We all know the effect music can have on our YouTube creations. They can make a sort of O.K. video into a fantastic one. Simply by adding a range of emotions and energy to the video! Whether it be your intro, outro, or simply music over the whole video, getting your hands on high quality, good music is difficult. One amazing website, called Incompetech will give you access to all your musical whims which are required for that great, high grade content! There are hundreds of tracks on the sight which have been composed and created by professional musicians. The videos are licensed copyright free and are available for use on your videos! Check out the website here

With great excitement I am pleased to announce, that after weeks of hard work we are officially partnered with…Epoxy! Epoxy is an outlet which offers fantastic social engagement tools and offers the best quality help which will allow you to engage and entertain fans across all social media outlets. Whether it’s Twitter, Facebook, Instagram or YouTube, promoting your content has never been more important, and the use of these outlets is even more important in doing that. Epoxy will be there to help you analyse and engage as if all of your social media outlets were one! With Epoxy, you can: ● Control all social media from one place ● Share to Facebook and Twitter with the click of a button ● Create 15 second trailers of your YouTube videos for your loyal Instagram followers and snappy 6 second videos for Vine to grab some attention ●Find new fans and engage with old ones! ● Refine your audiences based on favorites, retweets, reach, and more ● Discover the buzz around your videos Epoxy’s subscription starts at $19.99/month—but YOU GET IT FOR FREE AS A RITUAL PARTNER. SIGN UP VIA YOUR RITUAL DASHBOARD ACCOUNT HERE - Visit the 'APPS' section

A man responsible for one of the most popular YouTube prank channels “Trollstation” has been jailed for nine months. This is a result of scaring the public with multiple bomb hoaxes and staging mock burglaries. Danh Van Le has been jailed for filming members of the public reacting to various objects with mysterious ticking sounds, including a suitcase. The act had a young boy opening a suitcase and then running away. They claimed it was created to mock the arrest of Ahmed Mohamed, who was notably arrested for creating an alarm clock. A member of the public failed to find this funny, and called the police, resulting in the camera man receiving nine months for placing a hoax bomb with intent at the Inner London crown court. Some people would consider the sentence unfair, one example being that Jackie Chan was not arrested when he took part in a scene on the movie “The Foreigner”. However, panic caused by this was done in a controlled manner, with many warning and precautions of the scenes being taken place. Also, real live people were not affected by the scene. However, Trollstation’s actions effected real people in busy streets, and with the terrorist climate at the moment, one can understand why such harsh measures were taken again Danh Van Le. It isn’t about a small company and a big company doing things and one getting away with it. The situation is completely different, and at the end of the day, the charges brought against Danh were offences he did actually commit, whereas “The Foreigner” was in no breech of the law. What do you think?

Sony just dropped a bombshell on gamers with their new $399 virtual reality headset. The reaction was explosive with people claiming the price was far too high for what the headset is. People were also saying how this headset could be the one to dismantle Facebook’s Oculus and the HTC Vive from being the successful VR platforms. The Oculus Rift will ship on the 28th of March, however if you order now you won’t see your order until July. This wait is tiny when you consider the bugs and software patches which will improve the first shipping of the headset. The Oculus has a market advantage because it will be released first, and it has been in development for a long time because of its Kickstarter origins. Despite this, what the Oculus lacks is the extremely large consumer base. Only 13 million PC’s worldwide could support VR. This also means that 1 in 10 PC owners will potentially buy a VR headset this year. That, when considered, is a small consumer release. That’s a tiny fraction of the Apple Watches sold in 2015. Many industry analysts consider the sales of the Apple Watch to be a failure. To run the Rift smoothly you would need a powerful PC, and the Rift development team have also ruled out MAC being able to support this as Apple do not make good enough computers. The costs of buying a computer, (if it is pre-bought, self build PC’s are much cheaper) you’re looking at up to £1500. However, the PS4 headset will not only be cheaper, but also runs smoothly and effectively on the PS4 which would not require a £1000 PC to run. For the time being and for 2016 releases, the PS4 headset will be the best VR experience which is affordable for the average gamer.

