HI-TRANSFER

Tonight at 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT, indie rock darlings My Morning Jacket will debut their new album Circuital in style: with a performance in Louisville, Kentucky’s historic Palace Theatre. No ticket? No problem. Watch the performance live on youtube.com/mymorningjacketvevo.

The show marks the next installment of the original music series UNSTAGED, in partnership with American Express and VEVO. UNSTAGED pairs bands with iconic film directors to create one-of-a-kind live performances.

Director Todd Haynes (Velvet Goldmine, I’m Not There) will conduct the show. Haynes has been engaged with pop music throughout his career, crafting films that have frequently looked at music icons through an unusual lens: in Velvet Goldmine, he approached glam rock through the guise of a fictional, Bowie-like rock star named Brian Slade. In I’m Not There, six different actors inhabit or embody Bob Dylan’s many-faceted career. A subtle provocateur, Haynes has always looked to transgress social norms in his work.

As an indie band that often flirts with experimental elements, My Morning Jacket are a natural match for Haynes. The group burst onto the scene in 2001 with the release of their sophomore album At Dawn. Alt country had become the fashion among many northern rock bands, but as native southerners, these Kentucky boys came by their twang honestly. When they drenched it in oceans of reverb, what could have been relatively straightforward country rock verged on otherworldly.



Over the years, the band has evolved, experimenting with neo-psychedelia, reggae and progressive rock and even emulating Prince. Circuital sees the band returning to its early influences -- and returning home to Louisville to perform in the Palace Theatre, an ornate Spanish Baroque-style theater built in 1924. The theater oozes with atmosphere: the trompe l’oeil ceiling looks like an open sky, and a “hall of faces” features over a hundred sculptures of Socrates, Beethoven, Dante and more. The venue also has amazing acoustics -- and, according to some reports, a ghost.

Anything could happen tonight! Tune in early for an exclusive Q&A before the show, and keep an eye out for interesting components of the webcast: vote for their encore song, choose your camera angle, watch for user-submitted eyeball photos (yes, eyeballs) on stage, and potentially unlock some exclusive photo content during the performance!

Sarah Bardeen, Music Community Manager, recently watched “LOUDER|DUBSTEP.”

One of the biggest music festivals of the year kicks off today, and you don’t have to be camping in the desert to catch it.

Starting today at 4 p.m. PT / 7 p.m. ET, YouTube will webcast the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival directly from Indio, California to your computer -- without the 98 degree heat! Thanks to 5GUM, Coachella and YouTube, the world will have a front row seat to over 60 acts being live-streamed all weekend long at youtube.com/Coachella.

Tune in to watch sets by some of the biggest names in music, as well as the bands that have critics buzzing. The lineup is nothing short of astonishing: Kings of Leon. Cee Lo Green. Mumford and Sons. The Strokes. Duran Duran. The National. Nas + Damian Marley. The Black Keys. Ms. Lauryn Hill. The list goes on.

But don’t just take our word for it: check out what the bands themselves have to say about why they’re psyched to play Coachella, and what acts they’re dying to see.



If you miss the live stream, be sure to check out highlights on Coachella’s channel next week. And get ready to rock!

Sarah Bardeen, Music Community Manager, recently watched “Coachella 2010.”

You’ve subscribed to them by the millions, commented thousands of times on their videos, and “liked” them over and over - and now you can see them live, in a city near you. The stars of the YouTube music world are hitting the road for The DigiTour, presented by YouTube. It’s the most comprehensive concert series yet featuring exclusively the stars of the YouTube music world - performers with one billion combined views and more than six million subscriptions.

The DigiTour will run for six weeks across 27 cities in North America, bringing together talented artists who got their big break on YouTube. Artists like Dave Days, The Gregory Brothers, David Choi, DeStorm, MysteryGuitarMan and Ricky Ficarelli will bring their unique sounds and high energy acts to the big stage - and you might also get to discover some new YouTube acts. To give you a taste of what’s to come, the nationwide tour will be previewed with a special live-streamed concert from Google HQ on Friday, April 8, from 7 p.m. - 9 p.m. PT. Tune in to www.youtube.com/youtube to watch the event.

After their first official stop in LA, the tour will hit Phoenix, Oakland, Houston, Dallas, Charlotte, Atlanta, Orlando, Miami, Washington D.C, New York City, Detroit, Chicago and many other cities. Tickets are on sale now at www.thedigitour.com.

Here’s a taste of what to expect:


If you’re a YouTube Partner in any of the concert cities, stay tuned for more information on YouTube’s new Creator Clubs initiative that we’re starting to roll out across the country. To make it easier for YouTube Partners to stay in touch and collaborate, we’re helping Partners to organize their own Creator Clubs events to share information and ideas, and the club will kick off in each of these towns as The DigiTour visits. We hope some of our newer Partners will be inspired by seeing their YouTube heroes on the big stage.

For more information on The DigiTour lineup, updates and ticket information, visit www.thedigitour.com or follow them on Twitter here. Buy your ticket today!

