Have You Heard About That Youtube Licensing Deal?

The deal, announced on the YouTube blog, will more thoroughly compensate producers and artists for the use of their music in user-generated work on the video-sharing site, YouTube said.

Publishers that have signed on include BMG Rights Management, Christian Copyright Solutions, ABKCO Music, Inc., Songs Music Publishing, Words & Music, Copyright Administration, Music Services, Reservoir Media Management, and Songs of Virtual. They represent artists like Adele, Cee Lo Green, Foo Fighters, The Rolling Stones, and Sam Cooke, YouTube said.

The deal will result in "more of the great music you all love on YouTube, and more opportunities for artists to make money," Elizabeth Moody, head of YouTube Music's strategic partner development, wrote on the blog.

It also means that the next time you upload a video with your favorite song in the background, YouTube's Content ID systemmight not void the audio track, or remove the entire video from the site. The Content ID system, an audio and video matching tool, now gives content owners the option to leave the copyrighted material online, and even place money-making ads alongside it.

YouTube's recent contracts, in addition to asimilar agreement last year with the National Music Publishers Association (NMPA) and Harry Fox Agency, will allow the company to monetize almost all user-generated YouTube videos that feature music.

Google has come under fire from content owners and industry groups for facilitating piracy via its search engine and YouTube. Google has been working to combat the problem, saying last year that it had made "considerable progress," on the matter, but not everyone is convinced.

Blogging 101: Monetizing Your Blog

No matter which group you’re in, making money with a blog—whether it’s a hobby blog or a business blog—is possible. It’s not a get rich quick ordeal, but if you do it right, you could make enough to support your family and more.

One of the most common ways bloggers make money is through placing ads on their site. There are two popular types of ads:

CPC/PPC Ads: Cost per click (also called pay per click) ads are usually banners that you place in your content or sidebar. Each time a reader clicks on the ad, you’re paid for that click.
CPM Ads: CPM Ads, or “cost per 1,000 impressions,” are ads that pay you a fixed amount of money based on how many people view your ad.
Perhaps the most popular network for placing these types of ads is Google AdSense. With this program, you don’t need to be in direct contact with advertisers; you simply place the banner on your site, Google chooses ads relevant to your content, and your viewers click on the ads. There are countless similar programs available if you find that AdSense doesn’t work for you, such as Chitika, Infolinks, and Media.net.

Working with advertising networks isn’t your only option when it comes to selling ads. If you end up with enough traffic, advertisers may come directly to you and ask you to place their ad on your site. You can also contact advertisers yourself. The biggest difference from the abovementioned option is that there’s no middle man, which means you can set your own ad rates.

Selling private ads can come in the form of banners, buttons, or links. You can even make money writing sponsorship posts where you write about or give a review of an advertiser’s product or service. Another option is to write an underwritten post or series, which is where you can write about any topic, but the advertiser pays for a “Brought to you by” mention in the content.

The ways you make money with this can vary. For instance, you might charge a one-time fee for a link within a post. If you’re hosting banner ads, you might charge your partner monthly.

I hope this info is helpful and can aid in your blogs as well. Happy monetizing!

My Mama Car

My first real project at this school

Blog Background: Andrew Barber

Andrew Barber deals almost exclusively with young men who have come into money. Some are newly rich; some started poor and worked their way to comfortable; and others, arguably his bread and butter, are not wealthy yet but stand to make a chunk of change. Some, he finds, and some come to him. Six years ago, he was a rap-obsessed 20-something from Indiana, selling advertising in Chicago for the FX network, hoping someday to work his way into a record company A&R job, developing established artists and looking for new sounds. But he had zero contacts in the music business, never mind in the cloistered world of hip-hop. Now, at 32, Barber is editor of Fake Shore Drive, the website he created in 2007 devoted to Chicago rap. Barber is the contact now. At a glance, Fake Shore Drive is basically a music blog, a compendium of local rap news, a smidge of criticism and assorted music videos and lists (“The 30 Best Young Chop Beats of 2012”). But it's also the first place Chicago rappers go to leak new music, send mixtapes and test new beats. While the site has been locally popular for years, the past 12 months have been especially good to Barber: He became MTV's Midwest correspondent. He landed a spot on the regional board for the Grammy Awards. Then came Barber's list of “10 New Chicago Rappers to Watch Out For,” written for Complex magazine and posted to Fake Shore. It came out in February 2012; by December, nine of the 10 rappers were signed to major labels. As Andrew Barber continues to rise to the top, Fakeshore Drive will be continuing to grow.

Artist Insight: Interview with The Boy Illinois

Here is a interview that I did with The Boy Illinois. Enjoy!

Blogging 101: Starting a music blog

Over the past few years, music blogging has been changing as much as the music industry itself. As a whole, consumers are starting to look at music differently, and signs of this are evident on the Internet more obviously than anywhere else. Just three years ago, things looked a lot different and getting started as a music blogger was a lot easier. These days things are more complicated, there's a lot more competition, and the rules are constantly becoming more confusing. Still, if you want to start a music blog in 2015, I'd encourage you to give it a shot. Just make sure you know what you're doing.There is a very low barrier to entry when it comes to starting a music blog. Anyone with a computer and Internet access can figure it out, and the cost of creating and maintaining a blog is as little as you want it to be. Bad news is this low barrier to entry means that the competition is high. Anyone can start a music blog, therefore everyone starts a music blog.Think about ways to create value without just relying on new songs and videos. If you despise lists, write your opinions, do interviews, or tell stories. Posting songs also needs to become a routine. You have to keep an eye out for anything new or interesting. You need to put some care and attention into every single post, because that post could be the first impression a new reader is getting of your site. 

The First Time I Performed @ Youmedia

I decided to take a break from audiomack to share this video. This is a video of one of my first performances ever. This was filmed at you media @the harold washington library.

Getting Starting With AudioMack: Features and Functions

Audiomack has some amazing features, some of which include: Top Songs, Top Albums, Top Playlists, and other trending music. There, you can view all the latest singles and albums from your favorite artists (if they made the cut). Top Playlists allow you to see what users have the best playlists, and allows you to quickly sift through songs to find good content. I like the trending feature most because it allows me to stay up to date and relevant on the newest songs depending on what genre you select  (and have something to talk about with friends). One other feature that i like about Audiomack is the ability to view your track statistics. Although other sites have the ability to track statistics, I just overall like the option to be able to do it in general. Being able to track statistics in my opinion is key to success of an artist, allowing them to accurately measure things like marketing plans and strategies you may be doing. Overall, i thing Audiomack is (if not the best) one of the best media displaying apps on the internet. Their simple layout allows for easy navigating through the site, and allows artists and consumers to find content more easily. In my later posts, I will talk about the "My Profile" page and discuss some of the important things you can access and modify within the page. I hope the things i put on this post can hopefully inform and help you through your own journey on AudioMack. Until Next time. - G.K. Harmony