How powerful is YouTube?
It used to be that a person with talent would have to go through the motions, the due process [if you will] of becoming a star. One would have to be discovered or audition and get lucky. In essence one would have to be in the right place at the right time to be given a break. Today, with YouTube that is no longer the case. Or perhaps it is. Perhaps YouTube puts you in ALL the right places ALL the time. There is no formula, no guarantee that a video on YouTube will go viral and earn a gajillion views but if you've got the right stuff you will be seen, period. Take for example Greyson Chance , the 12 year old boy that got fast-tracked to fame recently. He was recorded playing Lady Gaga's "Paparazzi" at a talent show, uploaded it to YouTube and got over 2 million views in a matter of days. That caught the eye of American Idol judge and talk show host, Ellen Degeneres. She plucked him out of the sixth grade, flew him over and put him on her show the next day. With only three years of piano lessons and no voice lessons at all he is now famous, on his way to a great musical career.
Click here to view the original video that now has over 20 million views and countless comments.
Oddly enough here is Lady Gaga herself playing Paparazzi in a similar acoustic fashion, this video only received about 2 million views [as of this article].
Since then, Greyson Chance was invited back to perform on the Ellen Degeneres show where he got a chance to showcase a song that he wrote and composed himself. Click here to view "Broken Hearts" by Greyson Chance. "Broken Hearts" is a song he wrote about his own experiences with girls, at only 12 years, remarkable. Ellen was so blown away by this young new artist that she was inspired to start her own record label "ElevenEleven" and sign Greyson as her first artist. He now has a record deal and also won the $10,000 talent prize and a new Yamaha piano for his performance on Ellen's show .
