Singer Marié Digby Isn't Quite What She Appears <embed src="http://services.brightcove.com/services/viewer/federated_f8/452319854" bgcolor="#FFFFFF" flashVars="videoId=1178857014&playerId=452319854&viewerSecureGatewayURL=https://services.brightcove.com/services/amfgateway&servicesURL=http://services.brightcove.com/services&cdnURL=http://admin.brightcove.com&domain=embed&autoStart=false&" base="http://admin.brightcove.com" name="flashObj" width="486" height="412" seamlesstabbing="false" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" swLiveConnect="true" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/shockwave/download/index.cgi?P1_Prod_Version=ShockwaveFlash"></embed> 'Make People Like Me' By ETHAN SMITH and PETER LATTMAN September 6, 2007; Page A1 A 24-year-old singer and guitarist named Marié Digby has been hailed as proof that the Internet is transforming the world of entertainment. What her legions of fans don't realize, however, is that Ms. Digby's career demonstrates something else: that traditional media conglomerates are going to new lengths to take advantage of the Internet's ability to generate word-of-mouth buzz. Ms. Digby's simple, homemade music videos of her performing popular songs have been viewed more than 2.3 million times on YouTube. Her acoustic-guitar rendition of the R&B hit "Umbrella" has been featured on MTV's program "The Hills" and is played regularly on radio stations in Los Angeles, Sacramento and Portland, Ore. Capping the frenzy, a press release last week from Walt Disney Co.'s Hollywood Records label declared: "Breakthrough YouTube Phenomenon Marié Digby Signs With Hollywood Records." What the release failed to mention is that Hollywood Records signed Ms. Digby in 2005, 18 months before she became a YouTube phenomenon. Hollywood Records helped devise her Internet strategy, consulted with her on the type of songs she chose to post, and distributed a high-quality studio recording of "Umbrella" to iTunes and radio stations. read the rest of the article here: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB118903788315518780.html
Interesting. She's catapulted her popularity by doing cover songs. Thanks to YouTube she gets to do that w/out paying any royalties. The times they are a-changin'.
really. i was expecting something shocking. rather it was rather boring and i wish i had that 2 minutes back
I see two large statements here: 1) her videos have been played millions of times. That states that music fans like and appreciate when a person with a good voice and moderate guitar-playing ability makes a simple, low quality recordings from a living room with a camcorder, and that flashy stage lights, lip-sync'ing and elaborate studio mixes aren't mandatory for mass popularity. 2) This also demonstrates the obvious: people still follow the masses. Hollywood Records knew this, and built the scheme to generate word-of-mouth buzz... and it worked. People ate it up. It supports, once again, that having musical ability is not enough - marketing your name is most important. There are millions of videos on Youtube's site. In order to stand out, a musician's video must be very well pushed.
Well then somebody needs to push this lead singer...... off a cliff. <object width="425" height="350"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/-5Ym5g3DR1M"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/-5Ym5g3DR1M" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="350"></embed></object>
Wow, so fake. Instead of signing real artist that actually hustled through the internet, they insert one of their own to capitalize on the market. Next thing you know, we'll hear how Jay-Z signed the "Chocolate Rain" guy to Rocafella Records back in 2003.
The best part of that video was that the lead singer wasn't even the worst band member! I'm pretty sure the keyboardist was using one of these.
It's a trend: Happy Slip <object width="425" height="353"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/xCAeq5kE0Ko"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/xCAeq5kE0Ko" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="353"></embed></object> Terra Naomi <object width="425" height="353"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/ARHyRI9_NB4"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/ARHyRI9_NB4" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="353"></embed></object>
someone should change this thread title to "Worst Youtube Videos Ever. Click Play to Listen to Pure Crap." i keep clicking on these things to play for some reason...
The major labels are resorting to anything these days, aren't they? Now that this is out, is her "career" toast? I hope so. Crap like this isn't good for the music business.
