as both their top videos SOS and Burnin Up dropped off to make way for the ladies. Lady Gaga, Katy Perry and Venessa Hudgens have since taken the spot light.
| Rank | Video | Total Views | Growth |
| 1 | Avril Lavigne – Girlfriend | 126,169,287 | 6,241,715 |
| 2 | Miley Cyrus – 7 Things | 101,595,574 | 17,109,592 |
| 3 | Rihanna – Don’t Stop The Music | 99,353,802 | 10,290,062 |
| 4 | Chris Brown – With You | 98,322,614 | 5,352,389 |
| 5 | Leona Lewis – Bleeding Love | 90,143,495 | 4,096,373 |
| 6 | Alicia Keys – No One | 83,796,856 | 3,606,701 |
| 7 | Timbaland – Apologize ft. One Republic | 77,860,499 | 2,614,388 |
| 8 | Lady Gaga – Just Dance | 77,075,366 | New Addition |
| 9 | Katy Perry – Hot’n'cold | 73,830,418 | New Addition |
| 10 | Vanessa Hudgens – Say Ok Music Video | 72,305,954 | New Addition |
*Growth calculated from May 15th
The interesting thing about the three latest editions to chart is that Vanessa’s video was added 2 years ago while Lady Gaga and Katy Perry have only been on YouTube for a year.
Pay close attention to Hollywood Records and their strategy with Vanessa as they choose not disable the embedding feature. A strategy that has allowed Miley’s 7 things video to amass over 30 million views since last March. Now capping 100 million views on one video alone the strategy seems to be paying off.
Cheers!
Akon Drops Off The Chart – May 2009 All Time Music Videos
The YouTube most viewed of All Times chart saw Akon’s “Don’t Matter” song get pushed from the number 10 spot over the last two weeks as the Jonas Brothers start to claim more real estate. Burnin’ Up is the second song on the chart for the boys as they have crept into the 9th and 10th spots.
Source: YouTube
Miley Cyrus continues to dominate the chart movement as she closes in on Leona Lewis but the real fear is that the time advantage looks like it may be showing signs of weakness. The artists present were some of the first to dominate the chart and have enjoyed the compounding factor of the position. But, as the big name companies funnel the views to YouTube by disabling the embedding function it allows for others to use the advantage and close the gap. Burnin’ Up does not disable the function and Akon does…
Beyonce, Lady Gaga and Katie Perry have taken to disabling the embedding function as well however, they still have climbed the charts extremely rapidly starting to make appearances on the first page of the chart but not yet in the top ten.
We shall see how this plays out in the next two weeks.
Cheers!