Jason Inman has an important goal this holiday season. The YouTube creator, who runs his Jawiin YouTube channel and co-hosts the DC All Access web series, has launched the Jawiin Comic Drive for Soldiers campaign. Through the initiative, Inman hopes to send 10,000 comic books to soldiers overseas by January 1, 2016.
In a promo video for the initiative, Inman explains how he’s a U.S. Army veteran who spent all of 2005 in Iraq. During his tour, the YouTuber and former producer for Rhett & Link received care packages. “Every time I got [one], it meant a lot to me, especially the ones that would have magazines and comic books,” Inman explained in the video. Now, the Army vet wants to pay it forward by sending 10,000 comics to troops overseas so they have “great stories” to read to start off the new year.
Inman has teamed with the organization Comics for Soldiers to help get the Jawiin Comic Drive for Soldiers campaign off the ground. The veteran also talked to DC Comicsabout the campaign, and the publisher graciously donated 2,600 comics to the cause. That means the Comic Drive is already more than 25% of the way to its 10,000 comics goal.
People who are interested in sending comic books to soldiers can box up the publications and send them to Comics for Soldiers, c/o Jawiin Comic Drive, 4780 Springfield Drive in Terre Haute, Indiana 47803. Inman also requests that all people who donate take a picture of the comics they’re donating, and send the photo and total number of donated comics to jawiincomicdrive@gmail.com. This way, the YouTuber can keep track of how many comics have been donated in order to know if the Comic Drive hits the 10K mark by January 1.
Inman reminds us in his video the holiday season is all about giving. And ultimately, the All Access host believes there’s no “better gift is there to receive during the holiday season than comic books.”
There are still three weeks left until December 25th, but Bill Murray already has his Yuletide greeting up and running. Murray’s Christmas special, titled A Very Murray Christmas, can now be streamed on Netflix.
A Very Murray Christmas, which was first announced in May, unites the comedy vet with a cavalcade of Hollywood notables. Sofia Coppola, who famously directed Murray in the 2003 film Lost in Translation, is once again behind the camera, and everyone from George Clooney to Amy Poehler to Miley Cyrus makes an appearance. If you’d like to get a taste of the special before diving into it, you can watch its trailer, which Netflix released in November.
Murray is a living legend, but is his special worth watching? In reviewing it, several outlets have discussed it in ironic terms. “He wants a Christmas special that seems just slightly off script, familiar and recognizable yet also disturbingly wrong,” said the New York Times of Murray’s hour-long feature. Time, on the other hand, dubbed the special both “boring” and “fantastic.”
Apparently, these purposefully inconsistent descriptions fit in with Murray and Coppola’s plan. “[The special came] out of the tradition of those TV variety shows, which didn’t have a lot of logic to them,” Coppola told Time. “They were just kind of getting people together to sing holiday songs and have that Christmas motif, so we wanted to do it in that tradition, but have a little bit of a story and kind of do our version of that.”
Ultimately, A Very Murray Christmas figures to provide enough wry cheer to justify its existence. You can watch it, if you’d like. You can skip it. Alternatively, you can tell people you ran into Murray on the streets of New York, but as may have heard, no one will ever believe you.
StyleHaul has a new distribution outlet for some upcoming video programming. The female-skewing digital lifestyle network has reached an exclusive content deal with Verizon’s free mobile video service go90.
Under the new pact, StyleHaul will work with over a dozen of its digital creators to develop series and shows, exclusively for release on go90 across various familiar categories (like lifestyle, beauty, fashion, health, and parenting). However, StyleHaul will mix things up a bit for viewers by showcasing said creators in programming genres not necessarily familiar to those creators’ typical audiences. For example, StyleHaul talent and vlogger BubzBeauty will create content not about fashion and beauty, but as her new life as a mother. Similarly, Aspyn Ovard will break from her traditional fashion and beauty topics and instead teach viewers how to cook.
“StyleHaul is thrilled to be working with go90 as we continue to explore ways to create new and exciting content on diversified platforms,” said Stephanie Horbaczewski, CEO of StyleHaul, in a release. “This partnership provides some of StyleHaul’s most beloved creators the opportunity to launch an entirely new realm of content as their interests expand as content creators.”
