SiriusXM’s YouTube 15 Radio Show: New Media Adapts To Old Forms
SiriusXM last week debuted a new song countdown radio show based on popular music videos from YouTube hosted by YouTube star Jenna Marbles. The playlist is apparently based on a combination of YouTube data and SirusXM curation. While this effort partly reflects the ever-growing importance of YouTube to music, it also represents the gradual adaptation of new media (YouTube) to old forms of presentation (top hits countdown shows).
SiriusXM and YouTube first announced The YouTube 15 in late June stating that the weekly radio show would feature the "top emerging and breakout songs based on YouTube data of the previous week and selected by SiriusXM for the Hits 1 audience" i.e. a combination of data and curation.
The weekly show debuted Friday on SiriusXM Hit 1, a top 40 station, with Jenna Marbles as host.
I didn't catch the first show but my understanding is that it's a Top 15 countdown radio show with the Top 15 based on a more complex mix of elements than just plays.
It also circulates in the form of a YouTube playlist.
The show sounds like a smart adaptation of new data points, such as views and likes, to the old-fashioned format of a top hits countdown. Billboard and many other media companies are figuring out related issues with such efforts as their new Twitter Real-Time Charts.
And though I write about gaming the Twitter Charts in the above linked post, that's simply a new form of an old problem. The classic form of gaming the charts is to buy a bumch of albums at key retailers and purchase radio play with payola. Now that process has adapted to the web with paid views and likes.
So the new and old worlds aren't so different in many regards.
And the brand new thing seems somewhat banal.
In one sense, this recognition could be viewed as discouraging news, a step backwards as old forms impose order on new possibilities.
On the other, it means there's a lot that can be taken from the world before the web and applied today.
More:
- Top 40 .FM Music Sites Give Alternate View Of Global Online Music Industry
- Official Charts Company Adds Streaming Music But Still Not Ready For YouTube Streams
- Billboard Adds Twitter Charts, Teaches You How To Game Them
Hypebot Senior Contributor Clyde Smith (@fluxresearch) also blogs at DanceLand. Send news about music tech startups and services, DIY music biz and music marketing to: clyde(at)fluxresearch(dot)com.
