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Don Reisinger/CNET Networks)
Interscope Geffen A&M, a division of Universal Music Group, announced Monday that it has released iPhone and iPod Touch applications centered on some of the label's most prominent artists, including The All American Rejects, Soulja Boy, The Pussycat Dolls, Lady Gaga, and Keri Hilson. The applications are built off a new iPhone framework from mobile developer, Kyte.
Each artist-specific app will feature video content produced by the individual singer, along with custom branding, an RSS reader that will be updated with artist news, and a built-in chat feature that allows users to talk to each other and rate some of the artist's latest concerts.
But perhaps the most important aspect of the announcement is how Interscope hopes to monetize the apps. Instead of charging for them, the free applications will include ads and links to purchase the artist's merchandise or their songs on iTunes.
(Credit:
Don Reisinger/CNET Networks)
Interscope is just the first partner of what Kyte's executives hope will be many. The company's iPhone Applications Framework is specifically designed for media companies and not just record labels. Once those companies license the platform, they can use it to create live, on-demand video and picture content, broadcast that content to online and mobile destinations simultaneously, and use the framework's chat feature to let users communicate with others.
Interscope's apps are free, but Kyte's senior communications manager, Ulysses King, said its future partners won't necessarily follow suit. In fact, its up to those partners to decide how they would like to monetize the app, meaning that some might sell it for a fee.
Interscope's five apps are available now in the iTunes App Store.
Universal Music Group continues to bolster its Internet profile via digital video.
The largest of the four biggest recording companies is expected to announce on Friday an agreement with Kyte, the video-streaming start-up. Under the terms of the deal, Kyte is to provide the mobile and online platform for the label's artists, including 50 Cent, All American Rejects, Lil Wayne, and Lady Gaga. Financial terms of the deal aren't being released.
Universal Music and Kyte have also agreed to develop new mobile entertainment applications. The question with a deal like this is why any of the labels need a video platform other than YouTube?
Ted Mico, the digital chief for Interscope Geffen A&M, one of Universal Music's subsidiary record labels, says Kyte's live-video streaming has impressed nearly everyone in the music industry. The service enables artists to shoot and distribute live video to fans from their dressing rooms, their limousines, or even from the stage. These aren't meant to be the glossy, heavily produced videos.
"Kyte offered artists and fans a fantastic value proposition," Mico said. "If you like the big budget stuff, this is really zero budget, but just as engaging in its own way because it has that immediacy and authenticity. We've waited a long time for technology that delivers on that and I think the Kyte platform does."
This kind of live Web TV will appeal to bands and artists who can engage an audience just "by being themselves," Mico said.
The deal comes as Universal Music--like the other top record companies--is in talks with YouTube about renewing its licensing agreements for music and music videos. YouTube pulled Warner Music Group's videos last month after talks broke down between the Google-owned video site and the third-largest label.
I reported last fall that Universal was considering building its own video site, and now my sources say the labels are considering working together with YouTube-rival Hulu.com on a jointly operated video offering. Could a new site offer live streaming? We'll see.
On Monday night video-broadcasting platform Kyte is launching several new ways to make money with its service. Included are two new ad servers from AdTech Helios IQ and Lightningcast, as well as a new option to pick up Google AdSense (for video) which includes pre-roll, graphic display ads, and endcap text ads. These join Kyte's internal ad manager, and help fill out any ad inventory depending on how popular your shows are.
It's worth noting all of this is still only for pre-recorded content, and as such can't be used for monetizing live streaming shows. I'm told this is something on Kyte's road map, which when implemented would give publishers a new way to pull in revenue from live broadcasts besides relying on ads outside of the Kyte player.
The new mobile pages (click to enlarge)
(Credit: Kyte.tv)Alongside the new ad partners, Kyte is launching branded mobile pages that let artists or other content providers organize all their work into a single mobile-friendly page.
This is going live with two Interscope Records artists: Lady GaGa and the All-American Rejects. Here users can watch content streams that are optimized for their device (3GP for Nokia users and QuickTime streams for iPhoners), and interact with other users like they'd do on the normal Kyte service. This includes live chat and an in-line comment system.
Mobile pages can be saved to your mobile device like you'd save a bookmark. In the iPhone's case it's nothing more than a home screen shortcut which brings you right to the artist page.
