Is there a YouTube for audio clips?
May 7th, 2008 by Lani VoivodTV theme songs. Groundbreaking sports milestones. Interview clips. Commercial jingles. Historical benchmarks. Famous personalities. Comedy routines. Political speeches that actually said something meaningful.
We all have a lot of aural flotsom and jetsom floating around in our heads, right? And when we’re lucky enough to hear one of our favorite soundbites from yore, it’s amazing how quickly we can be transported to another time, place…even dimension.
One guy who always makes Allen insanely happy is Vin Scully. If you don’t know about this legendary sportscaster (literally named “Broadcaster of the Century” in 2000 by the American Sportscasters Association), he’s been the play-by-play voice of the Brooklyn and Los Angeles Dodgers since 1950 (!!!!!), and he’s still going strong.
Allen made it to a Dodger game with his old writers’ group buds during our three-week romp in Malibu, CA. That made him happy, but what REALLY thrilled him was hearing Vin’s voice every time he tuned into a Dodger game on TV. (Here’s a recently-discovered vintage Vin clip I found on NPR that’ll no doubt THRILL Allen once he realizes I’ve blogged about Vin: Recorded History: Vin Scully Calls a Koufax Milestone.)
I think we all have those amazing voices in our heads - the ones that defined our lives, before we knew they were being defined. Among my childhood flotsom and jetsom are: the Celtic’s Johnny Most (”Bird stole the ball!!!!”), Archie and Edith Bunker’s version of Those Were the Days, DJ Little Walter and his Time Machine, and the theme song from a silly kids’ TV show called Barbapapa.
Which brings me to my question: Is there a YouTube-esque website that collects nothing but user-generated audio clips? I’m not talking iTunes or some other mp3-farm site, but a site that collects, categorizes, and openly shares all manners of audio snippets? And if there isn’t, shouldn’t there be?
The YouTube model is so inspiring and can be duplicated, niched-out, or tweaked in so many creative ways — many of which could likely help out your own business or industry.
For example…
How ’bout a G-rated YouTube for kids? (If Mattel or Disney or Nickelodeon or Cartoon Network got to work on making that happen, don’t you think they’d get their money’s worth in targeted eyeballs?)
Or, a collection of “Best-Ever” radio commercials? (We pitched a blog version of this idea to the GM at Nassau Broadcasting two years ago, but he was pretty old school in his thinking and couldn’t see how this would help his sales team sell more ad space. Too bad. I still think it would be deliver a HUGE bang to the savvy radio station manager ready to use Web 2.0 for mucho financial gain. If you’re a radio GM and would like to hear more, by all means, give us a ring at 603.524.5248!)
Even something as ridiculous as audios of “Ultimate Sports Smack Talk” cribbed from the sidelines or bleachers, or a massive collection of video clips of nothing but authentically accidental groin injuries. Don’t you think these strategically-themed content meccas would call like the siren’s song to their target audiences? Having both a husband and a brother who’d eat this stuff up, I know for a fact they’d KILL.
Hey, we all eventually find ourselves lost in cyberspace, poking around, looking to be entertained or educated around the topics that ckick with our geeky little brains. Think about your target audience. What would make them smile? What would have them laughing, or feeling smarter, or just feeling better for having spent a few minutes on your website, with your brand? What would get them to send your site to their circle of similarly-minded friends?
Keep it simple. You can add on over time. If you stay true to the intent of entertaining them, they WILL come to you.