StyleHaul is only the most recent digital network to announce exclusive streaming content for go90. Maker Studios, New Form Digital, Jukin Media, and Astronauts Wanted are on board to deliver video content on go90. Other digital brands like Vice and CollegeHumor have already launched series on the free video platform in the last few months.
You can catch all of the upcoming StyleHaul content by downloading the go90 iOS or Android app.
Endemol Beyond has some new content just in time for holiday shoppers to enjoy as they wait in those long Christmas lines. The YouTube multi-channel network will debut the all-new travel and lifestyle series Culture Chic on Verizon’s go90 mobile video platform. Additionally, Endemol will premiere the second season of Pretty Little Pranksters on the ICON Network’s YouTube channel.
Culture Chic stars fashion blogger and YouTuber Sonya Esman, who boasts over 1.5 million subscribers on her channel. The series will follow Esman as she explores the extreme lifestyles of different cultures around the world, like the transgender beauty pageants in Thailand. Esman will also introduce viewers to the Black Diamond Girls of Tokyo, as well as the trends in waist training (basically a “new” version of wearing corsets to slim the waist) in New York City.
In addition to Culture Chic, Endemol will also bring back its original beauty prank series Pretty Little Pranksters for a second season on Michelle Phan’s ICON Network. Hosted by celebrity makeup artist Jamie Greenberg, the upcoming ten-episode season will feature the pranking of top lifestyle influencers like Tara Michelle, Shanna Malcolm, and Tiffany Ma. Pretty Little Pranksters will run each Saturday, starting December 5, through early 2016.
You can catch Culture Chic via the go90 iOS or Android app, and the new season of Pretty Little Liars on ICON’s YouTube channel.
Online video platform Vessel is now almost one year old, and as it nears its first birthday, it has received some new features. As revealed in a new blog post from Vessel Head of Product Lonn Lee, creators will soon be able to interact with their fans on the Vessel app thanks to short videos called “threads.”
Creators can use threads to pose questions to their viewers, raise specific topics of conversation, or launch challenges among their fans. On Vessel’s side of things, threads represent an increased focus on mobile communities, which online video companies and app builders have lately sought to cultivate. “The result [of threads] is a fun exchange of ideas, entertainment and insight between creators and fans from around the world,” writes Lee in his post.
Beyond threads, Vessel also announced a number of smaller additions to its platform. Among other new features, users can now utilize expanded notifications, nested comments, accounts linked to Facebook and Google, and PayPal support. For more details about all of the changes within Vessel’s latest update, check out the platform’s blog.
James Rolfe, known to his fans as the Angry Video Game Nerd, isn’t limited to irate playthroughs of terrible video games. As he proves in his latest series, he’s a capable art critic, too. During the first 25 days of December, Rolfe plans to release daily critiques of bad video game cover designs, which taken in full will form a sort of “bad video game art advent calendar.”
Rolfe began his 25-episode series on December 1st, when he introduced his project and took on his first terrible video game cover: that of Pro Wrestling for the Sega Master System. “[The cover] was especially important in the old days because we didn’t have the Internet to tell us what the game was like,” explains Rolfe in the video, which can be viewed on his Cinemassacre channel. “The cover had to tell us everything. So it’s about time we give game cover art the attention it’s due.”
Since kicking off his advent calendar, Rolfe has updated it with daily takedowns of poorly thought-out video game covers. The funniest installment so far has been the second one, which examines the horrendous perspective and ugly figures on the cover of Mega Man for the NES.
This isn’t the first time Rolfe has based a series around an upcoming holiday. Each October, he reviews horror movies for his Monster Madness series. Perhaps this year’s advent calendar is the start of a new tradition; I don’t know how many terrible video game covers exist, but if they’re out there, I trust Rolfe to find them.
