musicvideos
Latest
YouTube Music adds seamless switching between audio and videos
If you're a YouTube Premium or Music Premium subscriber, switching between a song and its music video should be smoother as of today. You can hop back and forth between the two, and playback will continue from the same point with no pauses or interruptions, YouTube says.
Vevo goes all-in on YouTube music videos
Raise your hand if you used Vevo's apps instead of watching music videos on YouTube. Anybody? That's what we thought. Despite Vevo's effort to grow its brand through apps and its website, nothing quite clicked -- so it's killing them to re-focus on YouTube. Variety reported those who did use Vevo's site and mobile apps can export their playlists to YouTube. The smart TV apps, meanwhile, seem to be sticking around for now.
Rub elbows with music’s C-list on Vevo’s Watch Party Live
Vevo launched Watch Party this past March as a way to watch music videos with your friends. You simply invite a bunch of buddies to a virtual room, built a playlist of videos from Vevo's catalogue , and everyone gets to watch at the same time. Now, Vevo's taking the concept even further with the addition of Watch Party Live, in which music stars create the playlist and interact with fans via a picture-in-picture video chat.
Apple Music clips are the new stars of Musical.ly videos
Part creation tool, part social network, the popular Musical.ly app lets users make and share their own music videos using segments of songs. Thanks to a new deal with Apple, the service's users will be able to add songs from the vast Apple Music library to their latest masterpieces.
Vevo's Watch Party lets you watch music videos in sync with your friends
Ever since streaming video became commonplace, people have expressed a desire to be able to virtually have a movie night with friends who aren't in the same place. Google has even released an app that lets you watch YouTube in sync with friends on your phones. Vevo may not have feature films or popular TV shows on its service, but the company believes that letting friends simultaneously watch its vast catalog of music videos can be highly engaging. To that end, Vevo is announcing a new feature called "Watch Party," which should be live by the end of the month. It lets you invite a bunch of friends to a room hosted on the Vevo website and build a queue of music videos that play back in sync regardless of where you're tuning in from. (Assuming you're in one of the 14 countries where Vevo is available, of course.) Anyone with a Vevo account can set up a "room" and start inviting friends to it. Once people start joining, the playback continues unabated; there's no way to pause or rewind. It's basically like you're all tuned in to MTV from your various homes, except that this version of MTV still plays music videos.
Vevo pauses its music video subscription plans
You probably aren't champing at the bit to pay for a music video subscription service, but if you are... well, you'll have to keep champing. Vevo chief Erik Huggers tells Variety that his company is putting its subscription plans on hold in favor of international expansion. Paid viewing is "still in the cards," but Vevo wants to lay the groundwork for it through a larger presence on the world stage.
Vevo lets you make GIFs from its massive music video library
Vevo just launched a new feature that should help it drive visitors to its recently-redesigned website: a GIF maker. Yes, one thing we can all agree on is that we all love GIFs, and Vevo is making it far easier to mine its massive music video library and turn them into short, shareable clips. The feature will initially launch on the web only, but Vevo says it'll come to its apps down the line.
Vevo's mobile-focused redesign offers smarter recommendations
Vevo has spent much of the past year or so entirely revamping its product. Most music video watchers probably first encountered the brand on YouTube; many artists big and small use Vevo to power their feeds. But the company has been focused on making its website and apps for iOS, Android and Apple TV destinations unto themselves rather than something that powers music videos on other platforms. Today marks another big push in that direction: Vevo is releasing a major update (including iOS and Android apps) that highlights a number of changes made across the platform. Among those are a new portrait-oriented video player for smartphones, public user profiles that you can follow for recommendations and a smarter and more visually engaging feed that uses Vevo's vast amount of data to show you more-relevant videos. Oh, and the company has a new logo, too.
Vevo revamp puts a personalized music video feed on your phone
If you're fond of gorging on music videos while you're waiting for the bus or lounging on the couch, Vevo has your back. It's launching redesigned Android and iOS apps that bring its more personalized experience to phones and tablets. The simpler interface revolves around a Spotlight section that shows both recommended videos (based on what you've watched and liked) as well as a New for You playlist that offers a relevant feed of the latest and greatest clips. You might not have to spend any time sifting through videos just to find something you'll enjoy, in other words.
If video killed the radio star, VR slayed it
There's nothing in virtual reality quite as rapturous as exiting Tyler Hurd's "Old Friend" for the first time. The up-tempo, computer-animated experience, backed by up-and-coming VR studio Wevr, is a three-minute long, hyperactive, confetti-filled romp through a neon-hued world of happy clouds, little naked green men (who wouldn't look out of place on the set of The Muppets) and one very determined marching band leader. It's essentially a dance party set to the Future Islands track for which the VR piece is named, and it stars you, the viewer, as a squiggly armed raver. In a way, it does for VR what The Buggles' "Video Killed the Radio Star" did for MTV: It defines a whole new genre for a whole new medium. Think of it as the next phase in the evolution of the music video.
