It's All About YouTube: 10 Years of Loyal Service to Music

Attention!!!

In this era of the worldwide web, we are not new to the video-sharing website, YouTube. Everyone, be it a prince or a pauper knows about YouTube and age is no barrier as even our grandparents and great-grandparents have all watched one or more of such videos on YouTube. For some YouTube is a source of entertainment by watching funny cat videos and listening to music while others especially amateur musicians use it as a platform to launch their careers. 

This service was created by former PayPal employees Steve Chen, Chad Hurley and Jawed Karim registering the site on Valentines Day in 2005. It was bought over by Google for US$ 1.65 billion in November 2006 and now operates as one of its subsidiaries. As per Alexa, YouTube is the 3rd most viewed website in the world after Google and Facebook and 60 hours of video gets uploaded every minute with 4 billion videos watched everyday. YouTube is now a crucial component of the music industry and as it celebrates 10 years of loyal service to our beloved industry, here are 7 interesting facts I observed about YouTube in relation to music. 

1.     A Platform for Musicians

Many musicians and bands upload their original songs or covers on YouTube and this in turn gets them an audience, which includes music producers, and record labels who then sign them on if there is potential talent to be developed. The best example for this is Justin Bieber as Scooter Braun discovered him through YouTube. Other such artists include Karmin, Esmee Denters, Cody Simpson, Austin Mahone, 5 Seconds of Summer, Lindsey Stirling and Pentatonix.

2.     The Viral Phenomenon

Going viral in relation to music is when songs and/or music videos become very popular by circulating at a rapid pace over the Internet. And the main platform for this is of course YouTube. Justin Bieber already being a YouTube celebrity received wide attention when his hit single Baby went viral on the site, but as of now it is the most disliked video on the site as well. We cannot forget Rebecca Black with her disastrous hit Friday, which went viral mostly because it was so bad.

3.     View Count Sensation

Music videos such as Miley Cyrus’ Wrecking Ball and Nicki Minaj’s Ananconda went viral over night with Wrecking Ball garnering 19.3 million views in just 24-hours, the record of which was broken by Anaconda garnering 19.6 million views in the same period. Moreover, we cannot forget the trends set by Baauer’s Harlem Shake, which sparked off millions of videos on the site, and PSY’s Gangnam Style, which holds the record for being the most viewed music video in the world with over 2 billion views and setting a global trend with the unique dance.

4.     The Streaming Effect

Billboard, the UK Official Charts and other national charts in the world also now calculate streaming music in forming the charts. Views on leading online music services among which YouTube is the most prominent are calculated to determine chart positions. This allows mainstream artists/bands and trending genres to gain an upper hand in claiming top spots on the charts. Nicki Minaj, Drake, Rihanna, Taylor Swift, Justin Bieber, Lady Gaga, Selena Gomez, Katy Perry, Ariana Grande, Eminem, One Direction and particularly Miley Cyrus all benefit from the fact they are almost always trending on social media.

5.     The Parody Experience

While a musical parody is a not a new concept, YouTube takes it to another level, as now there is an accompanying video. Some of the most popular parody makers are Weird Al Yankovic, The Key of Awesome and Bart Baker.

6.     The Publicity Proficiency

While YouTube is great for musicians in most ways, it has its downside as a global forum opening the floodgates for constant criticism. As the center of social media for videos it is prone to gossip and scandals. While Miley Cyrus smoking weed on stage at an award ceremony or Lady Gaga adorning a meat dress are definitely publicity stunts, they have also backfired with parents as well as anti-drug and animal rights activists. However, some artists especially ones like Miley Cyrus will take whatever form of publicity they can get.

7.     YouTube Music Awards

As a tribute to its most popular category, YouTube hosted their inaugural Music Awards in 2013 with its second edition to be held in 2015. The winners of the 2013 edition in their respective categories are as follows:

-                Video of the Year: Girls’ Generation – I Got A Boy

-                Artist of the Year: Eminem

-                Responses of the Year: Lindsey Stirling & Pentatonix – Radioactive

-                YouTube Phenomenon: Taylor Swift – I Knew You Were Trouble

-                YouTube Breakthroughs: Macklemore & Ryan Lewis

-                Innovation of the Year: DeStorm – See Me Standing

Till the next stream…

At Ease!!!

Best K-Pop Artists/Bands of All Time

Attention!!!

