April 15

I am working on taxes right now, and I can't make them come out right. It's frustrating. I am determined to kick their ass before the night is up.

For today's post, I would like to plug Mysti Mayhem. A few weeks ago, I attended a live show of hers on BlogTV, and she is a powerful performer. The video below is my favorite song she played in that show, but I highly encourage you to check out her YouTube channel for more. (Note: there is some explicit language at the tail end of this video).



There is a lot of buzz on YouTube right now about the major re-design that is hitting the website tomorrow. YouTube is going to feature sponsored content, and all the user-generated content that currently dominates the site will be relegated to a tab called "Videos" within the redesigned site.

There is a lot of doomsaying going on about this change (about the Hulu-fication of YouTube) and what this change will mean for the site's users, but I am holding my judgment to see what happens. I think the power of YouTube comes from its word-of-mouth, people sending each other links to funny videos and directing their friends to good YouTube artists, and I don't see how that will change with this redesign.

The artists on YouTube seem concerned about losing front-page features and the ratings systems (most discussed, most viewed, etcetera) that they feel brings them views, but I guess I've always felt that while those numbers are a nice boost or recognition, it's not like the core of the community finds videos that way. As I have written before, I have found some amazing artists, musicians, and filmmakers on YouTube, and I didn't find any of them from the Most Viewed, Most Discussed, or Top Rated pages, or because they had tons of subscribers.

We can't begrudge YouTube for wanting to make money. In fact, maybe by them making money, the site can continue for regular people to post and share their videos. If YouTube didn't make this change, who knows how long they'd be able to continue supporting the site. So I don't think the changes will necessarily kill YouTube, but we will see. I am sure I'll be posting about it in the days to come as I see and react to the changes.