Chatroulette is basically Russian roulette with Webcams. But while you could find yourself chatting to a celebrity or your future partner, you’re more likely to either encounter unwanted male nakedness or become part of an improvised music performance.
Chatroulette
If you haven’t heard of Chatroulette yet then you’ve clearly been living in a hole for the past few months. You also won’t have tried out the service, which really is something everyone should do at least once.
Chatroulette is online video chat for strangers. You connect to the site with your Webcam open and a procession of partners roll in, with you having the power to sit and chat for a while or ‘Next’ them.
Chatroulette was created by 17-year-old Russian Andrey Ternovskiy, who is currently visiting the U.S. to talk with potential investors and buyers.
Chatroulette Improv
Chatroulette is a fun and entertaining service in its basic form, but it has also started a trend for improvised music videos. There’s a guy who sings with a vocoder, and Merton, the Chatroulette improv piano guy.
Merton has found fame thanks to the well-received improvised music videos which see him venturing on to Chatroulette and creating a song from his encounters. A little bit of editing and the vids are ready to be uploaded to YouTube.
YouTube Terms Of Use
However, Merton found himself on the wrong side of YouTube’s Terms of Use rules, and consequently saw his videos removed from the side. The song was made up on the spot and so clearly doesn’t violate any copyrights. So what was the deal?
No explanation has been offered, but the video was re-uploaded to YouTube a few hours later with a couple of the people’s faces blurred out. Suggesting it was the lack of permission for including these people’s images in the video which caused the takedown.
Merton has now given an interview to Mashable in which he talks about his improvs and how they came about.
Conclusions
Chatroulette is likely to grow more and more popular, at least until the novelty wears off. The only problem with the site is the ratio of naked men who appear to be using it, but they can be swiftly dispatched.
Meanwhile, Merton’s fame is growing – with Ben Folds even paying tribute to him during a recent concert.
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