Youtube Music

Above is a picture of a Julia Nunes show I went to a few years ago at Ramapo College. The venue was very small and a lot more people showed up than expected, so everyone who couldn't get in sat out and listened in the hallway. When Julia realized this halfway through the show, she came out and played a few songs for us in the hall.
None of this would have happened if it weren't for YouTube. You see, Julia was just a college student with a ukulele and a camera. She played some songs and threw them up on youtube to show a few trusted friends. Someone working for youtube found one of these video, featured it on the front page, and she grew a following. That following continues to grow, years later, and she now has almost 200,000 subscribers.

YouTube has changed the entertainment landscape in many ways, but Julia Nunes is a great example of how it's changed music. Because of the site, people are getting discovered who otherwise would not. There are many other examples or this, such as Pomplamoose, a talented duo who's production and editing is enough to make my head spin.

They, like Nunes, are now so successful that they can tour and make a living on their music alone, thanks to the following they've grown on YouTube. They were even featured in a Hyundai Sonata commercial

Then there are more famous cases of the site helping to launch a career, such as Justin Beiber's... I'll forgive YouTube for that one.

An intro to my homeland.

(Courtesy of the Ning)

I'd like to take this time to tell my (very few) readers the story of a true community – one that was born and sustained through media – Nerdfighteria. Nerdfighteria is the community that came out of the YouTube channel Vlogbrothers. Vlogbrother is run by brothers Hank Green, runner of ecogeek.org, and John Green, Young adult author. This project was started in 2007 when the brothers decided to embark on a project where they would not communicate to each other through texual means (such as text messaging, emails, etc.) and communicate mainly through videos. After 2007, they decided to continue making videos, while decreasing world-suck and never forgetting to be awesome... I'll allow them to explain.


I found myself becoming a part of this community just over three years ago, when I stumbled upon one of their videos while browsing YouTube. Nerdfighters are not just a group of passive fans, we come together at sites like http://nerdfighters.ning.com/ to colaborate and significantly decrease world-suck. We nerdfighters are all about being silly and embracing our inner child:


But that's not all we're about. We're also a group of deep-thinkers:


And detectives:


If you're still wondering about just how we decrease “world-suck,” John and Hank created the Project for Awesome, where nerdfighters take over YouTube with videos promoting charities they're passionate about, and even get together to put on a live show.


I have never been able to declare anyone my hero, it seemed like too much to put on a single person. But in retrospect, it is not easy for me to say that John, Hank, and my fellow nerdfighters, are my heroes. This community has changed me in many ways. I've has the Vlogbrothers as a constant in my life for three years, through some tough times. Also, I was never much of a reader until I became a nerdfighter and decided to read one of John's books – it was not long before I had read all four. Nerdfighteria has also allowed me to remember to be awesome even when it's not easy, and provided me with a long-term media experience unlike any other.

Best Wishes,
Jesse Adubato
DFTBA.

Spin It!

(courtesy of Spin.com)

Spin, like all other print magazines, is struggling due to the decreasing demand for print media. They are, however, adapting and have a very effective website – spin.com – with everything from reviews and news to photos and videos.

Being focused on music, Spin is facing two industry shifts due to media. The music industry, much like the magazine industry is shifting. Some would say the music industry is struggling, in fact, even Spin themselves point this out by saying “The music business may be reeling, but [...]” I would have to disagree; I believe that while the music industry is changing, I don't think it's “reeling.” If anything it is adapting into something much greater, with easier access to music and less of a reliance on the mainstream.
Amongst the many advertisements Spin sells to make money, there is a section in partnership with iTunes with a playlist of new songs, many of which by up-and-coming artists, available for free by going to Spin.com/iTunes.
Featured in the issue of Spin that I got are interviews with artists including Iron and Wine, articles about the "next big things" such as Lykke Li, Odd Future, Smith Westerns, and more. They also have reviews of over 50 new albums, and articles like "Songs You Must Here Now!"
Overall, the magazine provides a lot of content, more than I was anticipating in a time where most magazines are dominated by ads. It gives you a well-rounded look into the current music world, with mainstream and up-and-coming artists of all genres. It is truly a stimulating read, effect both my neocortex and limbic brains.

My Window is a Media Player.

(Courtesy of Flickr)

Sometimes a window can be the greatest media experience of all. It's easy to say that simply sitting and looking out of the window is not a form of media at all, and I would probably agree if I wasn't here right now. As I sit here, in front of the big window on the second floor of Hauke, writing on my laptop, listening to music, and gazing out at the sunny day in front of me, I can say I am having a true media experience. The laptop and music are a given; I'm connected to a seemingly endless amount of social networking and blogging sites and listening to the newest form of radio, Pandora. That combined with the grand window to the right of me is blending together to create a what I would consider to be a powerful media experience.
While the world outside does not follow the definition of media, I consider it to be a big part of the greater media experience I am having right now. It is showing me that many things can be viewed as media if you're in that mindset. Watching the sun slowly set, people walk by, and
trees blowing slightly in the wind as if I am watching a TV with my Pandora soundtrack, it becomes just that, like a TV. As I sit back and let the world pass by, I watch objectively, letting my limbic brain listen to the music and my reptilian brain react to the passing day that lies in front of me.
I'm starting to live my life more and more in the mindset of media, partly due to my involvement in this class, but also because of my long history as a participant and lover of media. It necessarily play too much of an active roll in my life until I take a step back and reflect on how I view things now in relation to how I viewed them previously. My window-media experience is an excellent example of that; even things that are not seemingly media-related at all can be integrated into the focal point of a great media experience, as my window was today. Another great example of this is author John Green's Thoughts from Places series, in which he takes videos of wherever he is at the time and reflects in voice-overs.

My Relationship with Media.

My name is Jesse Adubato and I'm from Belleville and Secaucus, NJ

Over winter break I caught up on a lot of TV and movies online, particularly watching the entire series of Six Feet Under.

I like the access to information new media provides us with, but I dislike our culture's dependency on technology.

I'm a Broadcast & Streaming Media major. I'm not sure where I would like to end up, but I would definitely lie to do something with media; perhaps television production.