Students at Nashville’s David Lipscomb High School got a sneak peak of a music video today shot at their school in which many played extras. The young artist is one using her online popularity to launch a more traditional music career.
16-year-old Savannah Outen [oo-tin] is a bit out of her element. Her previous videos were made in her bedroom, in front of a webcam. She sent a demo of her work to Nashville producer Keith Thomas, who is now trying to create a teen star.
Thomas says this may be the way artists are found from now on – through first building an online following.
“I think we’re all trying to find our way while the industry, it’s going through growing pains as everyone knows, but we’re just trying to find the new way, the new model.”
Thomas says that the eight-million hits on Outen’s YouTube channel validate her potential for success.
Bob Baker, author of Guerrilla Music Marketing, says YouTube is doing the test marketing that formerly took up millions of dollars from record label budgets.
“Until someone connects with an audience, it’s really just kind of a crapshoot. And so here, they’re finding people who are there on their own generating an organic buzz, one that wasn’t manufactured by a corporation. This was just a natural thing that people saw and wanted to share with their friends, which is what you really want.”
Baker says not every Music Row executive is trolling YouTube looking for talent, but maybe they should be.
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