Channel owners are able to customize both the layout and the style of these mobile pages to their taste, as well as pick out any ad units that can go on the bottom or top of the page. For now it's a manual process that involves a little hand holding with Kyte staff, but in the future publishers will be able to use a simple dashboard tool to update and make changes on the fly.
While these changes may seem trivial to the casual user, providing additional ways to monetize mobile online video is a big deal. It's not quite there for live streaming, but Kyte's very close. In the meantime, the current system is set up to let publishers big and small add advertising that can be tacked on to all content--both old and new.
Videostreaming service Kyte on Tuesday announced that its Mobile Producer app is officially out of beta and now available on many Symbian Series 60 phones, not just the Nokia N95.
There are a few live streaming services on the Web, but Kyte is taking a different business approach than consumer-focused products like uStream. The focus for the company is to sell its services to professional content producers, such as its existing users like The Pussycat Dolls, 50 Cent, The Huffington Post, and Spin Magazine.
Given the cost of bandwidth and the potentially large market for professional live content, I believe this is a much smarter strategy than going for the consumer (technically speaking, the "onesy-twosy" market).
To support pro users, Kyte is layering features like an offline capability (the phone records when you're not in cellular coverage area) as well as the feature that lets you delay posting an online clip to your audience until after an editor has a chance to review it.
Coming later to the Kyte platform is support for third-party advertising platforms (DART is next), as well as an analytics function so producers can tell who's watching what and when.
See also: Brightcove, Maven, Ooyala
Today, Israel-based video blogging service BlogTV is releasing a new version of its service for mobile users. We checked out the desktop version back in June and came away impressed. Today's release brings mobile viewing to the equation, letting anyone with a compatible phone watch shows live using their phone's Web browser.
Users who visit m.blogtv.com on their phones get a small array of thumbnails for live shows, along with matching text links and descriptions. Opening the links launches the phone's media player and gets the show streaming. Also included in the stream are user and host comments, that match similar mobile entertainment offerings from Kyte and Qik.
The coolest new feature to come along with this (and what I think sets BlogTV apart) is its alerts system. The system lets users subscribe to shows, and receive SMS alerts when a show is coming on. This lets users avoid having to check online, or worry about missing a show away from their computer. I'm not sure how many people are going to take part in this, but it could definitely be handy in certain circumstances.
To see the service in action, here's a video of BlogTV's Senior VP Product and Content, Nir Ofir, giving it a spin on a pretty standard (read: not a smartphone) handset:
I'll be a bit honest here. If I see another live video broadcasting tool for Nokia phones my head is going to explode. These things are all over the place, but admittedly far from useless. There's always a need to record something, and if you can do it from your phone without having to carry around a bunch of memory cards, you're coming out a winner.
Flixwagon, which quietly launched its private alpha site this morning, has been kicking around a small community of developers and testers for the past few months. Like Kyte, Qik, and Comvu, the aim is to broadcast live video from your phone, and interact with the people who are watching your stream. No computer required.
The tiny (and we mean tiny) broadcasting application can be downloaded to most recent model Nokia and Sony Ericsson phones, and broadcasts over either a Wi-Fi connection, or a speedy 3G signal from your carrier. In testing over AT&T's 3G network, I found the quality to be about in line with the stuff you would find on YouTube, which is a serious compliment considering it was streaming live from a pocket sized device and didn't need to go through any processing on my end. Admittedly our test device was a Nokia N95 which retails in excess of $500, and has the best built-in camera of most other Nokia models (or any cell phone for that matter). Your mileage may vary.
I personally prefer Qik's phone software just a smidgen (it lets you pick what camera you want to use, and pause the video), but the performance was a little better on Flixwagon. The killer application for any of these services is involvement, both for a live audience, and for users watching other user streams right on their phone. It's that second step that I think Kyte has taken the lead, and others like Qik and Flixwagon need to catch up with.
Flixwagon is in private alpha. If you're interested in giving the service a try, you can sign up here. I've embedded an Israeli, swingset version of Burning Man after the break. You can also check out my perilous journey to get coffee earlier this morning (my apologies in advance for the shoddy camera work).
View videos people have created live, or later as they're archived. Don't try this after a big lunch.
