‘Universal Music Group’ has set its sights on ‘YouTube’ to find its next batch of rising stars, it has emerged today.
Indeed, after discovering the likes of Justin Bieber on the outlet, the label has launched an initiative to seek out the digital stars of today and turn them into the global stars of tomorrow with the help of Russell Simmons, Brian Robbins and Steve Rifkind.
Good news below…
‘Billboard Biz’ reveals:
“The multi-channel networks have made it easier to do street marketing,” Rifkind, CEO of the Awesomeness label, told the New York Post. “It’s great for A&R and it’s making stars overnight with the press of a button.”
MCNs aggregate the YouTube channels of amateur video makers with the promise of higher production values and better access to advertising dollars.
The label already counts artists such as singer-songwriter Niykee Heaton and the singing sister sextet Cimorelli, who will release records in August and September, respectively. They will sign another two artists by the end of August.
Universal CEO Lucian Grainge sits on the board of DreamWorks Animation, the owner of Awesomeness TV, along with ex-Hulu boss Jason Kilar and Vice backer (and former MTV ruler) Tom Freston.
Dreamworks’ Jeffrey Katzenberg paid $33 million last year for the teen-skewing MCN.
Awesomeness TV was founded by Robbins, the producer of traditional TV shows including One Tree Hill and Smallville, which aired on the CW network.
With 1.2 million subscribers, Awesomeness has a hit musical show in Side Effects, about a group of kids who lose their mom and then create performances. It drew two million views in a week, according to the producers.
Awesomeness Music is the second MCN-linked label created in partnership with Universal. Last July, Universal joined with Simmons to release music from All Def Digital (ADD), another YouTube-focused site based on music and pop culture.
Good for them.
But Justin Bieber was discovered on YouTube. Nuff said.
Tacky. Good luck sifting through the millions of jokers and wannabes uploading their cheap cover videos on that site. If I were a label head, I wouldn’t pay attention to YouTube at all.
The also signed 3d natee which is a female rapper from New Orleans. She better than any male/ female I’ve ever heard. & real as it gets
So another generation of talent-show clones and boring girls with good voices and unoriginal music
i just want something new, interesting and arrogant not these ‘nice’ people with forgettable songs
Damn,life is so easy these days.Back then,one had to record a demo of original music and go through the hussle of dropping it on various labels and spending even more time and money doing follow-ups and if it doesn’t work out,you try harder.Nowadays,you just have to scroll the charts,find what’s popular/trending,cover it then ask your idle friends to convince their stupid friends to spam twitter pasting youtube links of your s*** and hopefully,a famous fool will retweet it and bam,you’re on your way to stardom
This reeks of desperation and cheapness. I miss the days of record labels scouting lounges and night clubs for new talent, and then taking TIME and yes investing lots of money to make their introduction flawless. Nowadays sleazy reality show singing contests and YouTube videos has made a mockery of what it means to be a singer.
Anyone wanting to sing professionally should be on youtube. This is a no-brainer. In today’s market, the challenge isn’t generating money, but having good enough material and a savvy enough marketing strategy. Look at Sam Tsui, Christina Grimmie, JR Aquino, and others on youtube. They have generated huge fan bases, but their own material is usually not as good as the songs they cover. They need A&R more than anything else. I’ve said it so many times, and we’re getting to closer to it becoming true, but someone will top the Hot 100 w/o major label support, based on youtube/streaming and sales, within the next couple of years.
Most people on YouTube are just good singers. They have no identity or star power. What happened to Esmee, dondria, Tori Kelly and the countless other YouTube stars?
I’d establish myself independently, garner a fan base on my own so that by the time labels want me, i could negotiate a sweet deal. These young youtubers will probably sign anything. After seeing what happened to Jojo and so many other artists, i don’t know if i would trust a major label lol.
I’d like to see the singer bashers on this site try out, and lets see if they can do a quarter of what these can.