Although Korean Pop or K-Pop entered the global mainstream with PSY's Gangnam Style, K-Pop has existed for some time. Mostly based in dance beats, the genre originated in South Korea which includes  synthesized beats and more recently EDM, dubstep and hip-hop. The modern era of K-Pop was with the formation of Seo Taiji & Boys, however now there are so many boy bands and girl groups which are extremely popular within the genre varying from duos and trios to groups which includes thirteen members. 

Even before Gangnam Style went viral, K-Pop bands such as Girls' Generation, SHINee, Big Bang, Super Junior and 2NE1 were extremely popular in East Asia as well as in the US. The Korean Wave or the Rise of Hallyu began in the 21st century peaking in the latter part of the 2000s and early 2010s. Whilst the genre is probably an acquired taste with repetitive words, bubblegum pop music and random rapping, it is an interesting genre nonetheless with some awesome hits released by the following artists/bands. SNSD or Girls' Generation takes the crown as the best K-Pop band as they are extremely influential worldwide, with millions of albums sold and their videos surpassing 500 million views on YouTube alone. At a close second is the boy band Super Junior which is as influential and at third is the girl group 2NE1 which had their album Crush ranked No.11 on the Billboard's Year-End World Albums Chart. So here are the Best 25 K-Pop Artists/Bands of All Time:

1. Girls’ Generation/SNSD
   
2. Super Junior
   
3. 2NE1
   
4. PSY
   
5. Big Bang
   
6. Wonder Girls
   
7. Rain
   
8. Sistar
   
9. IU
   
10. SHINee
    
11. 4Minute
    
12. BoA
    
13. EXO
    
14. TVXQ
    
15. T-Ara
    
16. Kara
    
17. BEAST
    
18. Brown Eyed Girls
    
19. f(x)
    
20. Davichi
    
21. HyunA
    
22. G-Dragon
    
23. Taeyang
    
24. Infinite
    
25. U-KISS
    

Till the next beat…

At Ease!!!

Best of Today's Love Songs

Attention!!!

'Tis the season of heart-shaped chocolates, teddy bears, red roses and mushy love songs. Love is in the air as Valentine's Day is around the corner. In the recent past there have been some good love songs and a few like John Legend's All of Me and Ed Sheeran's Thinking Out Loud have topped the charts. This is a compilation of the best of today's love songs and only the past five years since the start of the decade have been considered for this list. Christina Perri ft. Steve Kazee's A Thousand Years Part 2 featured in the Twilight Saga's Breaking Dawn Part 2 takes the crown. Whilst the song is now a wedding favorite it is also played as the first dance song replacing old classics as well. At a close second is Ed Sheeran's Thinking Out Loud. Several covers also appear on the list notably Ellie Goulding's cover of How Long Will I Love You? originally by The Waterboys and Rihanna ft. Calvin Harris' dance track We Found Love covered by violinist Lindsey Stirling ft. Alisha Popat. X Factor Australia winner Dami Im makes the list with her cover of Saving All My Love For You originally sung by Whitney Houston. 

Some of the newer artists have several entries with Ellie Goulding having three entries in the top 25 itself with Taylor Swift and Bruno Mars also having three entries each. Ed Sheeran, Bruno Mars, Lady Antebellum, Justin Timberlake, Pink and One Direction have two entries each. Whilst there is a mixture of genres on this list most of the songs are soft pop. But there is also rock, Electronic Dance Music (EDM) and indie music. Some of the 90s and 2000s forgotten artists released new love songs in the past few years such as the Backstreet Boys, Hillary Duff and James Blunt. So here are the Best of Today's Love Songs:

