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Xumanii Brings Live Concerts Big And Small To The Social Net

Video creation and distribution site Xumanii launched earlier this week, promising to bring together live media production, marketing, social networking and monetization in a single package for all level of brands. The new project is claiming to combine the attributes of Facebook, Twitter, Youtube and Ustream. Users can create personal profile pages that will accept live streaming video. But the interface is designed to allow a full-bore video show to be streamed into the space as well, including multi-camera set ups and editing. Producers can purchase from Xumobii relays, bases and IPVS connections that can be used to create multi-camera feeds. Well. They can purchase them eventually. The site is targeting a November 11 release date.

Right now the site is a bit barren of live content. Browsing around you find a lot of personal profile pages with no live feed. Xumanii (they say it is pronounced "zoo-mon-ee") sees this as a play for both personal branding and entertainment. Live concerts, fashion shows, plays, as well as video blogs can be posted for live and on demand streaming. Clearly they have their eyes set on attracting bigger brands, however. The site launched over the weekend hosting a live feed of a concert after-party by Drake. Tonight Serani is performing a live concert on the service. Xumanii has built into its engine facilities for pay-per-view access. It also can be used as a promotional vehicle for live shows. The site is selling tickets to the Serani show live for $20 but makes the concert accessible free online.

Xumanii has a beta program promotion that gives 25 participants equipment for live streaming. They have to stream at least 10 hours of material a week to qualify. Users download a stream manager that helps manage the content. There are loads of social networking tools built in for broadcasting the feeds across Facebook and Twitter.

You know that democratizing live streaming/social networking in this way is an invitation to weirdness. Our favorite early find is Cleopatra, whose strange music video antics recall the halcyon days of early MTV. Music video needed no rhyme or reason. It just was what it was -- video in the hands of young children.

While surely Xumanii is aiming to grab bigger musical acts, it seems to be aiming for a semi-pro with bigger ambitions. At the very least it is an interesting marriage of democratized professional video production and social networking.

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