YouTube will be hosting its first ever YouTube Music Awards on Sunday, November 3 in New York. The event will feature notable performers including Eminem, Lady Gaga and Arcade Fire, among others. It will be modeled after such events as the MTV Video Music Awards, but winners will be chosen by YouTube’s online visitors. In addition to big name artists, YouTube performers such as dubstep violinist Lindsey Stirling and CDZA will be featured. Continue reading First YouTube Music Awards to Feature Worldwide Performances

In the past, lyrics videos were largely just the simple creations of music fans. However, the market for lyrics videos has changed dramatically in recent years, and name brand artists are leveraging the technique as a means of greater exposure and profit. According to YouTube, the number of views for these videos, which are typically fast and cheap to produce, has increased seven times since 2011. The top 500 lyrics videos attracted 624 million views this year. Continue reading Lyrics Videos Establishing Effective New Genre on YouTube

YouTube’s “de-spamming” initiative aims to remove unintended views from videos. The initiative has removed millions of views from videos, and large channels like Sony, Universal and RCA have been among the most affected. Together, these channels have lost upwards of 2 billion views since the Google-owned video site began its de-spamming efforts in December 2012. Continue reading YouTube Channels Lose Millions of Views to De-Spamming