Tuesday, 15 March 2016
The SXSW Effect: Who Got the Most Out of Their Festival Appearance?
SXSW, the renowned Austin, Tex., conference where film, music, culture, and tech meet, is legendary for launching countless musicians’ careers. Names as iconic as those of John Mayer (who first played in 2000) and The White Stripes (2001) all famously benefited from the festival’s exposure.
How have artists translated their performances into success in recent years? We dug into the data to find out.
The winding road to overnight success
Ask 10 music critics who their favorite breakout acts have been over the course of the festival’s nearly 30-year history, and you’re liable to get as many different answers. To get a broad sense of the impact that an acclaimed performance has on an emerging musician’s career, we narrowed the scope, and examined a group of musicians who have been considered to have hit the national scene following their performances over the past half decade. We selected Mike Posner, the prolific hip-hop producer and songwriter who also penned Justin Bieber’s “Boyfriend,” the blues-rock quintet Alabama Shakes, indie-pop darlings Foster The People, and pop-rock powerhouse HAIM.
Of all musicians in our selection, none had received as much lift following their first festival appearance as the Alabama Shakes. Prior to appearing during NPR’s showcase, the band didn’t have a YouTube channel. Shortly after creating one following their universally-praised SXSW set, their views immediately rocketed into the six figure range — smartly, coinciding with the release of their debut album.
Try, try again
While acts tend to garner the notice of music industry insiders during their initial appearance, we’ve found it usually takes a second SXSW showing to translate into mass appeal.
For HAIM, Mike Posner, and Foster The People, mainstream success on YouTube began about two months after their second appearances.
By this point, all three had either completed or were nearing completion on their full-length albums, and generated enough pre-festival excitement to ensure that the critics would focus on them, rather than the hundreds of other bands. For HAIM, the second performance also meant taking home the festival’s inaugural Grulke Prize for Developing US Act.
The Alabama Shakes were in a slightly different position: they had received much of the critics’ attention immediately following their debut album, which was released shortly following their 2012 SXSW performance. Nevertheless, they also experienced a lift in views (once more, coinciding with the release of their 2015 album).
To give a better sense of just how meaningful the difference between the impact of the first and second year’s performances is, we’ve compared their effects on views for each of the artists, below:
While it’s impossible to say who, among the hundreds of showcasing bands at this year’s festival, will be the breakout star, one thing is certain — it’ll almost certainly take a return trip to help produce HAIM-levels of popularity.
-- Posted by the YouTube Culture & Trends Team
How have artists translated their performances into success in recent years? We dug into the data to find out.
The winding road to overnight success
Ask 10 music critics who their favorite breakout acts have been over the course of the festival’s nearly 30-year history, and you’re liable to get as many different answers. To get a broad sense of the impact that an acclaimed performance has on an emerging musician’s career, we narrowed the scope, and examined a group of musicians who have been considered to have hit the national scene following their performances over the past half decade. We selected Mike Posner, the prolific hip-hop producer and songwriter who also penned Justin Bieber’s “Boyfriend,” the blues-rock quintet Alabama Shakes, indie-pop darlings Foster The People, and pop-rock powerhouse HAIM.
Daily Views For Breakout Acts Following First SXSW Performance
Views expressed as a proportion of the highest view count, based on sum of personal and Vevo channel totals.
Of all musicians in our selection, none had received as much lift following their first festival appearance as the Alabama Shakes. Prior to appearing during NPR’s showcase, the band didn’t have a YouTube channel. Shortly after creating one following their universally-praised SXSW set, their views immediately rocketed into the six figure range — smartly, coinciding with the release of their debut album.
Alabama Shakes’ “Hold On”
Try, try again
While acts tend to garner the notice of music industry insiders during their initial appearance, we’ve found it usually takes a second SXSW showing to translate into mass appeal.
Daily Views For Breakout Acts Following Second SXSW Performance
Views expressed as a proportion of the highest view count, based on sum of personal and Vevo channel totals.
For HAIM, Mike Posner, and Foster The People, mainstream success on YouTube began about two months after their second appearances.
By this point, all three had either completed or were nearing completion on their full-length albums, and generated enough pre-festival excitement to ensure that the critics would focus on them, rather than the hundreds of other bands. For HAIM, the second performance also meant taking home the festival’s inaugural Grulke Prize for Developing US Act.
The Alabama Shakes were in a slightly different position: they had received much of the critics’ attention immediately following their debut album, which was released shortly following their 2012 SXSW performance. Nevertheless, they also experienced a lift in views (once more, coinciding with the release of their 2015 album).
To give a better sense of just how meaningful the difference between the impact of the first and second year’s performances is, we’ve compared their effects on views for each of the artists, below:
Avg. Increase In Views Over Six Month Period Following SXSW Appearance
Views expressed as a proportion of the highest view count, based on sum of personal and Vevo channel totals.
While it’s impossible to say who, among the hundreds of showcasing bands at this year’s festival, will be the breakout star, one thing is certain — it’ll almost certainly take a return trip to help produce HAIM-levels of popularity.
