System and method for syncing music
A system and method for providing the coordinated playback of a video and audio stream by referencing timing information of the video and starting points of audio playback in relation to the video. The system and method allow users to access music and video from multiple right holders and play the music and video in a coordinated manner without having to negotiate a sync license from a rights holder.
1 . A system for simultaneously playing an audio file with a video stream, the system including:
a studio facing system for accessing a first user's audio account on an audio service for storing and accessing audio files to be played by users and for initiating playback of a selected audio file to a first user's location,
the first user and a second user having an account on the audio service,
a web server for providing a video stream provided to the second user's location,
the webserver including timing information identifying the video stream time when the audio file playback began at the first user's location, the timing information being received from the studio facing system as a timing signal,
a participant facing system at the second user's location for accessing the second user's audio account on an audio service for storing and accessing audio files to be played by users, for accessing the web server to obtain the timing information, and for playing the video stream,
the participant facing system monitoring the video stream timing information and initiating playback of the selected audio file at the second user's location, by the participant facing system using the second user's audio account to request playback from the audio service, so that the playback of the selected audio file begins at the same time relative to the video stream as playback of the selected audio file at the first user's location, wherein the web server does not initiate playback of the selected audio file at the second user's location.
2 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the first user and second user audio accounts are on the same audio service.
3 . The system of claim 1 wherein the first and second user audio accounts are on different audio services.
4 . The system of claim 1 wherein the timing information is a meta data timestamp stored on the webserver, the timing information being embedded in the video stream, the participant facing system in communication with the webserver and monitoring the meta data embedded in the video stream provided to the participant facing system, detecting the meta data, and initiating playback of the selected audio file at the second user's location when the video stream reaches the video stream time when the audio file playback began at the first user's location.
5 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the web server communicates with the audio service to access an audio playlist created by the first user.
6 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the web server delays transmission of the video stream to the participant facing system.
7 . The system of claim 1 wherein the first user is an instructor and the second user is a participant in an exercise class.
8 . The system of claim 1 wherein the video stream does not include the audio file.
9 . The system of claim 1 wherein the second user requests a live stream of the video stream.
10 . The system of claim 1 wherein the system tracks real time and the video stream time.
11 . The system of claim 1 wherein the studio facing system instructs the system to begin providing the video stream to the second user's location.
12 . The system of claim 11 wherein the studio facing system provides video stream timing information to the participant facing system.
13 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the participant facing system monitors the video steam timing information, the video stream timing information including a time stamp, the participant facing system comparing the time stamp to a keyframe interval, and initiating music playback when a difference between a time the music should begin on a current frame of video and the time that the music should begin is less than a keyframe rate.
14 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the participant facing system is incorporated into an exercise machine.
15 . The system of claim 1 wherein the system buffers the video, and after the playback of the selected audio file begins at the second user's location, the system compares the video stream timing information and audio file timing and determines if the video stream and audio file are out of alignment.
16 . The system of claim 1 wherein the video stream includes exercise instruction, and the participant facing system is at least partially located on an exercise machine.
17 . A system for simultaneously playing an audio file with a video stream, the system including:
a studio facing system for accessing a first user's audio account on an audio service for storing and accessing audio files to be played by users and for initiating playback of a selected audio file to a first user's location, the first user and a second user having an account on the audio service;
a web server for providing a video stream provided to the second user's location, the webserver including timing information identifying the video stream time when the audio file playback began at the first user's location;
a participant facing system at the second user's location for accessing the second user's audio account on an audio service for storing and accessing audio files to be played by users, for accessing the web server to obtain the timing information, and for playing the video stream,
the participant facing system monitoring the video stream timing information and initiating playback of the selected audio file at the second user's location so that the playback of the selected audio file begins at the same time relative to the video stream as playback of the selected audio file at the first user's location,
wherein the timing information is a metadata timestamp of the UTC time when the video file was first recorded, the metadata timestamp stored on the webserver, the timing information being embedded in the video stream, the participant facing system in communication with the webserver and monitoring the metadata embedded in the video stream provided to the participant facing system, detecting the metadata, and initiating playback of the selected audio file at the second user's location when the video stream reaches the video stream time when the audio file playback began at the first user's location.