At some point over the past few months, someone may have sent you this YouTube of a pretty girl covering “Umbrella” in her living room, on an acoustic, seemingly DIY. Slowly, that clip (and others) got Marié Digby placement on The Hills, on FM radio, on Carson Daly. And every step of the way, she’s been all “OMG! I just turned on my iMovie and look at me now! Yay YouTube!”
Except, she’s full of shit! Yay YouTube! Or more accurately, yay for shrewd dudes who’ve learned how to capitalize on the assumption of do-it-yourself authenticity created by Web 2.0.
Turns out Marié’s been signed to Hollywood Records since ’05. They bought her Apple laptop and video editing software. They delivered high-quality versions of her YouTube covers to iTunes and radio. They booked her Carson appearance. And all along in interviews she played the “aww shucks can you believe my luck/look at little ol’ me!” card, while her MySpace made no mention of her major label status. Until the Wall Street Journal came a knockin’…
Ms. Digby’s MySpace and YouTube pages don’t mention Hollywood Records. Until last week, a box marked “Type of Label” on her MySpace Music page said, “None.” After inquiries from The Wall Street Journal, the entry was changed to “Major,” though the label still is not named.The artist and her label say there’s nothing untoward about the campaign. In interviews, Ms. Digby and executives at the company describe her three-month string of successes as part of a lengthy process of laying the groundwork for the upcoming release of her debut album.
Ms. Digby says she doesn’t mention her record label on her Web sites because “I didn’t feel like it was something that was going to make people like me.”
Lying to make people like you is always a good play. Didn’t come back to bite LonelyGirl15 in the ass right? Views were … oh wait, they went to shit didn’t they. Then again, even though the show sorta sank (who’s psyched for season two?!) — and unsurprisingly — Jessica Rose is getting work. So is Digby going down? Who knows. But when this is the best plan record labels have for success in the face of a collapsing industry, it’s no wonder empty lip-service to music biz paradigm shifts seems like such a revelation.
 |
 |
CHOCOLATE RAIN!
Her cover of the song is boring. Ten people, including Mandy freaking Moore, have already done the exact same hyper-earnest, stripped down cover of “Umbrella”. For fuck’s sake, if you’re going to expend this sort of effort on some lame viral marketing campaign… at least do it for someone with something to contribute.
I was in a Burgerville earlier today, and on their menu they listed a “Chocolate Malt” just above their refreshing bottle of “Rain Water”. Read horizontally, there it was: “Chocolate Rain”.
Wow, it’s happened again – if anyone’s really interested in this from an academic pov (haha – who am I kidding this is ‘gum…) then email me (address through blog) and i can send you a dissertation i did on the whole lonelygirl15 thing which applies equally as well here.
ps – I have a sneaking suspicion that Tay Zonday is a fake-ass too, there’s probably quite a few around propagated by youtube, pr companies, etc.
I know the Digby family and it’s all good. A few months ago it said Major on her myspace and she’s always been open about being signed. It’s not a secret at all. And umbrella is one of many, many youtube videos she’s put up in the last few months. So this one has done well! But really, anyone that’s done a little research should also know she one a songwriting contest and was featured on mtv and vh1 back in the day… don’t blame her because you assume everything on youtube is diy and underground.
http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=4165438&blogID=307265009
in addition to the WSJ, you should read this too.
Marie’s blog post was enlightening.
“Thank god for blogs because I can say whatever the F.. i want to .”
“she one a songwriting contest”
EPIC GRAMMAR FAIL. turn off your computer.
hahaha. knew i couldn’t get through writing a post hungover without getting called out on something…
i concede. epic.
that cover is pretty crappy
wow. Competently done, but ew ew ew! She white-ified it! Mandy Moore did it pretty much the same way, but didn’t evoke the same kind of visceral reaction I got to this song.
Here’s why: when Mandy Moore covers “Umbrella”, or Nelly Furtado covers “Crazy” or whatever even when it’s well done, it’s still pretty much a lark. Same with the vast majority of those crappy people on youtube posting pictures of themselves playing, I dunno, Karma Police on their Casio: they are having fun, maybe trying to impress us, I dunno.
This Digby girl gives me the feeling that she sincerely believes that she’s improving this song, bringing out the lyrics that were obscured by the dance-ready beat: look how sincere I am! We’ll never be apart! Maybe in magazines! You know I’ll always be here forever!
Like “thanks, Rihanna, I’ll take it from here, I’ll rescue it from being just another poppin R&B track and make it suburban and white, like it was intended to be!”
I’m sorry. I normally love covers that take songs in new directions. This just really rubbed me the wrong way for some reason. Maybe ’cause it was featured on “The Hills”.
add me to your friends