Have you seen your favorite YouTubers perform on television or in concert, and wondered when it would be your chance in the spotlight?
We’ve teamed up with America’s Got Talent for a second year in a row on a contest in which you’re invited to submit an audition video and compete for a chance to appear live on NBC’s America’s Got Talent and even win one million dollars.
If you can sing, dance, juggle, or pretty much perform any other talent, send us your video from today until June 9 at midnight ET at youtube.com/agt. We’ll gather the videos and ask for your votes from June 28 to July 8. And this year, you can also submit and vote for your favorite videos on your Android devices and iPhone.
Contest Info
An expert panel of NBC representatives will review the submissions and select the top 20 entrants. Those 20 entrants will go live on the AGT YouTube channel, where the YouTube community gets to vote for their favorite to become The YouTube People’s Choice Winner, with a guaranteed spot on the AGT YouTube Special episodes taping August 9 and 10. The grand finale will air on September 14.
If you’re looking for tips in applying, visit the America’s Got Talent Channel at youtube.com/agt to get an idea of the creativity and talent that makes it to the show.
Liuba Petkova, Marketing Programs Manager Entertainment & Film, recently watched “America’s Got Talent YouTube Special – Jackie Evancho.”
Two weeks ago we offered the YouTube community the opportunity to ask leading fair use experts from Stanford’s Center for Internet and Society (CIS) questions about fair use. Using Google Moderator, more than 300 of you submitted 100+ questions and voted almost 3,000 times on the questions you wanted answered.
As expected, the questions varied dramatically, reflecting the diversity of content created and shared by YouTube users. Some of you wanted to know about dubbing over a cartoon, while others asked about adding commentary to video game play and someone else was hoping to create software tutorials using computer screencasts.
This week Anthony Falzone, Executive Director of the Fair Use project, and Julie Ahrens, Associate Director of the Fair Use project, answered a selection of the top voted questions (in the video’s description you can select which specific questions you want to see answered):
Thanks to all of you who submitted and voted on questions and please visit the YouTube Copyright Center if you have more questions.
(Full disclosure: Google provided start-up funding for the Fair Use Project, but has no involvement in the cases or positions that the project chooses to take.)
Will Houghteling is on the YouTube News and Politics team and recently watched “Seth Meyers at the White House Correspondents Dinner.”
In honor of National Teacher Day in the U.S. we’ve asked The Teaching Channel, one of our YouTube EDU partners, to help celebrate the educators in our lives.
While National Teacher Day in the U.S. is an important reminder of the invaluable contributions made by teachers, we celebrate great teaching everyday at Teaching Channel because there is so much to learn from inspiring teachers. Who hasn’t had that one teacher whom you will always remember?
What makes teachers inspiring is how they became experts — the hours and years they’ve dedicated to improving their craft to benefit their students. Our mission is to capture their technique on video so that all teachers, new or seasoned, have a place to find inspiration. Just watch how math teacher Alex Kajitani uses rap to explain integers, or listen to music teacher Genein Letford trumpet Duke Ellington to explain similes.
Inspired teaching, like any great art, should be seen, so we’re pleased to share these great lessons with the world. You can subscribe to our channel and view these great lessons at www.youtube.com/teachingchannel. Teaching Channel lifts the curtain on inspiring classrooms not only on YouTube, but this summer at www.teachingchannel.org and on television this coming fall (stay tuned!).
Guest to The Official YouTube Blog Candice Meyers, Teaching Channel Head of Product Development, recently watched, “Tough to Teach: Adding Integers”. 
Cinco de Mayo is rapidly approaching, so we figured now was a good time to turn our gaze southwards. We wanted to get an idea of what’s happening with music in Mexico — once you elbow past the wandering mariachi bands. (But if you’re really dying to hear a new release, the Beastie Boys will oblige.) Then we head even further south to find out what happens when South American hipsters are set loose with cameras. And lastly, take a minute to enjoy our video pick of the week. Repeatedly, if need be.
Get Schooled By The Mexican Institute of Sound
Camilo Lara, aka The Mexican Institute of Sound, is one busy dude. He’s buddies with the Beastie Boys (check out Ad Rock’s remix of his song “Alocatel”), he’s become an underground sensation on both sides of the border (rocking Coachella in 2009) — and he works at a major label by day. And, oh yeah, he’s helped make cumbia cool again. Is there anything the indefatigable Lara can’t do? This week, he shows us the Mexico he loves — not the land of men sleeping under sombreros, but the teaming streets and thriving music scene of Mexico City. Check out his utterly fresh playlist: we guarantee you’ll be shouting “cumbia!” within five minutes, or your money back.
