Just like Web 2.0 start-ups have been spending much of 2009 trying to figure out how to turn users and community into revenues, so too have the last few years’ crop of Internet celebrities been trying to figure out how to make a business out of those over-used buzz words “their personal brands.”
Think of all the online fame that’s been created in the last few years amid this hype of the Web democratizing celebrity. Now try to name how many of them crossed over to mainstream popularity. Tila Tequila got an MTV show and a record deal. LonelyGirl15 is on ABC Family’s Greek. And…the list dwindles from there. Amanda Congdon’s “talks” with HBO never seemed to materialize. Kudos to Julia Allison for snagging a Wired cover and starting a lifecasting site, Nonsociety, but that Bravo pilot never saw the light of day and even Gawker doesn’t cover her much anymore. (She may consider that a blessing.) The people who get the most press for using social media are still, well, the real celebrities like Oprah and Ashton Kutcher.
It’s enough to make you a cynic that celebrity isn’t really getting democratized at all—it’s just getting fragmented into slivers of micro-fame. And the truth is so far micro-fame doesn’t pay.
Enter an unlikely Internet fame winner: Zoe Keating. Keating is an avant garde cellist and that is her day job. She has no label. No agents. Nothing. Just 1,081,522 Twitter followers (and counting), the number one spot on iTunes classical music list, YouTube videos of her performances and a Web site.
Keating was on NBC’s Press:Here along with Pandora co-founder Tim Westergren this week. While Westergren left the music world to start a tech company, Keating left a high-paying tech job to become a full time cellist. Her music has been featured in film scores and commercials, but she makes the bulk of her income from iTunes. And because she doesn’t have any “people,” she gets to keep every dime. It’s an interesting flip from the mainstream model where studios make money off music sales and artists only make money when they tour.
Keating also doesn’t have the normal hang-ups of a prima donna musician. I asked her if she had the usual anti-corporate bias against her music being used to advertise products and she looked at me like I was mental. (See the clip below. The entire show is available here.) In short, she gets that the model for musicians is thoroughly broken and she revels in it. I asked if she would take a huge record deal if it came to her now and she said “no” before I could finish the question. “I would definitely do it myself because I don’t want to compromise,” she said.
This is all the more impressive when you consider she’s a classical musician—not exactly a category that flies off the shelves. Or is that part of why it worked? You don’t exactly see classical musicians on MTV’s Cribs squandering multi-million signing bonuses. So someone like Keating would have to find another way to make a living making music.
Keating says she spends 50% of her time managing and promoting her music and 50% actually making music. She also emphasized this was a long struggle to get to this point.
Lesson to would be fame seekers: It’s not really a new world when it comes to celebrity. There are no shortcuts. It’s still talent, perseverance and hard work. Even the speed and reach of the Net can’t create lasting value and income overnight.
[More on all of this on Keating's blog.]
[PHOTO CREDIT: Jeffrey Rusch.]
Keating through talent and hard work has managed to build a large digital following, which is essentially a channel to shout into the crowded room of the web. What’s needed are better tools to build two-way relationships with this following. http://www.tweetiator.com (shameless self-promotion) attacks one element of this by giving you a way to see who tweets links to your content. Generally, the promise of the web is richer relationships between content and the people who produce it.
too vague to be an elevator pitch
patent pending? oh please.
an added bonus … this buzzword compliant content free goop … “Generally, the promise of the web is richer relationships between content and the people who produce it.”
I think @fakecarolbartz should get her own show, or atleast start writing one! That last post about Yang is priceless!
What about Sean Kingston and Soulja Boy who were both discovered off MySpace? Perez Hilton? Adam Sandberg? Lauren Luke who produced makeup videos on YouTube and now has her own makeup line? The blogger that the movie “Julie & Julia” was based on? There are plenty of case studies of people who translated web fame into very successful careers.
The difference between her and the others is simple; she actually has talent. Hence why she has success.
exactly
I guess that’s why Paris Hilton is so successful too. She’s so freaking talented.
you are confusing what’s necessary with what’s sufficient…
Obviously some–paris hilton et al–will succeed financially without talent–but many, many fail because they don’t have it.
Talent is definitely a differentiator, but not always the biggest factor in fame. Sadly.
I started reading this article and didn’t look who posted the article. Almost immediately I said to myself, “This sounds like a Sarah Lacy article.” Sure enough after clicking on the article to read the rest, I guessed correctly hehe.
I love your writing style!
“We don’t care if Zoe Keating succeeded or failed because it is so meaningless in the world.”
I think credit should also be given to some of the top “personal brands” on youtube such as Fred, Nigahiga, Smosh and Shane Dawson and others who are achieving celebrity status through the internet. Of course none of these personalties have anywhere near the 1 million Twitter followers that she does, that’s quite an accomplishment for an internet celebrity.
Lauren Luke (girl from UK) is doing her bit in this area – going from youtube, to BBC, to getting a make-up range in New York – a good example of how it can work http://www.yout...h?v=sxy-TxCXH6Y
Great article, and YES we do care about people actually making a bit of money without compromising for it.
go zoe! my new guilty pleasure, laughing at people on http://www.mandymoorehol.com
+1
I just bought her album – listening to it now. Fantastic stuff. She fully deserves her success.
Great story. Will pick up her album as well.
I first heard her music on WNYC’s Radio Lab podcast. Love her stuff!
Really interesting story sarah- it’s cool to see a piece in techcrunch on someone whose in another industry, but still using technology and all these tools to move forward and build a business.
thanks for this!
What about sxephil, ijustine, shaycarl… there are plenty of people who make money off social media…
Zoe, please get your music on Spotify!
don’t forget @boburnham! Both he and Zoe Keating are featured on my most played list on iTunes.
“Personal brand” is one of those terms I hope dies a quick, grisly death in 2010.
There are so many fantastically talented people that have relied on the web to get to where they are today. I know a handful of them personally and it’s amazing to see them making money from social media & promoting themselves online.
Being a celebrity the old fashioned way is harder than ever. It’s just as hard doing it this way but no one is telling you no from day one and that you can’t be a start. you bring the talent and make your own stardom.
nice article, thanks for publishing it.
This is journalism? Recapitulating of tv shows?
It’s awesome to see people who follow their passion succeed. All too often people just don’t even bother trying to pursue what they really want to do.
I saw her perform at the O’Reilly E-Tech conference (now discontinued) this past March, and she was incredible. The response from the audience seemed to be on multiple levels. The geeks loved her technical ability to manipulate / loop the music, and everyone else seemed to just enjoy the powerful sounds. It’s a refreshing internet success story.
Thank you for this article Sarah Lacy.
I wrote a follow up blog to the Press:Here interview, in case anyone is interested in the messy details of how I make a living
http://www.zoekeating.com/blog
Also, thanks for all the wonderful comments.
You guys should check out Boyce Avenue on Youtube. They are probably one the most successful act on the YT. They did like 67,000 downloads on Itunes in Feb alone this year. If you follow music on Youtube you know they were the first to start selling their covers on iTunes.
1,127,983 followers and counting. Good going, Zoe! If only I could get a fraction of that number I’d be happy. Anyway, I’ll be the next to follow you!