Christmas is almost here, which means it’s time for another year filled with web video twists on the Yule log concept. In 2013, Lil Bub purred her way into the hearts of her viewers as a crackling fire roared around her. Last year, a cappella group Pentatonix added music to the equation by combining hypnotizing flames with seasonal carols. In 2015, it’s Lagavulin‘s turn. The whisky brand’s distributor, Diageo, has put its own spin on the holiday Yule log with a 45-minute video in which actor Nick Offerman sits by a fireplace and drinks two glasses of single-malt scotch.
Offerman is a logical star for Lagavulin’s seasonal greeting. His most famous character, Parks and Recreation’s Ron Swanson, is a Lagavulin devotee, and Offerman himself shares Swanson’s enthusiasm for the drink he has referred to as “mother’s milk.” He even starred in a music video about whisky, which saw release on the “My Tales of Whisky” channel–the same place where the Yule log now resides.
Lagavulin’s Yule log has spread like wildfire across the Internet, particularly on Reddit, where one user described it as the “Explaining why you got in trouble to your dad simulator.” As of this post, the video has topped 800,000 views, and it only figures to receive more attention as the holiday approaches. If you plan to host your own Christmas party, consider throwing Mr. Offerman on in the background. He certainly knows how to set a classy mood.
When it comes to the history of YouTube, Jarid Kawim’s “Me at the zoo” video gets all the attention. Granted, the clip was the first one ever to be uploaded to the online video sharing site that now sees more than 400 hours of new content every minute. However, there’s another (and arguably more important) piece of media which changed the entire future of the online video site: the video which convinced now-CEO Susan Wojcicki that Google had to purchase YouTube.
Back in 2006, Wojcicki was serving as Google’s SVP of Adwords and AdSense. The long-time employee was tasked with running the Google video initiative and dealing with acquisitions which could help the project grow. YouTube was one of the prime acquisition candidates, even though the site wasn’t profitable at the time. At that time Wojcicki found a video of the Chinese duo Back Dorm Boys lip-syncing to the Backstreet Boys’ song “As Long As You Love Me.”
YouTube’s CEO found the lip-syncing video hilarious, and realized the potential entertainment value in the site. “That was the video that made me realize that ‘Wow, people all over the world can create content, and they don’t need to be in a studio,'” Wojcicki recently said onstage at the Fortune Most Powerful Women Next Gen Summit, as reported by Business Insider. Over the next six months, Wojcicki orchestrated Google’s acquisition of the online video site for a whopping total of $1.65 billion. Wojcicki was made CEO of YouTube in February 2014. Since then, the YouTube executive has seen the site hit over one billion global users.
It’s possible YouTube may have eventually taken off on its own or found another partner and grown into a flourishing, profitable online video site. But thanks to the “As Long As You Love Me” clip, Google can claim YouTube and all its hours of content as its own.
It’s been an exciting week for Vimeo. The online video platform, which has recently showed an increasing appetite for original content, released the comedy special Bianca Del Rio’s Rolodex of Hate on December 2nd. A day later, it announced the launch of adaptive bitrates on its streaming videos, with the option to go as high as 4K resolution.
Rolodex of Hate comes from Del Rio, a drag queen who rose to fame after winning the sixth season of the reality TV show RuPaul’s Drag Race. Over the course of her hour-long special, which costs $7.99 to rent and $12.99 to own, she dishes out “her own brand of insult comedy,” according to a press release from Vimeo. While the online platform has served as a home for other comedy specials (including an upcoming one from Elliott Morgan), Rolodex of Hate is one of three original projects it plans to release over the next few months.
Given its artsy reputation, Vimeo would figure to be one of the first video sites to offer 4K streaming; instead, most other major platforms already support it. The reason for Vimeo’s slower adoption is simple: The site was waiting for enough 4K-ready devices to hit the market. As those devices have become more popular (and other sites have begun to experiment with immense bitrates), now is the time for Vimeo to complete its 4K transition.
According to Variety, Vimeo will finish rolling out 4K to all users sometime in Q1 2016.
Facebook may get eight billion video views a day, but the social network is looking to up its live streaming game, as well. The online video giant has started rolling out its new live streaming feature to select iOS users in the United States.