Vevo's app can use your Spotify account to give better recommendations
Last year, Vevo rolled out a new iOS app that let users pick their favorite artists as part of an onboarding process meant to give better customized music recommendations (it later brought the same experience to Android). In the time I've spent with Vevo's apps lately, I've found they work well -- as long as you're a top 40 music fan. But going through that onboarding process is a pretty big pain point if you're a fan of music even slightly outside the mainstream; you just won't likely find many bands or singers you care about.
Vevo is planning to launch a music video subscription service
Vevo's done a lot of work over the last six months to improve its app ecosystem. First, the music-focused video service totally rebuilt its iOS app; it then brought those updates to Android and launched its first Apple TV app. They certainly made the Vevo experience better -- but after using YouTube Red and YouTube Music, using an ad-supported music video service felt like a step backward. Based on comments made yesterday by Vevo's CEO Erik Huggers, however, it sounds like that'll change soon.
Vevo's Apple TV and Android apps offer a more customized experience
Ask most people what comes to mind when they think of Vevo, and the answer will probably be the massive number of Vevo-sponsored musical artist pages on YouTube. If you watch a popular music video on YouTube, it's probably through the artist's channel in partnership with Vevo. However, the company wants to be known for more than just YouTube -- it wants its own apps and website to be a place for people to discover music and, yes, watch the most popular videos. To that end, the company rebuilt its iOS app from the ground up to offer users a personalized music experience based on artists they loved and the things they played the most. Today, the company's expanding that experience to two big platforms: Android and Apple's tvOS. Both apps launch today and are available in Google Play and the Apple TV app store, respectively.
Age ratings for online UK music videos are here to stay
After a six-month trial, the UK government has successfully persuaded record labels, YouTube and Vevo to display age ratings on music videos. Under the new system, labels will pass their work onto the BBFC before sending the final rating onto YouTube and Vevo. The video will then list the classification in its description and, in YouTube's case, be restricted to adult viewers if it's been given an 18. Vevo says it's looking at a similar system that would link ratings to age controls on its site, but we're still waiting on the details.
Your Xbox One now plays Pandora radio and Vevo music videos
You haven't had many choices for streaming music on the Xbox One so far; you've largely been limited to Xbox Music or the occasional YouTube mix. You'll have some proper options very shortly, though. Apps for both Pandora's internet radio service (US-only) and Vevo's music videos (in 14 countries) are reaching the game console this week. The two apps don't have any surprising Xbox-specific features in store, but they'll definitely help if you need some tunes for your next house party. And don't worry, movie and TV fans -- you'll get a few apps as well. Bravo Now and Telemundo Now let American TV subscribers stream shows from those networks on demand, while Popcornflix gives North Americans "hundreds" of free movies. If your Xbox One doubles as your media center, you're in for a treat in the days ahead.
Music Vault brings 12,000 classic concert clips to YouTube
Even if you weren't born yet on July 7th, 1970, you can now catch The Who's classic Tanglewood concert thanks to Music Vault. It's just unveiled an avalanche of classic concert videos, 12,000 in all, on its YouTube video channel. Those include concerts from The Who, Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen (among others); newer shows like Deer Tick in Vermont during Hurricane Irene; and archives from Woodstock, the now-defunct Capitol Theater in New Jersey and the Newport Jazz and Folk festivals. The Music Vault group said it has spent the last two years "restoring, transferring, mixing and mastering thousands of tapes from (its) enormous archive" for the new collection. All told, there are now 13,000 videos totaling nearly 2,000 hours on the site, along with playlists, features and original content. If you've got a couple of hours to spare, check the source -- if not, get a taste with the videos below.
Vevo scores AirPlay video support on iOS
Vevo's just pushed an updated version of its iOS app into the wild, and it should delight Apple TV owners who like watching their music videos instead of merely listening to them. The fresh upgrade adds full AirPlay support, which means that both video and audio can be streamed to televisions using Apple's set-top box. Naturally, a grab bag of unspecified bug fixes and optimizations accompany the latest release. Click the source link below to load up your iDevice of choice with the application.
Vevo's website redesign simplifies the video watch page, adds artist pages
Chances are you've enjoyed Vevo's music video catalogue in one form or another, and purists who prefer .com access are being rewarded today with a fresh website design. The "video watch page" was previously littered with related clips, a playlist and other distractions, which have now been dispatched for greater focus on the tune at hand. Much of this has been moved to "artist pages", a new pop-up hub (pictured above) which is full of extra info on your chosen act. Head over to Vevo to see the enhancements for yourself, and with impending OUYA support, you might want to consider it your primary dispensary for that daily dose of Biebzilla.
Xbox 360 YouTube app update rolls out with 5x speed improvement, access to 'official' music videos
The PlayStation 3 snagged a new native YouTube app recently and now the Xbox 360 version has been updated, although with a different set of features. The team behind it says the new version rolling out on Xbox Live is as much as five times faster than the old one, and also has access to channels with official music videos. It should update automatically the next time (Xbox Live Gold) users log in and want to watch Gangnam Style on the big screen, or they can find the new version in the Xbox Live Marketplace -- check below for a couple of more screenshots from the new app.