Freak Folk, Latin American Style
In keeping with this week’s Latin theme, we have to give big ups to Yatoka, the Chilean hipsters who seem to be redefining how Latin music reaches the world. This ain’t your parents’ Chile: freak folksters, hip-hop groups, and everybody in between gets in front of the camera for a series of easy, intimate outdoor performances. (Yes, LaBlogotheque fans may experience some deja vu.) There’s no easier way to find your next favorite singer-songwriter: we think Pascuala Ilabaca might just be ours.
Grouper “Alien Observer”
And now for the weird. Nobody defines the weird more delicately than Portland’s Liz Harris, aka Grouper, whose dark and deceptively simple music seems to grab at big things under the surface. We could talk about drones and guitars and psychedelic vocal overlays, but you really should just experience it for yourself. Her “Alien Observer” video is an odd and impressionistic work, and whenever you think it’s going in a conventional direction, something derails it — to our great relief. Haunting stuff.
Sarah Bardeen, Music Community Manager, recently watched “Pascuala Ilabaca – Lamenta la Canela.avi.”
Over the last six weeks we conducted a large-scale talent search for future stars and up-and-comers across YouTube, looking for the YouTubers who have what it takes to be tomorrow’s stars.
We’d like to introduce you to the first classes of YouTube NextUp and the YouTube Creator Institute: 45 creators who’ve demonstrated passion, talent and huge potential in video making across a range of genres.
The group comes from across the nation, from big cities and small towns in Iowa, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Texas, Utah, California and more. While many have film and editing backgrounds, they’re from all walks of life – a former lawyer, international chef, a spoken word artist and more. The group was selected through a combination of YouTubers, our institutional partners, and the hundreds of thousands who voted and helped these stars take off!
YouTube NextUp is a development program for up-and-coming YouTube Partners with a growing fan base and great content, who are ready to become the next stars. The 25 YouTubers selected from across the country will be given $35,000 to advance their YouTube careers and global promotion across the platform. They’ll also travel to New York City to attend the first YouTube Creator Camp for personalized training and mentoring to build their brands and improve their content.
YouTube Creator Institute is a program for aspiring content creators to hone their digital media skills, while receiving the tools and promotion needed to be the next major players in the industry. The 10 selected participants for each of the two programs will receive a new media education at top institutions, the USC School of Cinematic Arts and Columbia College Chicago. They’ll work with renowned faculty, industry leaders, stars and many others while they begin building their brands and audiences.
Keep watching for news from the YouTube Next team this summer as we unveil new surprises for you around programs and the creators’ content all over the world.
Tom Sly, Head of Strategic Partner Development & Programs, YouTube Next, recently watched “Remembering Sion Milosky.”
Each weekday, we at YouTube Trends take a look at the most interesting videos and cultural phenomena on YouTube as they develop. We want take a moment to highlight some of what we’ve come across this week:
Check back every day for the latest about what’s trending on YouTube at: www.YouTube.com/Trends
Kevin Allocca, YouTube Trends Manager, recently watched “Jersey Shore Gone Wilde.”
Football fans will have the chance to get an up-close look at the new crop of NFL rookies this Saturday, April 30, live on YouTube. We’ll be hosting an exclusive live stream of the 2011 NFL Players Association Rookie Debut party, beginning at 10pm ET live from Cipriani Wall Street in New York City. The live stream will be on the NFL Players Association’s YouTube channel here: www.youtube.com/nflplayers
Former Pro Bowl running back/kick returner Brian Mitchell and three-time Super Bowl champion linebacker Willie McGinest will host the party, with appearances from dozens of football players from the past, present and future – including St. Louis Rams running back and Super Bowl champion Marshall Faulk.
Some of the expected attendees (and high draft picks) include: Blaine Gabbert, Patrick Peterson, and last year’s Heisman winner running back Mark Ingram of Alabama and linebacker Von Miller of Texas A&M.
Check out the live stream during the event for exclusive backstage access, interviews and performances – then return to the channel later for plenty of on-demand coverage of the event.
Enjoy the party!