Facebook previously released its live streaming feature, dubbed simply Live, in August 2015 to select users with verified accounts, like actor Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and lifestyle expert Martha Stewart. Now, the same broadcasting feature is available to various users on Facebook’s iOS app. When users go to post a new status update, they’ll see a “Live Video” icon. Streaming users on Facebook can write a short description of their impending stream and choose who to broadcast to (i.e. friends vs. the public) before going live.
Facebook explained in a blog post that “during your broadcast, you’ll see the number of live viewers, the names of friends who are tuning in, and a real-time stream of comments.” Viewers can subscribe to get notified the next time a user starts streaming, as well as see current live streams in their Home Feeds. And unlike Twitter’s Periscope, Facebook’s new broadcasting feature saves completed streams to users’ Timelines for later viewing, just like regular video content.
Because of the live streaming feature, Facebook noted how it’s working to provide a new sharing design for smartphone users on iOS and Android devices. The social networking site is testing the sharing tool with a handful of people who can now click a “What’s on your mind?” prompt at the top of their News Feed in the Facebook app. From there, users can choose to write, live stream, check in, update their moods, or upload a photo/video. The sharing tool, if eventually adopted across all users, will help Facebook “include new sharing features in the future.”
In addition to Live, Facebook also launched its new Collages feature. This media format is exactly what it sounds like – a scrolling, moving collage of photos and videos. With Collages, Facebook will group users’ recent photos and video together so users can edit and rearrange the content before naming the collage and sharing with friends. Collages is now available for all iOS users, and will be available on Android in early 2016.
You can read more about Live and Collages on Facebook’s blog.
Live-streaming startup Streamup is looking to excavate a space for itself within an emerging industry, and it has tapped a strong team of entertainment veterans to help accomplish that task. As first reported by The Hollywood Reporter, Streamup has created an advisory board whose members include longtime American Idol judge Randy Jackson, Endemol Shine North America co-CEO Charlie Corwin, and World of Wonder founder Fenton Bailey.
Streamup will work with the members of its advisory board to develop enticing original programming that can be broadcast on its live-streaming platform. The startup’s strategy echoes those of fellow streaming apps like Periscope and Meerkat, which have used celebrity partnerships as central parts of their respective launch strategies.
“In Streamup’s effort to become the ‘Netflix of Live Video,’ we couldn’t have assembled a better group of content experts than the members of our newly minted content advisory board,” Keenan said. “Each member has proven time and again they are at the top of their game in producing the best premium content across all platforms.”
The Hollywood Reporter notes that Streamup plans to add more members to its advisory board in the future.
Welcome to YouTube Millionaires, where we profile channels that have recently crossed the one million subscriber mark. There are channels crossing this threshold every week, and each has a story to tell about YouTube success. Read previous installments of YouTube Millionaires here.
Music is a huge category on YouTube, and much of its appeal is social. When listeners crave specific songs to share with their friends on-demand, they can use YouTube to easily search up and find the tunes in question. For a similar reason, karaoke backing tracks have emerged as a viable music subcategory on YouTube. When it’s time to get singing, a quick search reveals all the instrumentals you need.
One of the most popular karaoke channels is called Sing King Karaoke, and its appeal is so great that it recently passed one million subscribers. We spoke to Sing King’s executive team–whose names are Kieran, Dan, and Natalie–about their process.
Tubefilter: How does it feel to have one million subscribers? What do you have to say to your fans?
Sing King Karaoke: It’s truly incredible to be honest. It’s quite a hard number to visualise, although that didn’t stop us from trying! We’re from the UK so we tried to imagine 11 packed out Wembley Stadiums or the entire city of Birmingham, which is pretty nuts. To our fans, thank you sooo much, we appreciate the love we get from all of you! We get hundreds of comments every day; hearing about how our channel helps people to gain confidence in themselves, to perform their first live show, to win a talent show, or just to simply relax and deal with whatever is going on in their life. It’s an amazing feeling to know that we are able to make a positive difference in our fans’ lives. We love engaging with our fans and it gives us great drive to do even more in the future.
TF: What has it been like to see all of your fans’ messages for you as you compile your million subscriber video?