-- Posted by the YouTube Culture & Trends Team
Thursday, 3 March 2016
Agar.io Joins the 2 Billion Views Club
Agar.io isn’t the first game to get 2 billion views on YouTube, but it’s one of the most unique. Twenty-one* other franchises have generated that many views on YouTube, and most of them are AAA blockbusters with cutting-edge graphics like Call of Duty and Grand Theft Auto. Agar.io, a 2D game of circles consuming each other, is one of the few independently developed efforts to reach the milestone. The game’s official YouTube channel also surpassed 1 million subscribers.
One of the biggest stars of the Agar.io world is Jumbo, who started by uploading one Agar.io gameplay video every week. In less than seven months, it became one of the fastest channels to reach 1M subscribers in the history of YouTube.
Like a circle that just can’t stop eating smaller circles, Agar.io continues to grow. Sometimes you need fancy hardware or a lot of money to try the latest trending games, but if you want to try this one just head to https://agar.io and you can be playing in seconds.
-- Jeff Rubin
*The other 21 titles, starting with the biggest one globally: Minecraft, Grand Theft Auto, Call of Duty, League of Legends, FIFA, Five Nights at Freddy's, Clash of Clans, Garry's Mod, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, Angry Birds, The Sims, Dota 2, Yo-Kai Watch, World of Tanks, Happy Wheels, Team Fortress 2, Plants vs. Zombies, Assassin's Creed, Destiny, Puzzle & Dragons, and Mortal Kombat.
One of the biggest stars of the Agar.io world is Jumbo, who started by uploading one Agar.io gameplay video every week. In less than seven months, it became one of the fastest channels to reach 1M subscribers in the history of YouTube.
Like a circle that just can’t stop eating smaller circles, Agar.io continues to grow. Sometimes you need fancy hardware or a lot of money to try the latest trending games, but if you want to try this one just head to https://agar.io and you can be playing in seconds.
-- Jeff Rubin
*The other 21 titles, starting with the biggest one globally: Minecraft, Grand Theft Auto, Call of Duty, League of Legends, FIFA, Five Nights at Freddy's, Clash of Clans, Garry's Mod, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, Angry Birds, The Sims, Dota 2, Yo-Kai Watch, World of Tanks, Happy Wheels, Team Fortress 2, Plants vs. Zombies, Assassin's Creed, Destiny, Puzzle & Dragons, and Mortal Kombat.
Wednesday, 24 February 2016
What Happened on YouTube for This Year’s BRIT Awards Nominees?
Each year, the BRIT Awards honor the best in British music. While the categories range from the best male and female artists to the best producer, perhaps the two most novel awards are presented for the year’s best British Artist Video and the best British Breakthrough Act. What did YouTube’s music fans think of the nominees? We dug into the data to find out.
Here are the nominees for British Breakthrough Artist:
All roads lead to London
This year, it seems that much of the talent in the Breakthrough Artist pool hails from the capital, with R&B songstress Jess Glynne, electronic trio Years & Years, and indie rockers Wolf Alice all having origins in London. James Bay, the soft-spoken troubadour who shot to fame after a video of one of his open-mic performances surfaced on YouTube, isn’t far off, growing up in Hitchin, Hertfordshire, an hour’s drive north of the capital. The lone exception to this are Catfish and the Bottlemen, from the northern Welsh seaside resort town of Llandudno (population: 20,710).
Jess Glynne and Years & Years vie for “Most Watched” title
If the Breakthrough Artist award were given out to the most popular musicians of 2015, YouTube viewers’ choices suggest that Years & Years would be the winners. The group’s success in the past year, due, in large part, to the tremendously positive response of their single “King,” which was also initially nominated for a BRIT Award in the Video category, is undeniable. After a huge surge in views during the summer, which saw the release of their debut album, "Communion," and the premiere of their triptych video for the track “Shine,” the band’s popularity has returned to a high, but comfortable baseline.
While Years & Years’ views have steadied, those of Jess Glynne, whose memorable appearance on Clean Bandit’s “Rather Be” led to a 2015 Grammy win in the Best Dance Recording category, have been growing. Although she began the year relatively low, tracks like “Hold My Hand” and “Don’t Be So Hard on Yourself” have boosted her profile significantly, eventually leading Glynne to become the most-viewed artist in the group, according to daily views.
James Bay, who also recently received a Best New Artist Grammy nomination, began the year strongly, and has been the most impressively consistent musician of the group. Catfish and the Bottlemen and Wolf Alice, both representing the more niche, indie-rock contingent, follow. Despite their relative obscurity, both have produced impressive debuts, with Catfish and the Bottlemen’s “Cocoon” and Wolf Alice’s “Moaning Lisa Smile” drawing significant praise from critics.
British Artist Video: All Hail Adele
The Best British Artist Video nominees can be organized into two broad groups. Adele, in a class of her own, forms the first: her video for “Hello” has received a steady torrent of plays, and is the fastest clip in YouTube history to reach 1 billion views. Her daily numbers are so high, in fact, so as to distort the scale of the graph, so we zoomed to the final months of 2015 to get a better sense of the viewership details.
