By all appearances, Marié Digby had the makings of a modern music legend. She had all the math: young, beautiful and talented. She’d garnered over 2.3 million views of her simple homemade video covers on YouTube (see below). Her humble beginnings likely helped her earn a place on MTV and radio play in influential music markets like Portland and Los Angeles.
Digby recently posted, “I NEVER in a million years thought that doing my little video of Umbrella in my living room would lead to this. TV shows, iTunes, etc!!!” on her MySpace page, where she also declared her record label to be “unsigned”.
Then along came the big ears of Disney, who heard the cha-ching behind the acoustic chords and last week a deal was announced: “Breakthrough YouTube Phenomenon Marié Digby Signs With Hollywood Records”.
Something they forgot to mention: From the Wall Street Journal
“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…”
Oops.
It should come as no surprise that, once again, record labels are taking desperate measures to remain relevant. Corporations that refuse to see the light are often the ones guilty of “astroturfing” – the medium is only part of the message – you also need credibility for sustainability in this space. Credibility comes from trust, which we all learned in grade school is not earned by lying to your fans about what you represent, to your consumers about what you’re selling or to yourself that this kind of business practise is somehow ok.
A radical don’t.
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