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How YouTubers are Changing the Job Market

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Image: Pexels.com

Guest post by Lucy Wyndham

The Internet is revolutionizing the way that we do business in multiple sectors, but few markets have been affected as much as the entertainment industry. The rise of online streaming services has increased the number of cord cutters who are choosing to abandon traditional cable in favor of online content. YouTube was one of the earliest hosting and streaming services available to the general public, launching in 2005 and quickly gained popularity among Internet users. Now, more than 50 million YouTubers create content ranging from amateur instructional videos to professionally crafted animations. Here are some of the ways that the rise of the YouTube age is helping lead to a healthier job market for video editors who are hoping to make it in the entertainment industry.

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Becoming Antifragile – How To Gain From Disorder

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Image Credit: Andre Faria Gomes

Image Credit: Andre Faria Gomes via Slideshare: Antifragile: Lessons Learned

“Wind extinguishes a candle and energizes fire. Likewise with randomness, uncertainty, chaos – you want to use them, not hide from them. You want to be the fire and wish for the wind.”

-Nassim Taleb

Last week I gave a talk at the monthly Catalysts Collective event here in San Francisco on the topic of antifragility. The following points are highlights from my talk.

To understand the premise of Antifragile – Things That Gain From Disorder there are three key areas to consider.

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Why Digital Marketing Is The Future (And The Future Is Now)

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Is building a product actually easier than marketing the thing? Some would answer yes. Perhaps it depends on what you’ve set out to build. (Yo, anyone?) On one hand, while marketing has become easier due to more methods at our disposal and advanced tools for measuring impact, the holistic idea of “marketing” as a whole does have its challenges.

For one, marketing departments don’t have a template to follow. There are no feature sets, no assigned tasks in Jira, no testing build to see if the features actually work.

That’s not to say that building a quality product isn’t challenging — it’s been reported that  less than 0.01 percent of consumer mobile apps actually find financial success. The argument is then reversed. Is marketing to blame for this unfortunate rate of success?  Perhaps.

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Public_Private

Public/Private

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Public/Private is a game created to accompany two ongoing research projects undertaken in Mumbai, in cooperation with Partners for Urban Knowledge, Action & Research (PUKAR) and the Design… Read More »Public/Private

Miro and the Enabling of Community Media

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One of my favorite online video platforms to emerge in the last few years is the open-source service Miro.

Formerly known as the Democracy Player, Miro is an Internet tv application developed by the Participatory Culture Foundation.

I’m a big proponent of open-source.  It drives innovation by allowing developers to build on each others’ work,  and makes creating and sharing content easy for everyone (and to support the service, you can adopt a line of code. How clever is that?!).

You can imagine how stoked I was to find out about  Miro Community, an ancillary service created for publishing videos.

Dubbed “The easiest way to make a video website”, Miro Community provides groups like local media organizations and schools with the templates they need to create their own video-based experience.

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Playlist Manifesting: What Makes a Great Mixtape?

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Every single one of us can be a DJ . We each have the ability to be an influencer, a critic – a purveyor of fresh musical content for the masses.

From an accessibility standpoint, It’s becoming easier to queue up songs and create deep playlists based on the music we love. Between music blogs and social sites, we can preview tracks from established and brand-new artists. We can easily create playlists on the fly, spreading them far and wide to share our respective tastes and express our mood to the world.

Thanks to music blogs, we have the ability to hear upcoming singles at the same time (or even before) traditional musical tastemakers do. And we’re not restricted by FCC rules or political embargos.

The great news is that online music services are consistently getting better and the catalogues are becoming deeper.  We can share tracks, solicit feedback, re-share what our friends have liked and even collaborate with them.

We are eager to share and eager to please.

With all of this newfound access, content will still prevail. There’s still an art to crafting the perfect mixtape – a perfect rhythm and balance that tells a story and will make your friends hunt you down for more.

For what it’s worth (and so I’ll stop babbling to strangers about this at parties), I’ve sketched out a few thoughts on what I think creates great playlist. As a DJ and musical programmer with several years of community + college radio experience,  I feel that I may be able to speak semi-intelligently on the issue (ha).  And if I really have no clue what I’m talking about, please feel free to call me out in any way you see fit (a playlist battle, perhaps? double ha).

Without any further ramblings, here within please find 7 general tips for giving your best set ever.

#1 Grab ‘em from the get go.

Traditionally, a DJ mix starts slowly then builds to peak at about 3/4’ths of the way through. While this may work on a dancefloor, a digital mixtape has different needs. You’ll want to grab the ear of the listener right away. This is ‘specially important in an online world where users don’t stick around for long.

With that said, this doesn’t mean you should put all of your bangers up front. It’s not a tempo thing. Instead, think about starting with something that’s simply really, really good. A banger can be the equivalent of shouting “WAKE UPPP!!” Not many people like that.

You can open your mix in a very subtle way (for example, a classical piece or a clever acoustic cover). Whatever you think is comfortable yet arresting.

The goal here is two-fold. #1 get their attention, and #2 set the mood.

Whichever way you choose to go, the opening track should set the tone for the rest of the mix.

#2 Pick a variety of songs – but stay consistent to your theme.

I have a friend who works in music supervision. He loves trendy indie bands on the folksy, whimsical tip.  And while his mixtape selections are amazing – I always learn something new – in the end it sounds like one long record by the same band. Ultimately, unless he’s hitting fans within his niche directly he’s gonna lose people. The mix is too steady and listeners will easily get bored and go away.

Choose a variety of songs from different decades and genres. This opens up your work to a larger audience with a wider variety of taste.  Mixing it up also keeps listeners on their toes. It keeps it interesting.

The way to tie it all together is through your theme – whether it’s by mood, subject, or purpose.

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New Music No. 3

[soundcloud]http://soundcloud.com/musichifi/music-picks-for-may-2010[/soundcloud] A mix of some music I’ve been digging this month. Who You’ll Hear… Ana Tijoux Ana is a multi-lingual Chilean rapper who raps melodically… Read More »New Music No. 3

20 years of Warp

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This year, the seminal independent record label Warp Records celebrates 20 years of releasing cutting-edge electronic music. In honor of their 20th anniversary I’ve put… Read More »20 years of Warp