SKK: The morning that we broke one million, we walked in to an explosion of comments and e-mails. It was great to see how creative people got with their fan videos, and that’s what’s constantly inspiring to us – being part of a creative community. As we saw pictures of us in Sonic the Hedgehog-style fan art and found some outstanding singers and fans with unique senses of humour, we began to realise we’re far more loved than we ever could have known! We really felt the love from our fans, which we greatly appreciated.
TF: What do you think are the components of a good karaoke track? Are there any particular elements you try to avoid?
SKK: Usually we know when a song is going to be good when we’re all jamming out to it and discussing for about an hour on why it’s good or bad. We spend a lot of time talking about music. Ballads, hooks, and really catchy cheesy lines are a MUST! Karaoke isn’t really about being able to sing well, or being a professional singer, it’s primarily about having fun. We’re all terrible singers, but don’t tell Dan, he fancies himself as a star. First and foremost, we love music and that’s a huge driving force.
We learned early on that backing vocals aren’t too hot! I guess our singers want to be the star of the show and they don’t need anybody else dragging them down!
TF: Who writes the music for your channel and how long does it take to compose each track?
SKK: We work with a variety of different studios, which is an absolute necessity for us just to keep up with the amount of new music coming out. It typically takes a few days for a professional recording, but we have multiple tracks being worked on at the same time. Then, the video creation process can take anywhere from half an hour to 4 hours depending on the complexity of the vocal track. From there, we add our video templates and the total turnaround time becomes about a week or two weeks. We are very conscious of our instrumental quality being the best it can possibly be, so we always prioritise sound over speed.
TF: How do you decide which songs to feature on your channel?
SKK: We have a mixture of method. We use the UK and US charts as a good indicator, and we try to make a note of every single request we receive from our fans (although that is becoming harder and harder to stay on top of!) We’re currently sitting on over 5000 different song requests, and that’s not even taking into account the sheer volume of requests for each individual song. Popular YouTube artists also catch our eye, and they’re often the most fun to do because they’re so damn quirky! We’re all involved with music, both inside and outside of the channel – whether it be playing in a band, blogging or hanging out at shows.
TF: How do karaoke videos interact with digital copyright laws?
SKK: We’re very lucky to work with YouTube. Licensing is a very complex process, one we’ve all had to deal with in the past. Luckily YouTube’s Partner Program allows content owners to make claims on music that they have contributed to, and YouTube deals with most of licensing and accounting from their end. It makes it very straightforward compared to the usual rigmarole of music licensing, allowing creators to be remunerated and channels to focus on further creation.
TF: Do you ever get feedback from the original artists?
SKK: Sadly, we haven’t yet! Not that we wouldn’t love to, we’d drop everything in a heartbeat to have a drink with our faves (we’re looking at you Ariana, Bieber and Melanie Martinez!), so consider that an officially extended invitation! We’ve been lucky to build relationships with some awesome YouTube channels too though, and to see our music used by talents such as The Annoying Orange and Twin Melody is nothing short of incredible. It’s always nice to see some familiar YouTuber faces pop up in the comments, too!
TF: How would you describe your channel’s typical subscriber?
SKK: Can we say the best people ever? ;D
Karaoke is such a universally-loved phenomenon that I don’t think you can really pinpoint it to one particular type of person. We definitely lean more towards the ladies, I don’t know why the boys are so shy! Our channel isn’t just used for parties and singing though, some people come to listen to the instrumentals, some like to use our music in their vlogs/speed art videos, others use us to discover new music, and of course we have a huge audience of budding superstars! If I could describe our subscribers in one word… it would be YAS!
TF: What’s next for your channel? Any fun plans?
SKK: Leading up to 1 million subscribers, we took the leap of faith to put our real human selves on the channel! It was daunting… but we wanted the fans, those who got us to where we are today, to share some of the limelight for our big milestone. We are all about the community after all! Now that we’ve broken 1 million we really want to start making more fun videos alongside the karaoke. When our fans didn’t all run to the hills after seeing our faces, we were mightily relieved! So next year you can expect to see more of our (beautiful) faces, as we’ll be collaborating with some talented musicians and YouTubers. 2016 is going to be an exciting year for all of us!
