Where You Can Find Music Videos Online

YouTube

Back in the 1980s, we were at the mercy of music television stations to see new music videos. We'd sit captive watching MTV or VH-1, hanging on the vee-jay's every word, waiting for him to say our favorite artist's new video was up next. We listened to Kurt Loder give us our music news and watched as "music television" became little more than a hodge-podge of reality tv, trashy sitcoms, top countdowns and shows like "Pimp My Ride." What we needed was a place on the internet for new music to debut. That place, which is largely still the reigning champion of free video, is YouTube.

Have you dreamt of being on American Idol? Do you write or perform your own music and wish to be discovered? Well, posting your original music videos on YouTube just might make you world-famous! Just ask Chris Crocker, whose rants about Britney Spears scored him a spot in Weezer's latest music video. Then there's Terra Naomi, whose YouTube music clips earned her a recording contract with Island Records. Similarly, unknown artist Esmee Denters toured with Justin Timberlake, following his viral video debut! Maybe you like the violin too.

In addition to uploading your own music, you can also hunt for music videos from new and emerging artists. For instance, you can type genres into the search engines, look up a band you heard of on Myspace to get an idea of their live performances, check out one of the YouTube music channels or type in a keyword like "unsigned" or "indie." One of the site's best features is that little sidebar next to all the videos, which offers other recommended selections, so perhaps you can watch one of your favorite bands and see another recommended band that you may not have heard before.

Myspace videos are picking up steam, but still lag behind the more established YouTube selection. If you want to post a video on your Myspace profile, then it doesn't really matter which site you pull the video codes from, as they both work essentially the same way. There are also third party sites, like www.pimpmyspace.com, that allow you to snag music for your site. To add music videos to your site, you'll need the code with the words "," not just the url. Just highlight and cut the entire code, go into your Myspace editor and paste the code into one of your windows. A good place to add music is in the "favorite music" section, but you may also choose to add it under "heroes," "television," "general" or "about me."