It’s no secret that the majority of people go to YouTube to watch music videos. But YouTube, with all the recommended videos, snotty comments, and potentially unsafe for work thumbnails, can be very distracting, and detract from the (hopefully) artistic music video you are enjoying.
That’s why Cody Stewart, 23, created Tubalr, a YouTube app that allows you to watch YouTube music videos, and discover new music—but without all the extra YouTube crap. (The name Tubalr, wrote Stewart in an email to the Daily Dot, “is a play off the words ‘Tuba’ and the surfer term ‘Tubular’.”)
“I made Tubalr after seeing tons of good YouTube videos being shared on Facebook and wishing I could just listen to those in a playlist-like way” said Stewart. “It’s simple, YouTube has some of the best video content on the Web… so it’s not like I had to make the content myself, I just had to figure out a way to harness all of it!”
And harness it he did. He also landed a job in March because of it.
Tubalr masks over the YouTube site to display the music video front and center. The interface is sleek and simple, the exact opposite of YouTube in its current form. Users have the option of accessing playlists based on the artist entered in the search bar, or access playlists based on “similar artists.”
The playlists for the artists, or similar artists, are pulled from last.fm and are based on the number one track from each artist. Stewart said that in the future, he might expand the playlists to include two videos from each artist, instead of just one. He’d also like to add additional features, such as easier sharing with Facebook and custom playlists. He’s very eager for both negative, and positive feedback.
Tubalr has gotten 401,867 pageviews, and 95,005 unique visitors since he first created the app in September of 2010, Stewart told the Daily Dot in an email. To date, 3,681 people registered for free accounts, which allow you to select favorite songs. Unlike Pandora, or other free music sites, there are no ads except for the ads in the actual video.
Tubalr has gotten significant press over the last couple of months, since Stewart linked his app on HackerNews. (The press has actually led to job offers, which is why Stewart wrote, “I’m a firm believer in doing side projects for expanding your career.”)
The Next Web called it a “sleek jukebox.” Social Times called it a “Pandora for YouTube,” and TechCrunch wrote that it was like “having your own personal 80’s MTV,” and implied Tubalr is helping “save the music video” on YouTube.
“If people want to think of Tubalr as a service that’s saving the Music Video, that’s cool” wrote Stewart. “I’m just happy I’m making others happy really.”
But it’s not just the press that are pleased with it; users seem to genuinely enjoy the app as well.
“The greatest website find of 2012- so far!” tweeted Monet Quick-Smits.
Photo by Cody Blackburn