Before blogging, I chose to start putting up videos of myself singing and playing the guitar on Youtube. It’s something friends told me I should do a few years back, and I assume this is because the popularity of Youtube was growing immensely. “You can get famous!” some friends told me, bringing to mind artists like Esmee Denters (Justin Timberlake discovered her videos on Youtube), and I laughed in their faces. Although I’m nowhere near famous, I did however have an interesting experience when I uploaded one of my most recent videos.
I covered American Idol runner-up Adam Lambert’s first single off his debut album (of the same name) titled “For Your Entertainment”, putting my own acoustic spin on a song that’s originally quite dance-y. Shortly after uploading the video, I began getting a fair number of comments, views and subscribers, but since I've uploaded 17 videos, this has happened before and I thought nothing of it; sometimes the popularity of the song gets you a fair number of views at first, but the rush slowly dies down. To my surprise, I got even more views in the coming weeks, first breaking a thousand, two thousand, up to five thousand. My sister and I were quite surprised at this, so we began to Google. Soon we found that people who had watched my “For Your Entertainment” cover had tweeted (using Twitter) about my video, ensuring that their friends watched my version of the song as well. Not only was it on these Adam Lambert fan's Twitter page (in which they ingeniously call themselves ‘Glamberts’), but my video was the talk of numerous American Idol forums and fansites. One comment that stands out: “I think he's Canadian! He has Wilfrid Laurier University tags - a university in Waterloo, Ontario (Phillip Maciel). Go get him ladies and/or gents!” (BlueIndigoSky, idolforums.com). My sister and I found this extremely entertaining...If you actually click here, a website called “Ubervu” compiles a range of reactions and feedback for my video, and even organizes them into a line and pie graph displaying how often Twitter and Youtube were used to discuss the video. Crazy!
Not only did I underestimate the loyalty of Adam Lambert’s fans, but so too did I underestimate the networking capabilities of the Internet, specifically participatory media like Youtube, Twitter and forums, at least in regards to the way it could affect me personally. Check out some of my videos, and let me know what you think in the comments!
Have any of you guys had a similar experience with Youtube or any other form of participatory media?
Phil's Youtube Homepage
Phil's "For Your Entertainment - Adam Lambert Cover"
video project
14 years ago
Wow, I just want to say that your Lambert cover is spectacular! You have a lot of talent! But I definitely agree, don't underestimate the power of YouTube.
ReplyDeleteIt is remarkable and often unreal to think about the millions of people that frequent YouTube. Even record labels, celebrities and television producers such as Ellen are constantly scouting YouTube celebrities for performances and even record contracts. It's amazing to think that a video you produce for probably a couple friends originally is watched thousands of times by people across the globe. This type of social and participatory media truly opens open the possibility for self expression, and even self promotion, on an entirely new global scale.
Hey I checked out your Adam Lambert video - awesome! The chart on Ubervu is such a great way to list the responses you've received. Did you have to register your video on there or does Ubervu just chart all videos and you found yours? It must be encouraging and exciting to know that people you've never met before are watching your talent online and are then able to give you feedback on Twitter and YouTube. Participatory media has definitely come a long way in a short period of time. How great is it that you're able to publish your work for free to a virtually limitless audience?
ReplyDeleteI honestly didn't start making videos to become famous, I swear! But I do agree that things like Youtube have seemingly changed the way the music industry finds talent. Take the Soulja Boy example we saw in the "R.I.P" documentary.
ReplyDeleteThanks to both of you for your compliments :) I appreciate it. And Ubervu was actually something I just came across when googling the URL of my video. It was the first time I had come across it and thought it was pretty neat.
And like you said Aprendiza, the best thing about this is that it's all free! You could be essentially living pay-check to pay-check - as long as you have talent, and showcase it on something like Youtube, everyone has a shot.