3 Ways to Become a YouTube Music Allstar
Jul 13th, 2007 by Derrick Fung
So you’ve seen all the videos on YouTube of all kinds of people building channels showcasing their music. Many musicians have become famous and acknowledged by starting in online communities like YouTube, MySpace, and SoundClick. A good example would be an artist by the name of Passion. Through spreading his music online, he was invited, not long ago, to perform as the opening to Kanye West (I believe it was Kanye…). His music can be checked out here. I’ve been giving it some thought, and it really doesn’t take THAT much to start your music career online. Well, at least on YouTube anyway. Here’s a link to a video that me and Verne performed around a year ago. It’s not perfect, and there are some mistakes…but it’s all about learning from mistakes right? 
1) Buy some decent equipment. After taking a look at many of the covers on YouTube, it looks like most people are simply using ONLY a webcam. However, the quality doesn’t seem to bad at all. Check out this cover of John Mayer’s Gravity here. Ray does a pretty good job, and the quality seems decent. Total cost? $40-50 for the webcam. However, if you’re serious about what you’re doing, I would suggest talking the alternative route: invest in some basic recording equipment. Take a look at this video here of Noah Needleman doing a cover of The Heart of Life by John Mayer (yes, as you can tell, I am a huge John Mayer fan). His setup seems very simple - my guess is that he probably has: (1) Digidesign Mbox 2 (2) Shure SM58 Microphone (3) Any Studio Condenser Microphone. Total cost of this one? Probably in the $400-$500 range.
2) Park your music somewhere. There are many places to host your music. But among the popular ones would be YouTube for videos and SoundClick or MySpace for Music clips. The advantage of YouTube is that it has a huge viewer base, and you can build a channel for all your music. A disadvantage is that there isn’t as much customization as sites like MySpace. SoundClick is also a good alternative - the site is made just for artists who are starting up and want to showcase their music. The decision is really up to you 
3) Market, market and market. How would expect others to know about you if you don’t brand yourself and sell yourself? Join communities of musicians who play the same style of music as you. Send the link to all your friends and family. Also, keep users wanting more. Pick a niche (i.e. R&B, for example) and be the “Market Leader”. Blogging is something that many musicians are doing as well, so you may want to consider hosting a blog on a free server like Blogspot. Always keep your fans posted about your latest records and your upcoming shows, because marketing yourself is one of the most important tactics in becoming a successful “YouTube Music Allstar”.
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8 Cheap Ways to Become Famous without Killing Anyone….
To be clear about what success is must be the first step to achieving success. So far, the best definition I have come across is: “Success is the completion of anything intended.” In other words success is finishing what you planned to do.
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Agreed. Just took a look at your blog posting - very insightful!