p2pnet - rss feed: Marie Digby’s amazing YouTube success
p2pnet news | Music:- Here’s an oldie (story), but a goodie.
Twenty-four-year-old singer and guitarist Marié Digby became an instant hit, thanks to YouTube.
Her ‘homemade’ music videos were viewed more than 2.3 million times on YouTube and, “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,” says the Wall Street Journal.
It went on that a press release declared, ‘Breakthrough YouTube Phenomenon Marié Digby Signs With Hollywood Records’.
Big success story, huh?
Not.
“What the release failed to mention is that Hollywood Records signed Ms. Digby in 2005, 18 months before she became a YouTube phenomenon,” says the story.
“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.”
Adds the WSJ:
In an Aug. 16 blog posting on her MySpace page, Ms. Digby wrote: “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 !!!”
Ms. Digby’s MySpace and YouTube pages don’t mention Hollywood Records. Until last week, a box marked “Type of Label” on her MySpace Music page said, “None.” After inquiries from The Wall Street Journal, the entry was changed to “Major,” though the label still is not named.
Digby and Hollywood Records clearly don’t think lies, deceptions or half-truths are a problem, which is pretty well standard for the corporate music and movie industries in general.
Hollywood Records is owned by Disney.
Also See:
Wall Street Journal - Download This:YouTube Phenom Has a Big Secret, September 6, 2007
Columbia Spectator - Illegal File Sharers Fight a Losing Battle With RIAA November 28, 2007
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November 28th, 2007 at 3:31 pm
Hey fellow artists pay attention, this is just proof nowadays nobody needs the music cartel to succeed in the music making business. True! her music is all over the net by now, for free, no one’s paying a dime, but on the brighter side, she can now get a stadium full with people willing to pay for a live show, all this with how much investment? A ha! So you’re now starting to see the light. I am counting on this becoming a trend. Dudes, the cartels are sooooooooooooooo fuckin’ history. Yeehaw!!!
November 28th, 2007 at 3:38 pm
Oh BTW, this also proves nobody needs American Idol either. American Idol was crap when it started, it’s still crap. Anxiously waiting for the day it’ll be cancelled.
November 28th, 2007 at 3:42 pm
Holy shit! To top it all off, she’s beautiful. I wonder if she knows how to play “smelly cat”.
http://www.youtube.com/user/MarieDigby
November 28th, 2007 at 5:05 pm
i think youre missing the point. she was signed to a label the whole time, and then some. yes she is beautiful (looks like my secret other wife, bjork)
the point is that she is a marketing gimmick just like lonely girl or whatever her name was, another ploy to exploit the ignorant web 2.0 users out of more money in one way or another.
kinda like the tv show Friends, corporate drivel with a laugh track so you know what is supposed to be funny, including ’smelly cat’.
November 28th, 2007 at 7:41 pm
i think there are other true “success stories”on youtube.
miaarose is a much better example. her home-made videos of covers (karaoke-style or with acoustic guitar) and original songs have been viewed more often than this girl.
her personal myspace page and youtube page shows she joined in September 2006 and December 2006, respectively. her myspace music profile shows she joined July 27, 2007.
December 29, 2006 she uploaded the first of her videos - a karaoke version of “Beautiful Disaster” - to youtube. mia was 18 at the time and within a week had developed a huge fan base, so she continued recording and uploading videos.
born Maria Antonia Sampaio Rosa in Wimbeldon, London, to a british dad and portuguese mom, she did some modeling in London at an early age, but spent much of her life in portugal at an american school, so she has no trace of a british accent.
in the spring of 2007 mia was signed by “NextSelection”, a major label according to her youtube page.
from what i’ve been able to piece together, she first went to switzerland to record a demo. then off to new york to meet with NextSelection and/or other labels.
although her last myspace and youtube message is months old, mia certainly hasn’t been lazy. transplanted in the big apple - into an apartment presumably set up through her label - mia’s most recent youtube video (guitar solo of My Chemical Romance’s “I Don’t Love You”) was uploaded November 13, 2007.
she has also uploaded videos of her recording sessions and album cover/publicity photo shoots.
her single “Hold Me Now!” was supposed to have been released at the end of July, 2007. i don’t know if it’s been released for sale, but it’s featured on her myspace musician’s page.
i’m aware there have been some internet conspiracy theories and controversies surrounding exactly who mia is and how she just burst onto youtube and gathered millions of fans in such a short time. theories that she’s a plant and that her label created hundreds of youtube memberships just to subscribe to her name. as far as i can tell, none of this has ever been proved. to see the truth according to mia, go here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2L2Z5adniQc
“HALLO!!! its me… havent done a movie for a while.. sorry bout that! anyways… heres the truth for you all!! whoever wants to believe it great!! whoever doesnt i dont really care!! anyways!!! much love Mia”
her official websites are:
http://www.youtube.com/user/miaarose
www.MiaaRose.net
www.miaarosedaisy.hi5.com
www.livemiarose.com
www.myspace.com/MIAROSEMUSIC
her fansites are:
www.miarosemusic.com
www.miaarose.com
www.mia-rose.org
i recently emailed her and her management asking for an interview. it’s been a few weeks now and if she replies, i’ll certainly post it on p2pnet. if she or her management read this, she knows where they can get in touch with me.
November 29th, 2007 at 6:26 am
Catflap ..
The largest clue ….
She’s doing covers of RIAA material … and no takedown notices seem to have been
issued.