For years, even going back to the days of the original Xbox and the Playstation 2, Microsoft and Sony fans have often wanted to take each other on within online competition. Until now, we thought that this feature would be forever forgotten behind a veil of competition and rivalry. However Microsoft have announced a new big feature. That feature is cross-network play. Players across PC, Xbox One, and PS4 can finally expect to see this feature applied to upcoming, and even current online games. Developers creating games for Xbox one and Windows 10 will have first access to this feature, but Sony must agree to take part in the development for it to become a reality. One of the first titles which will use this cross-network system is the beloved Rocket League. With Microsoft hinting that there is an "open invitation for other networks to participate as well," meaning PS4 users may be able to compete against Xbox One and PC users. Developers can now get behind Microsoft and support cross-network play. This will most likely shape the way games are made, and played, in the future. Online multiplayer matchmaking would see a huge increase in server populations, possibly prolonging the life of certain games by several years. But which titles will allow cross play between PC’s? There are clear advantages to having a PC, most notably how accurate a keyboard and mouse can be compared to a gamepad, specifically in FPS games. There would also be a huge jump in graphical and performance quality, meaning real effort would be needed to balance cross-network play. What are your thoughts on this? Let us know.

The Division has sold more copies than any game in Ubisoft's history and it has also set a new single-day company record for digital download sales. I for one downloaded the game on release day. Like thousands of others. However, here are 3 things they need to fix! 1. Fix the Civilians When you walk around the streets of New York, the citizens, (NPC’s) of the game great you with more animosity than any hostile rioter or cleaner they would encounter. You will be walking down 42nd street with your weapon down, as calmly as could be, and the NPC will exclaim, “Whoa you’re gonna rob me now?” or “I thought you were here to help?!”. The fear seen when aiming a gun at a civilian is understandable, but being treated like s**t every time you walk past the very NPC’s lives you save on a daily basis is irritating. 2. Fix the Servers I understand with a game like this there will be some initial server issues. But almost a week after launch, myself and many others are plagued, and because of the, I’ll say it, stupid DMR/Online only functionality of the game, you are kicked off, or the game simply crashes. A better system needs to be implemented like a kicking to the menu, or simply stop disconnecting people from the servers to start with. If the connection issues lay within Ubisoft, fix them. You have the budget to do so. 3. Accurate Enemy levelling In the division, the main part of the game is the co-op mode. Blasting through the metro tunnels of New York with your best friends is amazing. It really is a pleasurable gaming experience. Unless of course, one of your friends is a higher level than you. If your friend is level 30, the enemies will be level 25. Now, if you’re only level 20, the enemies will decimate you. This can often ruin the flow and fun of the game if you’re constantly dying without a fair chance. It may be a better idea to level enemies to the lowest rank player, and to instead level xp and damage of the highest rank player to keep things fair and fun.

The newly premiered YouTube Gaming, which is a standalone, dedicated application used for streaming and recording game video which aims to compete with Twitch TV has announced an expansion to take the platform further. The expansion will take the platform into more market areas and bring more features to the service, including improved browsing and viewer experience for the viewers within the app. A major change will be the network promoting the “live” feature of the app, which lets gaming creator’s livestream directly from Android devices. There is no word yet on iOS compatibility. Google have also announced that the live stream player will receive an upgrade to its quality output. This means a 60fps playback as well as a special DVR mode. The feature were already available on iOS and HTML5 players. Google talk of further improvements based on extensive user feedback, which includes a much simpler user friendly homepage with easier navigation that rids of the clunky sidebars and added pages specifically to manage your own games and created channels. We look forward to the improvements. What would you like to see improved? Let us know!

In a move which will sweep the gaming community like a harsh storm, Microsoft has announced the closure of Lionhead studios, the famous development team which brought many loving fans the gneius "Fable" series, as well as some spin off titles. Press Play studios which was working on the Xbx-One exclusive Project Knoxville has also been shut down. General Manager Hanno Lemko spoke for the Xbox Wire today saying: “These have been tough decisions and we have not made them lightly, nor are they a reflection on these development teams—we are incredibly fortunate to have the talent, creativity and commitment of the people at these studios,”. He is employed for Microsoft Studios. He adds: “The Lionhead Studios team has delighted millions of fans with the Fable series over the past decade. Press Play imbued the industry with a unique creative spirit behind games like Max: The Curse of Brotherhood and Kalimba, which both captured passionate fans. These changes are taking effect as Microsoft Studios continues to focus its investment and development on the games and franchises that fans find most exciting and want to play.”

