As an online music community, YouMusic aims to foster young artists aspiring to make a major debut one day by providing them with opportunities to perform on a "virtual stage", where they can showcase their music performances, videos and images. Music performances by both Japanese and American/British musicians are now being introduced to a general audience beyond their own countries' boundaries, and it is hoped that others will join these musicians and that all will one day become globally renowned.
YouMusic is a nonprofit website operated by a major Japanese translation company, Simulingual (headquartered in Tokyo). Established musicians are also welcome and invited to participate.
A beta version of YouMusic is currently available, generating approximately 3,000 accesses every day. Blogging and RSS functions will be added to YouMusic before its official launch in April 2008.
"YouMusic.jp"
1. YouMusic displays music performances submitted by musicians regardless of their categories. Its main theme is to support musicians by providing them with opportunities to perform on a "virtual stage". The same kind of sensation that you experience when you stop on the street to listen to music performed by street musicians in a liberated atmosphere can be created on YouMusic.
2. As YouMusic is a community-minded website, it offers an environment through which musicians and their audience can interact in different ways, including blogs, "bulletin boards" and through sub-communities such as "fan clubs".
3. YouMusic introduces a "listener's eyes" system, in which each member's artist evaluation is revealed in real time. This evaluation considers various factors, such as the member's action in response to the artist's performance (e.g., frequency of access to the website, blogging, participation in site community activities, adding onto the member's own page). "Listener's eyes" can make it immediately apparent which members support which musicians/songs.
Future Development of YouMusic
Under YouMusic's currently available beta version, there are approximately 400 music performances that have been submitted by musicians for display and a daily average of nearly 3,000 accesses. We will be developing a variety of features to continue making YouMusic a full-scale media environment.
