2008 Woodie Awards
Click, click, boom
Aspiring artists find fame as viral musicians on YouTube
Mike Osegueda / McClatchy Newspapers
Issue date: 1/14/08 Section: Features
He didn't think it was going to take off the way it did.
That's what Andy McKee says. That's what they all say.
No more than fourteen months ago, Andy McKee was the kind of musician you'd find in most every city in America. He was a guy with a dream. And it was a simple dream really.
"All I've ever said, since I was 14 years old, is that if I can make a living playing guitar, that's all I need," McKee says, from his home in Topeka, Kansas. "I don't need a mansion or anything."
Then his little world of giving guitar lessons and playing his own finger-picking gigs ran into a Goliath named YouTube.
Nearly 30 million views later, McKee has found fame, and his dream, as a viral musician.
That same forward-this-to-everyone-you-know Web-surfing mentality has helped bring about a new type of music celebrity, the musician who can do something extraordinary with an instrument, video it and then put it on the Web for millions to watch and comment.
It got McKee onto the front page of YouTube and earned him the title of the No. 1 artist on YouTube, all thanks to his most notable video, "Drifting" a three-minute instrumental song that has amassed more than 10 million views.
Just a little context on McKee's views: In the 2007 Neilsen BDS reports released last week, the highest number of music video stream was 23 million (Avril Lavigne's "Girlfriend").
McKee's total, though beginning in mid-November 2006, would put him between Justin Timberlake and Shakira on those Neilsen charts.
"I'm playing the guitar in sort of an unusual way," McKee says, asked to explain his rash online success. "That has an appeal to people who had never seen the guitar played that way. And, maybe. the music wasn't half bad too."
Ah, yes, the quality of the music. This is where the viral musician differs from the Internet sensation, another viral wonder, but one spiked with humor instead of virtuosity.
Thirteen million people may have watched Tay Zonday sing the quirky "Chocolate Rain" this year, but a viral musician he isn't. He's more akin to the William Hung's of the world.
That's what Andy McKee says. That's what they all say.
No more than fourteen months ago, Andy McKee was the kind of musician you'd find in most every city in America. He was a guy with a dream. And it was a simple dream really.
"All I've ever said, since I was 14 years old, is that if I can make a living playing guitar, that's all I need," McKee says, from his home in Topeka, Kansas. "I don't need a mansion or anything."
Then his little world of giving guitar lessons and playing his own finger-picking gigs ran into a Goliath named YouTube.
Nearly 30 million views later, McKee has found fame, and his dream, as a viral musician.
That same forward-this-to-everyone-you-know Web-surfing mentality has helped bring about a new type of music celebrity, the musician who can do something extraordinary with an instrument, video it and then put it on the Web for millions to watch and comment.
It got McKee onto the front page of YouTube and earned him the title of the No. 1 artist on YouTube, all thanks to his most notable video, "Drifting" a three-minute instrumental song that has amassed more than 10 million views.
Just a little context on McKee's views: In the 2007 Neilsen BDS reports released last week, the highest number of music video stream was 23 million (Avril Lavigne's "Girlfriend").
McKee's total, though beginning in mid-November 2006, would put him between Justin Timberlake and Shakira on those Neilsen charts.
"I'm playing the guitar in sort of an unusual way," McKee says, asked to explain his rash online success. "That has an appeal to people who had never seen the guitar played that way. And, maybe. the music wasn't half bad too."
Ah, yes, the quality of the music. This is where the viral musician differs from the Internet sensation, another viral wonder, but one spiked with humor instead of virtuosity.
Thirteen million people may have watched Tay Zonday sing the quirky "Chocolate Rain" this year, but a viral musician he isn't. He's more akin to the William Hung's of the world.
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