Takedown notices have been issued for something as ridiculous as using RIAA material
as background noise in posted home videos, yet somehow, this person can use RIAA
material and not have it yanked ?
Conspiracy theory or not … makes me suspicious.
” whoever wants to believe it great!! whoever doesnt i dont really care!! anyways!!! much love Mia”
Mia and I have that in common, when it comes to her ‘music’ .
November 29th, 2007 at 8:17 am
Why does it matter what means she chose to get into the public eye? The point is people liked her, which is why she was a (relative) success. There are many people who put multiple videos of themselves singing and playing guitar but not necessarily everyone likes them.
I guess what I’m trying to say is that Youtube doesn’t guarantee stardom, you have to have something special, and that’s what this girl has. The internet is a good tool for exposing people to new music, and I see nothing wrong with that. It’s not “cheating” really, I don’t see what difference it would have made if she had no record deal. Her videos have just helped her to be noticed.
Having said that, I would argue that it’s debatable whether she would have received as many hits if she weren’t physically attractive…but hey, that’s not her fault.
November 29th, 2007 at 10:25 am
” The internet is a good tool for exposing people to new music, and I see nothing wrong with that. ”
Nothing, as long as everyone has the same opportunity. You know, the way radio was
SUPPOSED to be, before the big labels controlled it, and they do .. fully.
” It’s not “cheating” really, I don’t see what difference it would have made if she had no record deal. ”
If she had no record deal, she would not have been allowed to post a COVER tune of an RIAA
song at all.
See what I mean .. not a level playing field ,and yes .. cheating.
That’s why corporate control is so important.
They want to control who gets seen/heard on the net, the same way they control terrestrial
radio.
Someone, no matter how good, would have been slammed with a takedown notice if they
did not already have a ‘deal’
Don’t be surprised if soon, a ‘modest’ fee will be required to post a music video, even
if it is your own work. Count of that fee to be just out of reach for anyone NOT associated
with a label.
Monopoly control is a wonderful thing.
November 29th, 2007 at 11:37 pm
This is not the first time labels have gotten the message that being associated with a Big Label meant negative views by the public. Garage bands, punk, and some of the stuff of that era during the Raves were also viewing majors as stuff they didn’t want and couldn’t find if they did want it from the majors. It took the majors going and hunting down someone to pay to do the new music styles of that time. Many were put out labels that claimed to be indie but the sad truth came out later that it was not so. The signed label was but a subsidiary of a major trying to pass itself off as indie so the in crowd would think better of the offerings.
With the bad publicity that the enforcement arms are giving the industry don’t be surprised to find out some sweet little thing that looks like the girl next door spiffied up isn’t under a major label already and trying to hide it. They know beyond a doubt right now they have an image problem with their customers.
So much so they are paying trolls to try and disrupt public opinion in blogs and forums trying to find some way to derail or at least push some doubt into the picture. Most are spotted right away for what they are. They are also up to their usual of presenting the “sweet little innocent” as a budding singer. Later when it all goes down the tubes for that individual we will have another Britney for the younger generation. Doesn’t it sound familiar at all to you? Haven’t you seen or heard this played before?
July 25th, 2008 at 2:00 pm
The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) article was wrong about Marié Digby. To anyone who followed her videos, it’s obvious that Marié Digby has always been herself.
The article stated:
—–
“Ms. Digby’s MySpace and YouTube pages don’t mention Hollywood Records. Until last week, a box marked “Type of Label” on her MySpace Music page said, “None.”
—–
However, she had joined MySpace in 2004, roughly 2 years before she was signed, and she merely didn’t bother to update a setting, and she’d probably forgotten that setting even existed. I signed up for a MySpace music page, and it could even be missed when first signing up. And, since months after she recorded her CD, there was no indication it was ever going to be released, I wouldn’t expect that it would even cross her mind to change her status to signed, even if she was still aware of that setting. Note, her CD didn’t come out until approximately 2 years after she was signed, and approximately 4 years after she joined MySpace.
The article went on to state:
—–
“After inquiries from The Wall Street Journal, the entry was changed to “Major,” though the label still is not named.”
—–
Makes sense to me. There is no point in naming a record label when there is no indication they are going to release your CD. And, given that, who she was signed with has just as little relevance as that she was signed. (Note, the CD, titled “Unfold” finally came out on April 8, 2008. Buy it, it’s wonderful).
The Wall Street Journal article also contained:
—–
‘Most of Ms. Digby’s new fans seem pleased to believe that they discovered an underground sensation.
—–
In fact, the vast majority of the posts were about her music, and not about “discovering” her. For most of us viewers, a huge number of people had already seen her videos when we found her, which were posted long before the WSJ article, so we could hardly claim to have ‘discovered her.’
The term “feigning amateur status”, used in the WSJ article is completely ridiculous. Marié Digby posted music videos, and expressed enthusiasm, and hope. She was largely unknown outside of Los Angeles.
Marié Digby has posted that a Wall Street reporter talked to Marié Digby for about an hour, but they never asked the questions that would have cleared this up. Instead, they took one response, which merely meant that her signed status wasn’t relevant to her goals (and frankly, would have seemed ridiculous in the videos), as meaning she was hiding it.
There were radio station interviews, before the WSJ article, where she mentioned being signed. If she were hiding it, she would have hid it there too.
I gather Marié Digby’s family is rather well off. She never mentioned that in her videos either. I wouldn’t say she was, “feigning middle class status,” but I’m sure some people would! Sad!