1. Christina Perri ft. Steve Kazee – A thousand years part 2
2. Ed Sheeran – Thinking out loud
3. Ellie Goulding – How long will I love you? (Original by The Waterboys)
4. Justin Timberlake – Mirrors
5. Lady Antebellum – Just a kiss
6. Rihanna – Diamonds
7. John Legend – All of me
8. Bruno Mars – Just the way you are
9. Lindsay Stirling ft. Alisha Popat – We found love (Original by Rihanna ft. Calvin Harris)
10. One Direction – You and I
11. Ellie Goulding – Love me like you do
12. Taylor Swift ft. Ed Sheeran – Everything has changed
13. Pink ft. Nate Reuss – Just give me a reason
14. Paramore – Still into you
15. Dami Im – Saving all my love for you (Original by Whitney Houston)
16. Beyonce – XO
17. Hunter Hayes – Wanted
18. Tim McGraw ft. Taylor Swift – Highway don’t care
19. Charli XCX – Boom clap
20. David Guetta ft. Usher – Without you
21. Lana Del Rey – West coast
22. Ellie Goulding – Beating heart
23. One Direction – Night changes
24. Clean Bandit ft. Jess Glynne – Rather be
25. Ricky Martin ft. Joss Stone – The best thing about me is you
26. Cover Drive – Sparks
27. Katy Perry – Unconditionally
28. Lady Antebellum – I run to you
29. Miley Cyrus – Adore you
30. Jason Derulo – Marry me
31. Beth – Addicted to you (Original by Avicii)
32. Michael Jackson & Justin Timberlake – Love never felt so good
33. Meghan Trainor ft. John Legend – Like I'm gonna lose you 
34. Pink ft. Lilly Allen – True love
35. Bruno Mars – Marry you
36. Ella Henderson – Yours
37. Taylor Swift – Today was a fairytale
38. Tegan and Sara with Kurt Hugo Schneider & Band – Closer
39. James Blunt – Bonfire heart
40. Backstreet Boys – In a world like this
41. Rita Ora – I will never let you down
42. Bruno Mars – Treasure
43. Birdy – Wings
44. Jennifer Lopez – First love
45. Hilary Duff – All about you
46. Zedd ft. Matthew Koma & Miriam Bryant – Find you
47. The Vamps ft. Demi Lovato – Somebody to you
48. Olly Murs – Army of two
49. Milky Chance – Stolen dance
50. One Direction – Perfect 

Till the next serenade… 

At Ease!!!

Xposition - January 2015

Attention!!!

The dawn of the new year brings hope for music, from the setback which the industry suffered last year at the hands of pop which had invaded the mainstream. The year started off with the 72nd Golden Globe Awards wherein the Best Original Song was won by Glory by Common and John Legend featured in the film Selma. The Best Original Score was awarded to Johann Johannsson for The Theory of Everything. 

The 20th Critics' Choice Awards was also presented in January where the Best Score was awarded to Antonio Sanchez for Birdman and the Best Song once again going to Glory. The nominations for the 87th Academy Awards were announced on 15th January 2015 in which the nominations for Best Original Score are Alexandre Desplat for The Grand Budapest Hotel, Alexandre Desplat for The Imitation Game, Hans Zimmer for Interstellar and Johann Johannsson for The Theory of Everything. The nominations for the Best Original Song are:

• Everything is Awesome from The Lego Movie by Shawn Patterson
• Glory from Selma by Common and John Legend
• Grateful from Beyond the Lights by Diane Warren
• I'm Not Gonna Miss You from Glen Campbell: I'll Be Me by Glen Campbell and Julian Raymond
• Lost Stars from Begin Again by Gregg Alexander and Danielle Brisebois

Whilst the Golden Globes are a precursor to the Oscars, that would mean Johann Johannsson and Common and John Legend would win in the respective categories, but this has not always been the case.

The charts all over the world were uneventful as they were recovering from the hangover of 2014 and January 2015 was dealing with the dregs of December 2014. Taylor Swift's Blank Space continued her reign in the US Billboard Hot 100 for two weeks after which Mark Ronson ft. Bruno Mars' overrated Uptown Funk took over and stayed at the top for the remainder of the month. Ed Sheeran's Thinking Out Loud reached No.2 whilst Nick Jonas's Jealous also climbed to No.7. Maroon 5's newest single debuted at No.8 becoming the band's 11th top ten hit in the US. 

In the UK Ronson's Uptown Funk opened the year at the helm and remained at the peak for the entire month. Only an artist and/or group that is equally influential as Mark Ronson and Bruno Mars would be able to dethrone this track. During the month Philip George's Wish You Were Here, Hozier's Take Me To Church and Meghan Trainor's Lips Are Movin' all peaked at No.2 and Alesso ft. Tove Lo's Heroes (We Could Be) peaked at No.6. 

Other songs which became popular during the month are:

• Avicii - The nights
• Taylor Swift - Style
• Nicki Minaj ft. Drake, Lil Wayne & Chris Brown - Only
• Beyonce - 7/11
• Flo Rida ft. Sage The Gemini & Lookas - G.D.F.R.
• Fifth Harmony - Sledgehammer 

Till the next beat…

At Ease!!!