How Much Undiscovered Talent Is There On YouTube and Myspace?

Although YouTube is still mostly full of videos featuring people being kicked in the groin and Myspace is just overflowing with emo teenagers moaning about their oppressive parents and their dark depression of darkness, there’s no doubt that the two extensive social and video sharing networks are a powerful self-marketing tool, especially for unsigned musicians. Lady Sovereign, Lily Allen, and Fallout are just some big names that have been discovered or heavily promoted online through, for the most part, word of mouth. Of course, they are few and far between since you can pretty much equate both networks to the early episodes of American Idol where you get people that should never sing in public…or even in private. Yep, for every Arctic Monkeys there are ten thousand people singing Oops, I Did It Again into a rolled up tube sock…poorly. However, I’m also sure that record companies scour these sites and wade through the crap in their search for the “next big thing”. There’s some seriously talented people on YouTube and Myspace.

I can’t be bothered to make a Myspace account but it’s not like YouTube doesn’t already have enough videos. One of the most famous videos in YouTube history is that of a kid known only as “funtwo” playing Pachelbel’s Canon on an electric guitar. That might not sound that special but if you haven’t seen it, trust me, you’ll want to pick your jaw up off the ground. For anyone that has ever played the guitar, you’ll know exactly how difficult the fingering for this looks and at the speed at which he plays…it’s ridiculous. The video has garnered praise from guitar gods all over the world and up until August of last year, no one knew who the heck he was. It was a hugely popular internet story in ‘06…the unknown guy that might be better than Hendrix. It turned out to be 23 year old Jeong-Hyun Lim, who could be a freakin’ guitar god if he wanted to be.

Of course, the current reigning champion of unsigned talent on YouTube is 18 year old Mia Rose, who despite only being on the site for a mere 3 months is already the top ranked musician in terms of subscribers. She’s got a great voice, much like a Corinne Bailey Rae but a bit more rock or pop than soul. Of course, it doesn’t hurt that she’s gorgeous (yeah, that second video is just in there because she looks really pretty in it…) and the camera just loves her. However, I do think she needs to refrain from dancing and just sit on a stool with a guitar. I’m not really into her sort of music (or at least the sort of music she covers with the Natasha Beddingfield and Kelly Clarkson songs) but I would to hear what she sounds like with some studio quality equipment.

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