First Lonelygirl15, now Marié Digby. In their eagerness to create internet-born sensations like Secondhand Serenade and Soulja Boy, marketers are leaving out a key ingredient: the truth. From the WSJ:
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…. 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.
Sneaky, sneaky… Thing is, Marié certainly would not have gotten such buzz–radio play, late show appearances–if she were just another product of the music industry. Was it worth the backlash? Well, LonelyGirl15 did get an interactive spinoff, “Kate Modern,” on Bebo. That show did so well, it is getting its own spin off, “Sofia’s Diary,” on the SNS this Fall.
Still, it’s a risky game to play. Coke got some flack over a faux viral “commercial” they made. Sure, Milli Vanilli made us all mad, but this generation hates being duped like hippies hated war. Being up front, honest, and authentic is the way to go. Signed artists can get popular using social networks without being duplicitous–just look at Sean Kingston. New services like Roadsound, a content management system in development, will help labels, artists, and promoters harness social media and engage audiences–without lying to them.
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