Margaret Healy, Strategic Partner Manager, recently watched “The DigiTour Announcement!!!”

On March 20, the Grand Finale of the YouTube Symphony Orchestra 2011 was held at Sydney Opera House and live-streamed to the world on YouTube During the week-long festival leading up to the finale, 101 musicians from 33 countries joined together for the first time—immersed in new cultural experiences, musical mentorship and performances in one of the world’s most iconic symbols of the arts.

During the three-and-a-half hour Grand Finale—and as people in different timezones awoke to re-broadcasts—the event was streamed 33 million times around the world to 189 countries. This included 2.8 million mobile live-streams—making it one of our biggest ever streaming events to date, on mobile and desktop. That means the event was streamed to nearly one-and-a-half times the entire population of Australia, where the event took place.

One of the goals of the YouTube Symphony Orchestra is to make classical music accessible; the total data transferred by the stream was a whopping 422 terabytes—the equivalent of 145 million MP3 files of classical music being emailed around the world.

The top 10 countries viewing the performance online were:
1. U.S.
2. Germany
3. Italy
4. France
5. Poland
6. Russia
7. Australia
8. U.K.
9. Brazil
10. Taiwan

Enormous thanks go to all our Symphony members who flew to Sydney from around the world and put their hearts and souls into an extraordinary performance. You surprised and moved people and had some fun along the way!

For the rest of you, you can read about the experience of YouTube Symphony Orchestra 2011 cellist Mathisha Panagoda in a guest post on the YouTube Australia blog. And if you missed the Grand Finale, you can watch the full concert and highlights from the last week anytime at youtube.com/symphony.



Ed Sanders, Group Marketing Manager, recently watched “YouTube Symphony Sails highlights”.

What began with auditions from around the world uploaded to YouTube, millions of video views, and hours of rehearsals, finally comes to life this Sunday, March 20. It has been an extraordinary experience for the 101 winning musicians of the YouTube Symphony Orchestra, and in just a couple of days their collaborative experience will come to life at Sydney Opera House.

Here’s a preview of what’s to come:


The week-long YouTube Symphony Orchestra 2011 festival includes musical collaboration between orchestra members and world-class mentors, outdoor performances, local Aussie experiences, ensemble concerts and more. In just a few days, the creativity and technology that have powered this journey will literally light up Sydney Opera House—with animated visuals on the interior and exterior projections on the iconic sails, all synchronised to the music of the YouTube Symphony Orchestra 2011’s performance.

You’re invited to experience this wonderful event, whether you’re inside Sydney Opera House, out around Sydney Harbour, or watching from your computer elsewhere in the world. The Grand Finale will be live-streamed on youtube.com/symphony beginning at 8:00pm Australian Eastern Standard time, and rebroadcast until the concert performance is uploaded in full, so tune in on Sunday, March 20.

Ernesto Soriano III, YouTube Australia, recently watched “YouTube Symphony Orchestra 2011 Day 4 Highlights.”

This weekend, 101 musicians from more than 30 countries descended upon Sydney to form the YouTube Symphony Orchestra 2011. After a process of online auditions, public voting, and decisions by our orchestra partners and conductor Michael Tilson Thomas, the 97 orchestral musicians and four winning soloists are now hard at work to ensure their finale performance in Sydney on March 20 is nothing short of extraordinary.

This week marks the final phase of their journey: A seven-day festival of music, creativity and technology in and around one of the world’s most iconic symbol of the arts, Sydney Opera House. They’ve arrived from all over the world, speak multiple languages, and bring with them diverse musical and cultural insights from around the globe. And their days have been filled with experiences they’re sure to carry with them beyond Sydney — from the first rehearsal inside Sydney Opera House under the baton of Michael Tilson Thomas, to a trip to the zoo to pet the marsupials and feed the giraffes.

Here’s a peek at how the week is shaping up:

Music’s biggest night is almost upon us, and this year YouTube has your ticket to the pre-show and the parties!

Starting today at 5 p.m. ET/2 p.m. PT, tune into youtube.com/thegrammys to watch live coverage of events leading up to the big night. The live stream starts Friday night and continues all weekend, including some never-before-seen footage of Grammy moments.

You can also be a fly on the wall at the storied, celebrity-studded Clive Davis party and check out the usually un-broadcasted Pre-Telecast, where The Recording Academy actually gives out most of its awards. (Fact: Taylor Swift won her first Grammy at a Pre-Telecast.) If that’s not enough, be sure to stick around for the after-party as well.

To sweeten the deal, we’ve made a few video playlists featuring the year’s nominees as well as our favorite Grammy moments past.



So if Sunday’s three-hour event feels too short, get your Grammy on early with the YouTube webcast, in partnership with The Recording Academy and TurboTax.

The Grammys air Sunday, February 13, 2011 at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT on CBS.

Sarah Bardeen, Music Community Manager, recently watched “Natalia Lafourcade | Ella es Bonita-Azul | A Take-Away Show.”