Essay about 'Myspace' redundancy and 'YouTube' being the prime platform for musical artists to promote themselves, using "Gangnam Style" as an example

“A few years ago new musicians promoted themselves via ‘Myspace’, now ‘Myspace’ is redundant ‘YouTube’ is the prime platform for musical artists to promote themselves and the success of “Gangnam Style” proves this” Agree or disagree?

“Oh God, it's such a big world right now for artists. There are as many possibilities as you can have time for, getting your music out there with the internet, and Youtube”
- Amy Ray

Most importantly, I agree with this statement. The reason why, I will be discussing below, as this essay will talk about why I think ‘YouTube’ is nowadays; “the prime platform for musical artists to promote themselves”, along with why “Gangnam Style” proves it.

‘Myspace’ began in August 2003, as a social networking site, whereby wannabe musical artists could have a chance at promoting themselves or their band by uploading music to their “Myspace page”. Shortly after ‘Myspace’ was sold to Rupert Murdoch (Australian American media mogul and owner of Fox News and 20^th Century Fox) in 2005, they launched their own record label named ‘MySpace Records’. ‘MySpace Records’ aimed to discover the unknown talent currently part of ‘Myspace Music’ – a part ‘Myspace’ where profiles differed from ordinary ones, in that it allowed the user to upload mp3’s of their music. Around 2005 ‘Myspace’s popularity picked up rapidly with young adult and teenage social groups, leading to, in January 2006, plans to create a UK version of ‘Myspace’, in order to tap into the UK musical talent pool. Following on from this ‘Myspace’ was also released in China as well as many other countries, in an attempt to open the possibility of discovery to as many musical artists as possible, which of course would invariably benefit the ‘MySpace Records’ record label provided they signed a deal with the promising artists before anyone else. While this popularity seemed it would last, unfortunately it actually had a very short run, as by 2008 the website’s popularity had already began declining, and from this point on the website fell into grave numbers of users, and eventually became as it is today - in comparison to other social networking sites such as ‘Facebook’ and ‘Twitter’; practically a ghost town. But ‘Myspace’ was not without its success stories, as well known artists such as Lily Allen and Sean Kingston gained their fame through the website, proving that in its day ‘Myspace’ was definitely a success in finding undiscovered musical talent. However now the website is practically abandoned, as mentioned earlier, in comparison to other social networking sites e.g. ‘Facebook’ and ‘Twitter’, there aren’t any more artists to discover, as now if an artist wants to be discovered, they promote themselves through ‘YouTube’.

“‘YouTube’ is by far the best-known and most-used online video website . . . Although it only launched in 2005, it quickly came to dominate online video . . . Just four years later, ‘YouTube’ videos account for 40 per cent of all videos viewed online”

-          David Guantlett (‘Making is Connecting’)

‘YouTube’ is the world’s most popular video sharing website with 72 hours of footage uploaded to the site every minute. The website’s traffic is by 800 million unique users every month with 4 billion hours a video being viewed. With number like this it is no wonder why so many artists try to promote themselves using the site, because if a video “trends” then it is shared, and if it is shared, thanks to other social networking sites such as ‘Facebook’ and ‘Twitter’, it has the ability to instantly make someone or something a complete hit, or the laughing stock of the world wide web.

“Twitter is not just a Web site and not microblogging, it is an entirely different medium … The way in which information travels on Twitter — the shape of it — is different to anything that we’ve previously known.”

-          Paul Lewis, Guardian reporter

This, as said, is the reason why artists will promote themselves via ‘YouTube’; because if they become what’s trending, then there is little to no doubt that a recruiter from some record label or another won’t see what everyone is talking about, and you can bet that if the amount of people that talked about ‘Psy’ (the creator of ‘Gangnam Style’) talk about someone else that the record labels will snatch them up as soon as possible. Which brings us to the popular internet video ‘Gangnam Style’ and why I believe that it does in fact prove ‘YouTube’ as the prime platform nowadays for artists to promote themselves.

“A week ago I was saying, "Hey. I'm going to promote myself". Because my music video is much more popular than I am, I don't like the situation. But in the last week, especially since Ellen and the Today Show, when I am walking down the street some people recognize me, finally. So me and Scooter are thinking, should we prepare for the next single, or something? We are beginning to make that kind of conversation about my next step”

-          ‘Psy’ (artist behind ‘Gangnam Style’)

As of today, the 3^rd of November 2012, the ‘YouTube’ video ‘Gangnam Style’ has been viewed over 630 million times. ‘Psy’ is a Korean musical artist, and since his song ‘Gangnam Style’ trended across the world he, and his unique dance, have become internationally recognised by almost any country with an internet connection. He has appeared on multiple talk shows including the ‘The Today Show’ on ‘NBC’ in New York, ‘The View’ and ‘The Ellen DeGeneres Show’. He has personally taught the signature dance to Britney Spears, as well as performing it alongside Melanie Brown, otherwise known as ‘Mel B’ from popular female pop group the ‘Spice Girls’, live on the Australian ‘X Factor’. ‘Psy’s music and popularity has even drawn attention to him outside the music world, as according to ‘The Dong-a llbo’, a Korean newspaper, ‘Psy’ was appointed as a goodwill ambassador of ‘UNICEF’ (United Nation Children’s Fund). U.N. secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, also scheduled an appointment with ‘Psy’ due to the belief that music has the ability to overcome great tolerance. Ban Ki-moon expressed his desire to work with ‘Psy’ saying his music has an “unlimited global reach”. But that isn’t all, ‘Psy’ was also awarded, by South Korea’s Ministry of Culture, Sport and Tourism, the “Okgwan Order”; a fourth grade order of cultural merit. If this hasn’t conviced you yet then here’s something else that’s astounding. I have witnessed countless videos of illegal “flash mobs” breaking out in the ‘Gangnam Style’ dance in multiple countries, including England, America, Japan, Germany and more. Not only by flash mobs but some of the most average and extraordinary groups ever seen, ranging from one woman playing the music video in an ‘Apple’ store where the employees ended up joining in simply because they love the song and dance, to the inmates of the ‘CPDRC’ (Cebu Provincial Detention and Rehabilitation Centre) in the Philippines.

‘Psy’ is just one man with an amazingly catchy song and dance, but the platform of ‘YouTube’ has ended up creating all the amazing things you see mentioned previously. It has connected the world in a way unlike any other. Song and dance has always been a cultural icon, but never so much one specific song and dance before. ‘Gangnam Style’ has revolutionised today’s culture all thanks to the platform that is ‘YouTube’, and this is why, using ‘Psy’ and ‘Gangnam Style’ as an example, I believe ‘YouTube’ is the prime platform for musical artists to promote themselves nowdays.

Link to "Gangnam Style" music video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9bZkp7q19f0

('YouTube' statistics taken from official 'YouTube' website)