Music Video Sharing = Music Marketing With Cull.tv, Flickr, Chill

Some people say that discovery has replaced search. In that case, sharing has replaced advertising. I hate absolutes but it seems pretty obvious that sharing is a friendlier way to spread your music than buying ads. Cull.tv launched in the fall and it offers some simple but potentially powerful possibilities for sharing your music videos and having them featured on the site. Though Flickr added video posting a while back, it's worth mentioning as an alternate sharing platform for shorter videos.

We've discussed Chill before, but they've added a Collections feature that's worth knowing about as another way to share videos and possibly have your's featured on the site.

My Cull.tv Discovery of the Day: Cate Lebon – Fold The Cloth

Cull.tv launched back in the fall featuring themed video channels. According to a review by Brenna Ehrlich from that period, Cofounder and CEO Katherine de León said:

"We help fans discover underground and emerging artists…We are a music discovery service, so you’re not likely to see Eminem on there."

That's great news for up and coming artists since the problem with being on YouTube is that there's always someone more well-known drawing attention away from emerging artists, kind of like SXSW these days.

Getting your videos in the system is easy if they're already up on YouTube. Log in with Facebook, start searching for your videos, click on each one you wish to add then hit the + button. You'll be able to add it to an already existing channel or create a new channel.

If you have a bunch of videos, you might as well create a channel for your band but, if you don't, try creating a channel of videos that represent music related to your band. Sometimes that can draw more people in especially if you're part of an emerging genre or scene.

Cull.tv offers a couple of ways to get your videos or channel more attention. if you want them to consider featuring your channel, send them the link offered up using the Share button. If you are hoping they'll add your video to one of their curated channels, send that. Either way, hit them up at: submissions(at)cull(dot)tv.

Flickr Offers Short Video Sharing Options

An article by Dan Taylor on video-sharing alternatives to YouTube reminded me that Flickr added videos quite a while back. Unlike Cull.tv, Flickr is obviously a more general media sharing site and it is better known for photos.

You can find out more here but keep in mind that free accounts are limited to 2 uploads a month and all videos are limited to 90 seconds. That makes Flickr a better place for behind-the-scenes, on the road videos and the like rather than for full music videos. But given that people search Flickr for things like pictures of a particular location, if you've got tour clips tagged with the location, Flickr could be an alternative discovery route.

Speaking of tagging, if you pull deceptive tagging moves on sites like Flickr, we're all going to hate you and don't forget it!

Chill.fm Adds Collections

I recently wrote about Chill's reboot as a video sharing site I have no idea how they're doing but they keep adding features and have now developed a concept known as Collections.

Up to this point, Chill features individually added videos including videos added automatically via associated social media accounts. For example, my account is totally built out of videos I've posted or shared on Facebook.

Collections add the ability to create themed groups of videos which you can do from a link in your account. Featured collections show up at the top of themed categories such as Music. So just as you might create a themed channel on Cull.tv, you can create a Collection on Chill.

To have your Collection considered as a feature, send it in to info(at)chill(dot)com.

Hypebot Features Writer Clyde Smith maintains his freelance writing hub at Flux Research and music industry resources at Music Biz Blogs. To suggest topics for Hypebot, contact: clyde(at)fluxresearch(dot)com.