Australian live music video website Moshcam, which provides free streams of concerts and live footage online, has struck a major deal with online video giant YouTube which will see more than 15,000 videos added to the Google-owned website.
It’s a major move for the Australian owned business, which has been providing broadcast-quality concert recordings since it was established in 2007, providing users with exclusive streams such as festival sideshows for the Big Day Out, right down to one-of-a-kind headline gigs, like Alexisonfire’s sole Sydney farewell gig from last December.
The new partnership between Moshcam and the world’s biggest video community will see all of the website’s on-demand content – including concerts from major musical acts filmed from New York, Los Angeles, London, and Sydney – made available from an exclusive YouTube channel at youtube.com/moshcam.
Anthony Zameczkowski, Head of Music, YouTube Asia Pacific championed the newly forged alliance between the two video content providers. “Through the YouTube channel, Moshcam will deliver an impressive original catalogue and high quality live music programming to artists and fans in Australia and around the world,” said Mr Zameczkowski.
“We are thrilled to now offer our huge live music catalogue on YouTube, giving fans the thrill of watching the world’s best bands on any device and in HD,” said Moshcam Music Director Paul Hannigan. “With YouTube, we’re also working on producing even more exciting live streams which will reinforce Moshcam’s goal of being the number one destination for live music video online.”“Working with YouTube directly signifies a strategic shift for Moshcam from thinking about YouTube as a marketing channel to an official distribution platform.” – Paul Hannigan, Moshcam
Speaking to TheMusic about the partnership, Mr Hannigan said that “working with YouTube directly signifies a strategic shift for Moshcam from thinking about YouTube as a marketing channel to an official distribution platform.”
“Now, for the first time, our entire catalogue of over 15,000 live music videos will be available to a huge global audience, whereas previously only single tracks were offered on YouTube for promotional purposes,” he continues. “This is increasingly important in an age of connected devices, as fans will now be able to now watch Moshcam gigs free and in HD wherever they can watch YouTube.”
The new channel will provide Moshcam’s content – including photos, features, and video interviews – across mobile devices and tablets, as well as online, through the YouTube apps available on smartphone platforms. Moshcam and YouTube will also be working together to webcast more live music events and shows in future, using Google’s own social media site Google + Hangouts.
Its certainly not the first time that YouTube has partnered with music media providers to spread their online dominance. This past December saw YouTube partnering with the Sydney Opera House to stream online concerts held at the iconic venue, which has hosted unique performances, such as Sarah Blasko with a full symphony orchestra and two sold-out performances from Nick Cave, in recent months.
The partnership was forged in light of the success of the 2012 Vivid LIVE festival partnership to broadcast events at the arts festival, which included a streamed performance on the website of The Temper Trap’s Sydney Opera House set that attracted nearly 300,000 views, an audience 100 times greater than those physically sitting in the Concert Hall
A huge feat likely to be repeated when this year’s Vivid LIVE kicks off, including a concert series from Germany’s electronic music pioneers Kraftwerk, performing eight albums from their influential discography at the Sydney Opera House, with the aid of 3D enhanced visuals.
More recently, YouTube has come under attack from Dead Kennedys guitarist, Ray Pepperell a.k.a. East Bay Ray, who lashed out at at the service at an music industry summit where he claimed the Google-owned music service was hurting the industry, and “forced 12,000 independent musicians out of work.” Pointing to profit percentages earned by Google and YouTube, East Bay Ray reasoned that the video community was shilling artists out of their profits.
It echoes concerns from others in the music industry as Google moves to expand its Google Play digital music store to include an on-demand music streaming service with a subscription based model similar to those of Spotify, Deezer and other market leaders. The search engine giant is also looking at introducing a similar subscription model to YouTube as early as April; allowing users access to watch specific content – such as their favourite TV show or clips and performances from artists – for a small monthly fee.