(Credit: CNET Networks)... Read more
SplashCast is launching a handful of updates to its player this morning. The biggest is inline chat, which was essentially the next step after last month's inclusion of inline text, voice, and video commenting. Although this new feature isn't rolling out to everyone right away--the company is beginning with the branded artist channels launched a few months back. To jump into a chat, there's a simple "join chat" button on the bottom-left-hand side of the player. Clicking it takes you right in to an IRC-style simple chat.
Want to Twitter about the show you're watching? You can now do it right inside of Twitter.
(Credit: CNET Networks)Also new is a feature called FanCast which is kind of like Kyte.TV in that you can give your users an e-mail address to send photos and videos, and they'll go up in an ad-hoc playlist made available to all. If you're the channel owner, you can also moderate that content, keeping some amount of editorial control over what your viewers are adding to the conversation.
SplashCast is also adding integration to Twitter. The service gets its very own icon, which, when clicked, lets you log in to your Twitter account and post a brief note along with a link to the show as a status update. If you're already using another service like TwitThis (review), this might not be so important, but unlike sharing the whole player, you can drill down and share any piece of media therein.
I've embedded an example player after the break. To view it, click the read more button below.
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Video hosting and mashup solution SplashCast is launching an upgrade to their video player tomorrow morning. The most noticeable change is a new YouTube-ish playlist of video thumbnails in the bottom 20 percent of the viewer, which can be pulled up and dismissed at the user's discretion. Previously, users were limited to a channel-view text list (which is still available), but my bet is that users will feel at home with this newer navigation.
The real killer application, however, is the inline commenting system which gives users three ways to leave their feedback: a video clip (from a Webcam or hard drive), text, and voice. All three remain in the same section, and there's no user registration required to leave your two cents. Recording and playing video in the player is really simple, and looks pretty good.
There are a few other mentionable tweaks, including a pause button, an inline "e-mail this" tool to share show segments or entire programs with friends, and a full screen button that remains no matter what type of program you're viewing (not just videos and photos). There's also a new "follow me" button which lets you know when the program's creator publishes new shows. It's a little bit like the channel-creator subscriptions with YouTube.
SplashCast is planning to introduce a mobile upload feature to its platform within a month, so users will be able to drop photos and video clips into their channels from a mobile phone--a lot like Kyte.tv (review). There will also be more celebrity channels, and the potential for Twitter integration and live user chat, similar to Pikspot's player.
You can now check out a video playlist with thumbnails that move a little bit like the dock in Mac OS X.
(Credit: CNET Networks)
I got to take a sneak peak at a new video broadcasting service that opened its doors to a select few this morning. Mogulus is a live video broadcasting service the likes of uStream.tv, but with a twist: Multiple people can work on live video feeds at the same time. Each user can create their own branded channel, and fill it up with video content either from their hard drives or pulled in from YouTube. Each contributor can also command the broadcast using their Web cam, complete with customizable over-the-shoulder graphic overlays and a scrolling CNN-style news ticker. The result is a live blogging experience that's visually stimulating to the viewer, and completely customizable for the amateur content producer.
Mogulus is giving its producers two ways to share content--either embedding the live feed, or linking to their own custom URL. All public channels go into a listing for live feeds a la Kyte.tv, so casual users looking to tune into things that are live or interesting will be able to browse through and find something they like.
Managing broadcasts in Mogulus is handled completely inside of a Flash-based application. Content is clumped together in small management units called "storyboards," which can be inserted into any broadcast almost like video playlists. Producers queue up content, mix and match the order of video clips, and can break in at any time to broadcast live from their Web cam. Power users have a lot to play with, as it actually feels like a professional video-editing app with a ton of options for tweaking and fine-tuning.
Mogulus plans to roll out its service with two models, one free and one paid. The free version requires inserting a short advertisement for every 10 minutes of broadcasting, while the pro version lets producers go ad-free in exchange for paying a fee for every gigabyte of bandwidth transferred. My hunch is that many casual users will be OK with the advertisement model, with what Mogulus is tentatively planning to keep at around 10 seconds per ad.
More on Mogulus as it leaves private beta. Until then you can sign up and check out an explanatory video here. More screenshots of the interface after the jump.
This is Mogulus' live broadcasting mode, in which you can cue up clips, add graphics, and see who is watching your show.
(Credit: CNET Networks)... Read more
Update: In case you missed last week's show we've got the video embedded below. To skip straight to the Kyte segment, drag the player progress arrow to 23:15. For more on Kyte, check out our hands-on.
