Frequently-asked-questions

WHAT KIND OF MUSIC VIDEOS ARE YOU LOOKING FOR?

We’re all about creativity and pushing the boundaries in terms of what music video is and what it can be. There are no real guidelines on what we’re looking for, but make it creative, innovative, high quality and entertaining. The winning video becomes the official music video for the song so keep that in mind when making your video.

We don't want lip syncing videos or travel/family/stock footage set to music, in fact we probably won't publish them. Make sure your video is also shot in 16:9 or wider so it can be used across all of today's media platforms.

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WE DON’T HAVE ANY FOOTAGE OF THE ARTISTS; HOW ARE WE SUPPOSED TO MAKE A VIDEO FOR THE SONG?

Some of the best videos don’t use any footage of the artists. So use the fact that no footage has been provided as an opportunity to have complete creative freedom for your music video.

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I’VE GOT A GREAT VIDEO OF ME LIP-SYNCING TO ONE OF THE FEATURED SONGS. WHAT ARE MY CHANCES OF WINNING?

Even though your friends would probably find it funny to watch you, basic lip-syncing videos aren’t what we’re looking for. So apart from not winning it probably wouldn’t make it past our moderators because we’re really focused on quality videos, not quantity.

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HOW DO I UPLOAD A VIDEO?

Go to the page for the Artist/Song you've made your video for and click on the ENTER button on the right hand side. You'll then be taken to an Upload form - browse to find your video and upload it, fill out the forms and click SUBMIT. If there is no ENTER button on the Artist page it means that either it's not open for entries yet or it's closed so make sure you check the dates.

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HOW MANY TIMES CAN I VOTE ON EACH VIDEO?

Each user is limited to one vote per video, but you can vote for as many different videos as you like.

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WHAT FILE FORMATS DO YOU SUPPORT?

Here are the file types supported and common extensions:

• video/mpeg: .mp2, .mpa, .mpe, .mpeg, .mpg, .mpv2
• video/quicktime: .mov, .qt
• video/x-msvideo: .avi
• video/mp4: .mp4
• video/x-ms-wmv: .wmv (some audio codecs within .wmv are not supported, so please avoid .wmv if possible)

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WHAT ASPECT RATIOS DO YOU SUPPORT?

We only support 16:9 format (widescreen) or wider so please don't upload any 4:3 videos. The aim is for the winning video to be used as the official music video so it needs to be compatible with the standards of all today's media platforms, which is currently 16:9 or wider. For more help about aspect ratios, this Wikipedia page is a good source http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aspect_ratio_(image).

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WHAT ARE THE RECOMMENDED SETTINGS FOR VIDEOS?

Export and compression settings vary depending on what software you are using, and it can get tricky! We've tried to simplify the key settings though that you should be aware of, to make it as easy as possible! Look for the following settings in the software you use, they may appear under the "Advanced", "Settings" or "Options" tabs.

Codec
• Select H.264 for the video codec and AAC for the audio codec.

Frame Rate
• This should usually be set to 25.

Keyframes
• Refers to how often the compressor references your uncompressed video, set it to every 30 frames.

Data Rate
• 1,000 Kbits/second for widescreen standard definition, or 5,000 Kbits/second for widescreen high definition.

Resolution

• 608x342 for widescreen standard definition, or 1280x720 for widescreen high definition. Don't upload 4:3 videos as they may not be published.
• Upload a high definition file and we'll automatically create the standard definition version as well, no need to upload 2 files.

Deinterlace
• Yes, otherwise strange horizontal lines might appear in your video.

Sound Sample Rate
• 44.1 KHz or 44,100 Hz

Audio quality
• Select a bit rate of at least 128 Kbps, increasing the audio quality (bitrate) won't increase the file size too much!

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WHAT IS THE LIMIT ON FILE SIZES?

Please ensure your video upload is less than 300MB.

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WHAT IS HD?

HD stands for “high definition”, which is the highest quality form of video available today. HD video is richer, clearer, and more life-like than standard TV and even DVDs. We support and encourage HD quality videos to give video producers the best format available for showcasing their work as well as giving viewers the best possible viewing experience.

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HOW DO I CHANGE SOME OF THE SUMMARY INFO FOR MY VIDEO LIKE THE TITLE, DESCRIPTION, TAGS ETC.

First log in so we know which videos you've uploaded. Then just go to PROFILE and under each of the videos you've uploaded you'll see an UPDATE link. That will take you to a page where you can update the Description, Other Credits and Tags for your video.

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HOW DO I CHANGE THE PREVIEW THUMBNAIL FOR MY VIDEO?