Andrew Bangs, sports manager, recently watched “Epicly Later’d Dylan Rieder (PT 1 of 4).“
This Sunday, May 1st, at 1:00am ET / 9:00am CET, people across the globe will be able to attend the Beatification ceremony of Pope John Paul II via a live stream on YouTube. The live stream of Pope John Paul II’s Beatification will be available on YouTube’s Live browse page at (www.youtube.com/live), a YouTube channel created specifically by the Vatican to celebrate the pontiff (www.youtube.com/johnpaul2). The channel contains hundreds of videos documenting his pontificate. The stream will also available through the Vatican Player (www.vatican.va/video) which will be on several other Catholic sites that link to it.
Hundreds of thousands of people are expected to attend the Beatification ceremony in person in Saint Peter’s Square. In addition, the YouTube live stream will enable an online audience across the globe to hear and see the ceremony at 1:00am ET / 9:00am CET.
At 2:00am ET / 10:00am Pope Benedict XVI will preside over Holy Mass, culminating in the Beatification of Pope John Paul II. The live stream will end at 4:45am ET / 12:45 CET with the weekly Marian Prayer, where Pope Benedict XVI will give a personal message that focuses on the Beatification of Pope John Paul II.
When the stream has ended, the entire ceremony will be uploaded on www.youtube.com/johnpaul2, giving both those who missed the beatification, and those who saw it, a chance to witness the ceremony on YouTube.
The YouTube Team
This May, NYLON’s Young Hollywood issue comes to YouTube for the second year in a row. Visit the NYLON channel for coverage of the hottest young stars including Emma Roberts, Rory Culkin, Chloe Moretz, Lucy Hale, and not one, but two Harry Potter witches. Check out exclusive interviews only seen on YouTube and behind the scenes footage from the NYLON photoshoot, and here’s a video to get you started:
For their Young Hollywood issue, NYLON magazine visits film sets all over the world and shoots the newest screen stars just as they’re beginning to blaze. With NYLON + YouTube’s Young Hollywood videos, you can:
- Learn about Scream with Emma Roberts
- Get a boxing lesson with Rory Culkin
- Go behind the scenes at a fashion shoot with Chloe Moretz
- Howl with the cast of MTV’s new show Teen Wolf
- Go backstage at The View with Hayden Panettiere
- Watch Lucy Hale try out some of Spring’s biggest beauty trends
From Harry Potter’s Nataia Tena to Mad Men’s Kiernan Shipka and The Vampire Diaries Kat Graham, you’ll see the next generation of stars like never before – up close, personal, and with a killer rock ‘n roll soundtrack. The Young Hollywood issue is also on stands now!
Lee Hadlow, Ad Programs Associate, recently watched “YOUNG HOLLYWOOD 2011 – HAYDEN PANETTIERE.”
Our consumer marketing team here in Brazil has a slogan: Go where the passion is. And in Brazil, there are few things people are more passionate about than Carnival—an annual spring festival that incorporates parades, music and dance in an enormous, nation-wide celebration. This year, our team of five decided to tackle a huge challenge: take the party global by launching a Carnival channel on YouTube and live stream a full six days of coverage to the entire world.
When we began the project in October 2010, we knew we had to work quickly and efficiently if we were going to have this ready five months later—especially since we were such a small team with big goals for a brand new project. One of our biggest obstacles was figuring out how to bring the true Carnival music experience to YouTube—not just a few shows here and there, but really capturing all of the celebrity performances, parades and spontaneous street dances that occur all over the state of Bahia during the six days of celebration. We quickly realized we were going to need a lot of support on the ground in order to coordinate all of the logistics, such as camera placement, so we enlisted the help of more than 100 freelance professionals. Another challenge was orchestrating video translations so people in other regions could share in the excitement in their native language, which we did by asking Googlers to put their 20 percent time toward the endeavor.
On more than one occasion, I thought we were in way over our heads, but when I saw the famous Brazilian singer, Ivete Sangalo, streaming live on YouTube in a performance broadcasted to more than 15,000 cities in 200 countries worldwide, I knew we’d connected the world with the passion of the Carnival.
Despite the chaos involved in organizing the live stream, the results of the project were well beyond our expectations. During the six days of Carnival, people from 200+ countries watched more than 11 million views of the live stream and 21,000+ subscribed to the YouTube channel. As a small team with big goals—and the resources and freedom to achieve them—we aim to remain as nimble and efficient as we were during Carnival, with people’s passions as our guide to projects that will have the biggest impact.
Posted by Lauren Pachaly, Consumer Marketing Manager, Brazil, recently watched “Harmonia do Samba’s Carnival performance of Uma Chance.”
