YouTube is moving away from its rather lawless, rather disorganized past at a rate of knots. The latest step on this evolutionary ladder is a ‘Music’ hub to sit alongside the previously-launched ‘Movies’ and ‘Shows’ hubs.
Organized YouTube
is rapidly changing the site so that it’s less about the sporadic, unfocused occasional video viewing and more about the consistent, organized viewing of content.
The UGC is still there in spades, obviously, but theres also more professional content than ever before. And this is being channeled in order to improve the way we use the site.
YouTube also does well from this change, with people more likely to watch more videos for longer thanks to the randomness of the site being superseded by organized and focused hubs.
YouTube Hubs
We’ve already got YouTube hubs dedicated to Shows and Movies, and now Music has found a new home as well. Music videos have always been a big part of the Google-owned site, ranking as some of the most-watched videos every month and of all time.
This led the music labels to come together in order to create Vevo. Which is doing well in its own right just a few months after launching. But that doesn’t mean YouTube has handed the control of music videos over to the labels altogether.
YouTube Music Hub
As announced on the Official YouTube blog, the new Music hub is now the place to go if you’re a fan of music videos.
The page contains music videos by category, with the ‘Most Viewed’ videos given a starring role. There are also feature playlists, the best of unsigned artists, and much more besides.
ReadWriteWeb describes it as “like getting a bit of MTV back from the 90s, when it actually played music.” Which is exactly what came to my mind when first browsing around the site.
Conclusions
It’s pretty amazing, when considering how YouTube was at the beginning of its life, that you can now watch movies, TV shows, and music videos on the site. And all for free. No wonder it’s become such a ubiquitous part of the Web.