Over the past 5 years YouTube has transformed the way digital media is created and shared. It is no longer a simple video sharing site but a vast network of conglomerations and networks and full of business opportunities. YouTube has an estimated 2.9 billion hours’ worth of streamed content viewed every month, some creators often achieve millions, Michelle Phan and PewDiePie being two of the most popular to hit this multi-million dollar milestone. Sunny Lenarduzzi has some great tips and tricks on her channel to help anyone who aspires to reach YouTube gold has the best possible start and career they can. Sunny has some great personal advice however, mentioned in her recent interview with ENTREPENEUR Sunny Lenarduzzi “I call it my ACE strategy -- authority, consistency, engagement. In order to grow a thriving community, you want to attract an audience of highly engaged viewers. That’s why I recommend focusing on one niche and really owning that space, because then you’ll attract a niche audience that will become your greatest brand ambassadors. And in order for your audience to stick around, they need to trust that you’ll be consistent with your content. I highly recommend filming your videos in batches and having a specific day of the week for when you publish new videos -- this keeps your audience coming back for more! Finally, community is everything, and in order to harvest the relationships with your community, you need to engage and support them at every chance you get! Thank them for being there, because there are a million other places they could go online, but they’re choosing to watch your videos. That’s a privilege, not a right -- don’t take it for granted.” So what are you waiting for? Check out those tips and tricks to grow!

In a great sweeping initiative YouTube is starting to invest in more and more female creators. YouTube just announced two new programs which will see female content creators flourish in the world of YouTube. One program is appointing specially chosen creators as ambassadors for the Change Ambassadors position for the organization’s Sustainable Development Action campaign which attempts to promote gender equality. The second program plans to invest in over 50 videos through the new YouTube Spaces program, which aim to put women in front and behind of the camera. YouTube announced its first wave of Change Ambassadors as Ingrid Nilsen, Jackie Aina, Yuya,Taty Ferreira, Hayla Ghazal, Louise Pentland, and Chika Yoshida. These girls will be working with the U.N to campaign for equality and to push women content creators. An example of the work YouTube and the YouTube spaces program can be viewed below, and it's truly breathtaking stuff.

Many of us are familiar with the "trolls" who tend to go around spamming and abusing the copyright claim system. People have had their worries about the system, as anyone can put in a copyright claim. Often these claims are never properly looked into and investigated and the channel loses all rights to the video immediately, with no chance to gain AdSense from the efforts and tend to sometimes lose the video all together. This system has been abused from day 1 and it seems like it took some of the biggest channels to be target for YouTube to take any action, whereas small channels have been suffering from this style of internet trolling or grief for years. A member of YouTube’s policy team released the following statement: "Recently, there's been a lot of discussion about the enforcement of our policies, from video takedowns to channel demonetization. We want you to know that we monitor video takedowns very closely, and while we haven't seen a big change in the overall rate of removals, it's true that we do make mistakes. For this, we're sorry and we strive to do better by you, our community,". "The good news is that the feedback you've raised in comments and videos on YouTube and beyond is having an impact. It's caused us to look closely at our policies and helped us identify areas where we can get better. It's led us to create a team dedicated to minimizing mistakes and improving the quality of our actions. And it's encouraged us to roll out some initiatives in the coming months that will help strengthen communications between creators and YouTube support. We'll also make improvements to increase transparency into the status of monetization claims. And of course, as we work to implement these improvements as quickly as we can, we'll continue to take your feedback seriously." A copyright claim can be filed by anybody. But it seems we may see progress with a policy team closely investigating new matters of copyright claims. Hopefully we will see reforms in the future which protect people from Trolls but also enforce the Copyright standards efficiently. YouTube policy teams have also promised more changes in the coming months.

We've all had the harrowing experience of locking our phones or quickly checking a Facebook message or notification to suddenly hear dramatic silence coming (or not) from our headphones. This is because we were listening to a YouTube video, which for iPhones does not currently support out of app use. However with a simple trick and a pair of headphones with a control pad (the little white volume up and down/play button) you can get the sound from the YouTube video open in the app to play. Simple exit the app or lock your phone and press the play button on your headphones. This causes the sound of the video to play through the earphones and you become free to listen to endless music without apps such as Soundcloud and Spotify which often charge money for the same lossless services. As a warning, the auto play feature does not operate, so once a video ends so does the sound and you will have to repeat the trick.But this is a cool hidden, or maybe accidental feature which may solve some of your musical consumptions desires.