Sunday, November 11, 2012

Personal Video

While trying to figure out the uploading process for Blogger, I thought it might just be easier to post a youtube link to my video. Here is the video my friend and I made of us singing to post on youtube and see how many likes we could get. Wish us luck!


Saturday, November 10, 2012

Interview with Lauren Levine

Today I sat down with the very talented Lauren Levine, a sophomore at UNCG, to talk about her singing ability, aspirations of a music career, and how youtube has helped her in her quest for fame. 

Christopher Cunningham: How long have you been singing?
Lauren Levine: I actually began singing when I was three years old. When I was little my mom couldn't stop me from singing all the time! I think I sang more than I talked when I was a kid.

CC: What are your favorite things to sing?
LL: I really enjoy singing jazzy songs like Michael Buble's "feeling good." Songs like that fit my voice best and I think they are catchy and fun to sing. 

CC: Do you play any instruments while you sing?
LL: I usually play guitar but I also sometimes play the piano when I sing. It depends on the song usually.

CC: Do you perform live often?
LL: I usually perform at UNCG during Starbucks' open mic night and also I perform with the UNCG Chariots.

CC: Tell me about that
LL: The UNCG Chariots are the only co-ed a cappella singing group on campus, we perform a lot of different gigs around the greensboro area and we have a concert coming up at the end of the week.

CC: That's awesome! Do you prefer singing alone or in a group?
LL: I love both! Singing with a group is a lot of fun and adds a lot of energy to songs, but sometimes its fun to just jam out with my guitar or piano.

CC: How long have you had your youtube page?
LL: About a year and a half ago I joined youtube and began to post videos of me covering my favorite songs.

CC: Do you normally get positive reactions from other youtube users?
LL: Yeah, I actually get a few comments on every video which is pretty cool. Most of the comments are really supportive. I actually had someone comment recently telling me I needed to release an album soon, so that makes me think I'm doing something right!

CC: Do you think youtube has helped you reach out to people that otherwise wouldn't know who you are?
LL: Definitely, because the comments I've received are from locations across the country, and I've always lived in North Carolina, so the internet has helped me reach out to other places. 

CC: Is singing professionally a dream of yours?
LL: It's definitely something I would love to do with my life. I am not majoring in music or anything, but if I ever had the opportunity to sing professionally I would take it!

CC: Do you think making a youtube channel and posting videos can lead to fame?
LL: Of course! I know a lot of celebrities and famous video bloggers who have become famous. Look at Justin Beiber, he was discovered on youtube! Who knows who could be next!

Lauren Levine at Open Mic Night


Friday, November 9, 2012

Celebrities On Youtube



MARINA & THE DIAMONDS
Some of you may not know about her, but Marina Diamandis, also known as Marina & The Diamonds is a singer and songwriter from Wales, who has toured with Katy Perry and Coldplay. She has two albums out and like The Airborne Toxic Event, she uses youtube to provide her fans with acoustic versions of her songs that aren't offered on her albums.


Thursday, November 8, 2012

Celebrities and Youtube

Some A-list celebrities use youtube to give their fans updates about their lives, extra material from movies or musicians' albums, and more! With the use of youtube these various celebrities are allowed to communicate more directly to their fans in a video format. Here are a few examples of celebrities and how they use youtube.

LADY GAGA
Lady Gaga is an international superstar musician. She uses youtube to literally just update her fans on her life and her music. She posts videos called "monstervision." every few weeks.



AIRBORNE TOXIC EVENT
The Airborne Toxic Event is an Indie band who is constantly growing in fame. They have two albums out and their songs are often used in many television shows such as Grey's Anatomy, Greek, Gossip Girl, Suits, and others. They use their youtube channel to post acoustic versions of their songs, often with changed lyrics and unique changes to the melody.  





Saturday, November 3, 2012

Youtube Experiment

For the purposes of this blog, I created a youtube channel for myself to post videos of myself singing various songs. It is my hope to monitor the amount of views I get and see what kind of reactions I get from viewers. Hopefully this page will show some interesting information on how people use youtube as a musical platform.

Check out the youtube page at this address:

http://www.youtube.com/user/iTx3NDSxTONiTE?feature=mhee

Famous Youtubers


TODRICK HALL
Todrick Hall is an American singer and dancer who is looking for fame via today's vast sources of media.He auditioned for and actually appeared on American Idol in 2010. Although he never made it into the finals, he still continued to pursue his carreer on youtube, creating viral videos such as Beauty & The Beat, an urban parody of Beauty and the Beast. In the video below, Todrick uses youtube to try to contact the creators of the television series Glee, who will hopefully give him a spot on his show. This is one excellent example of how youtube is used to try to achieve fame. 

Friday, November 2, 2012

Famous Youtubers

Youtube has helped many people achieve fame; some for music, some for other talents. There are comedians, directors, dancers, and other talented people who post on youtube on a regular basis, hoping to gain more and more subscribers to their youtube page. Here are three youtubers you may, or may not know.


ALEX DAY
Alex Day is a 23 year old musician and youtuber from Essex, England. As an independent solo musician, Day has released two albums, as well as releasing several singles independently.Day posts videos regularly on his YouTube channel nerimon, which currently has 585,758 subscribers and 100,265,631 video views.


JENNA MOUREY
Jenna Mourey, also known as Jenna Marbles, was born and raised in Rochester, NY. Mourey attended Suffolk University, where she obtained her BS in psychology and later attended Boston University for her Masters of Education in Sport Psychology and Counseling. She is currently a American Youtube comedian who currently has 4,665,455 subscriber and 822,999,854 video views.