At the moment you can't so you'll have to stick with the thumbnail that's automatically generated. We'll introduce this soon though so hang tight.

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HOW CAN I EMBED A VIDEO FROM GENERO.TV ON ANOTHER WEBPAGE?

When you roll over the video player you'll see a <E> in the top right corner. If you click on that you'll see a light box with the Embed code. Grab it and you're away!

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WHY DO SOME VIDEOS GET REJECTED?

Before you get started, make sure your video content is suitable. Here are the main reasons for videos not getting approved;

- creatively or conceptually, there is not much of an idea (eg. family/travel/stock footage set to music)
- the overall production or editing quality level is too low
- your video has racist, violent or defamatory content

Creativity is very subjective, for that reason we often can't give specific reasons why your video has been rejected. Remember we're looking for videos that could potentially be used as the official music video for the artists and songs we feature.

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HOW DO I GET MY VIDEOS FEATURED ON THE HOMEPAGE?

In short: make great videos! We choose the videos to showcase on the Homepage based on the quality of the video and the appeal to our audience. We’ll also take into account the videos that are getting rated the most highly and watched the most. No amount of lobbying or money (well maybe a really large amount!) will improve your chances so just keep trying to improve the quality of your videos.

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HOW CAN I UPLOAD AN HD VERSION OF MY VIDEO?

To upload a HD version all you have to do is upload a clip that’s 1280×720 resolution or better. We will then create the HD version as well as an SD (Standard Definition) version

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CAN I UPLOAD A NEW VERSION OF MY VIDEO?

You can upload an updated version of your entry and you’ll keep all of the votes, views and comments your previous version had.

Just follow these simple steps;

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CAN I DOWNLOAD THE ORIGINAL FILE I UPLOADED?

At the moment we don't allow downloads of original videos so make sure you keep your own copies of any of your videos you've uploaded. If you've lost your version though let us know and we should be able to get it to you.

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HOW LONG SHOULD MY VIDEO BE?

Your video should be at least as long as the song you're creating it for if you want to be able to win. Obviously a video can't be used as the official video for the song if it doesn't use the whole track, but it's not against the Competition Terms to create a video which is shorter (especially for some of the longer tracks we feature). You can also include footage before and after the track starts if you think it adds to the overall music video.

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WHAT'S THE DEAL WITH FILMING IN PUBLIC? DO I NEED A PERMIT?

The laws for filming in public differ between countries and even cities so we can't give you a complete answer on this. You'll need to check with your local film commission or similar body. Here are a few resources though that might help as a starting point.

• UK Film Council: http://www.ukfilmcouncil.org.uk/publicspaces
• Paris Film Office (in English): http://www.parisfilm.fr/uk/guidelines.html
• Australian Copyright Council: Filmmakers and Copyright infosheet
• New York: http://www.nyc.gov/html/film/html/permits/shooting_home.shtml
• California: http://www.film.ca.gov/Permits/index.html
• Seattle: http://www.seattle.gov/filmoffice/film_permits.htm

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SHOULD I ADD TITLES OR CREDITS TO MY VIDEO?

No, please don't add any credits or titles in your video. You can use the Description and Other Credits areas to provide any further details about your video and other contributors. If there are titles or credits appearing in your video you'll be asked to remove them and resubmit it.

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MY VIDEO HAS NOT BEEN APPROVED BECAUSE IT HAS BLACK BARS, OR IS THE WRONG ASPECT RATIO

If your video has not been approved, it is probably due to one of the following reasons;

Aspect Ratio
We need your video in 16:9 or wider so that we can use it in all media types if selected as the official video. If you want to check your aspect ratio, you can divide the width by the height, eg. our recommended SD resolution is 608x342, and for HD it is 1280x720. Dividing the width by the height gives you 1.7778, which is 16:9 (16 divided by 9). Remember, don't include black bars in the resolution width or height though. Read more about aspect ratios here.

Black Bars
Horizontal or vertical black bars are not acceptable. Sometimes, exporting a 4:3 movie to 16:9 simply adds black vertical bars left and right of your footage, this is still a 4:3 video, and therefore won't be approved. If your video is wider than 16:9 (eg. 1.85:1 or 2.39:1) then our transcoding process will add top and bottom black bars so that it plays within our 16:9 player. Never add any black bars, regardless of what resolution you are uploading.

Titles/Credits
Sorry, but we don't allow any titles or credits to appear on the video. There is space on your video's page (when uploading) where you can put credit and extra information. Titles are added by the media outlet that ends up playing the winning video (eg. MTV).

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