The question every single creative artist today needs to be asking themselves is simple: Who needs a publicist today when we have YouTube? Why pay hundreds, even up to thousands, of dollars to pay for publicity, photo shoots, sound recordings, make-up, transportation, and everything else that goes into making a star when you can simply record yourself on your home video camera and upload the video on the Internet? It seems like YouTube is putting out more stars than Jive Records! Take, for example, Esmee, an up and coming star from The Dutch Netherlands. Singing is her passion, but instead of trying to sign with a record label, she picked up a webcam and put her self-recorded songs on YouTube. Literally within months, her songs had over 11 million plays and were receiving world-wide recognition.

In the music industry, singles that sell 500,000 copies go gold; 1,000,000 go Platinum; and 2,000,000 go multi-platinum. With over 11 million plays, Esmee would technically have achieved diamond status had her songs been on shelves, and managed to gain as much recognition for her songs as though they had been. Kelly Rowland, formerly of Destiny’s Child, heard about Esmee’s songs and flew her out to LA to record a track, and before the internet starlet could get over her jet-lag she was rubbing shoulders with Common and P. Diddy, and doing photo shoots with Billboard Magazine. Within a fraction of the time is takes music artists to blow up, Esmee has already entrenched herself in the music industry network, partying at the Grammy’s and meeting some of the biggest names in the business. Seems like A&R’s over at labels like Jive, Universal, Roc-a-fella, and Badboy may be seeing some competition sooner rather than later.

The use of the internet as the primary source of publicity isn’t limited to just singers, either. Actors and actresses are getting in on the action too. Lisa Donovan, known in the Internet world as “LisaNova,” started off just like many other struggling actresses do. She was born in Scarsdale, NY, but moved to Hollywood, CA looking for fame and stardom, both of which eluded her. Determined to make a name for herself, she found work in television production and learned how to record and edit. Then, with the limited knowledge that she had, she began to record and upload comedic videos weekly. In less than a year she had made over 30 videos with hundreds of thousands of views, never having to hire a stage manager, camera-man, director, lighting crew, sound team, or buy any equipment other than her camcorder. Using her living room as the stage, she successfully began the transition from amateur internet production to professional television. Her most popular comic parody has over 2,000,000 views, and she has recently auditioned for MadTV, whose scouts found her videos online. Even still, Lisa isn’t sure she’s ready to give up the freedom that internet publicity has provided her. She loves the freedom of being able to think of an idea for a skit, get a camera, and perform it immediately, a luxury not found easily in the professional television industry.

So how bout them diamond and platinum encrusted apples, entertainment industry? Esmee went Diamond singing into a webcam, and now LisaNova is an American comedic star from sitting in front of a camera in her living room. In the end, it looks like the formerly ultra-exclusive universe of entertainment, thanks to the internet, is expanding rather than contracting, and it is those stars that manage to shine brightest in this great expanse that are gaining notoriety, whether or not they have the backing of the once sacred record labels and studios. Power to the people, indeed.

WATCH ESMEE PERFORM JOHN LEGEND’S “ORDINARY PEOPLE”:

BY JUSTIN CHUKUMBA

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This entry was posted on Thursday, May 3rd, 2007 at 12:36 pm and is filed under Business. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.