The second group of nominees comprises four videos in close competition: Little Mix’s “Black Magic,” One Direction’s NASA-inspired “Drag Me Down,” Jessie J’s contribution to "Pitch Perfect 2," “Flashlight,” and Ed Sheeran’s compilation of home footage used in “Photograph.”
If we’re talking numbers alone, Adele will continue with her customary post-album-drop award sweep. If past fan favorites are the litmus test, One Direction are likely to triumph: they’ve won the 2014 and 2015 awards for “Best Song Ever” and “You & I,” respectively.
-- Posted by the YouTube Culture & Trends Team
Here are the nominees for British Breakthrough Artist:
First Year Active on YouTube | First Studio Release | Origin | Most Popular Track (by 2015 YouTube views) | Top 3 Countries (by 2015 YouTube views) | Genre (Wikipedia) | |
Jess Glynne | 2012 | August 21, 2015 | London England | 1. U.K. 2. Italy 3. U.S. | R&B, Pop | |
Years & Years | 2010 | July 10, 2015 | London England | 1. U.K. 2. Poland 3. U.S. | Synthpop | |
Catfish & the Bottlemen | 2007 | September 15, 2014 | Llandudno Wales | 1. U.K. 2. U.S. 3. Australia | Alternative rock, Indie rock | |
James Bay | 2013 | March 23, 2015 | Hertfordshire England | 1. U.K. 2. U.S. 3. Germany | Indie rock, Folk rock, Soul | |
Wolf Alice | 2010 | June 22, 2015 | London England | 1. U.K. 2. U.S. 3. Brazil | Alternative rock, Indie rock |
All roads lead to London
This year, it seems that much of the talent in the Breakthrough Artist pool hails from the capital, with R&B songstress Jess Glynne, electronic trio Years & Years, and indie rockers Wolf Alice all having origins in London. James Bay, the soft-spoken troubadour who shot to fame after a video of one of his open-mic performances surfaced on YouTube, isn’t far off, growing up in Hitchin, Hertfordshire, an hour’s drive north of the capital. The lone exception to this are Catfish and the Bottlemen, from the northern Welsh seaside resort town of Llandudno (population: 20,710).
Heat Map of Breakthrough Artist Nominees’ Origins
Jess Glynne and Years & Years vie for “Most Watched” title
Daily Views for BRIT Awards 2016 Nominees for Breakthrough Artist
Views expressed as a proportion of the highest view count, based on content ID, for U.K. viewers
If the Breakthrough Artist award were given out to the most popular musicians of 2015, YouTube viewers’ choices suggest that Years & Years would be the winners. The group’s success in the past year, due, in large part, to the tremendously positive response of their single “King,” which was also initially nominated for a BRIT Award in the Video category, is undeniable. After a huge surge in views during the summer, which saw the release of their debut album, "Communion," and the premiere of their triptych video for the track “Shine,” the band’s popularity has returned to a high, but comfortable baseline.
Years & Years’ “Shine #ChooseLight”
While Years & Years’ views have steadied, those of Jess Glynne, whose memorable appearance on Clean Bandit’s “Rather Be” led to a 2015 Grammy win in the Best Dance Recording category, have been growing. Although she began the year relatively low, tracks like “Hold My Hand” and “Don’t Be So Hard on Yourself” have boosted her profile significantly, eventually leading Glynne to become the most-viewed artist in the group, according to daily views.
Jess Glynne’s “Ain’t Got Far to Go”
James Bay, who also recently received a Best New Artist Grammy nomination, began the year strongly, and has been the most impressively consistent musician of the group. Catfish and the Bottlemen and Wolf Alice, both representing the more niche, indie-rock contingent, follow. Despite their relative obscurity, both have produced impressive debuts, with Catfish and the Bottlemen’s “Cocoon” and Wolf Alice’s “Moaning Lisa Smile” drawing significant praise from critics.
Catfish and the Bottlemen’s “Cocoon”
British Artist Video: All Hail Adele
Daily Views for BRIT Awards 2016 Nominees for British Artist Video, Jan 1 - Dec 31, 2015
Views based on Content ID for U.K.-based users
The Best British Artist Video nominees can be organized into two broad groups. Adele, in a class of her own, forms the first: her video for “Hello” has received a steady torrent of plays, and is the fastest clip in YouTube history to reach 1 billion views. Her daily numbers are so high, in fact, so as to distort the scale of the graph, so we zoomed to the final months of 2015 to get a better sense of the viewership details.
Daily Views for BRIT Awards 2016 Nominees for British Artist Video
Views based on Content ID for U.K.-based users
The second group of nominees comprises four videos in close competition: Little Mix’s “Black Magic,” One Direction’s NASA-inspired “Drag Me Down,” Jessie J’s contribution to "Pitch Perfect 2," “Flashlight,” and Ed Sheeran’s compilation of home footage used in “Photograph.”
Ed Sheeran’s “Photograph”
If we’re talking numbers alone, Adele will continue with her customary post-album-drop award sweep. If past fan favorites are the litmus test, One Direction are likely to triumph: they’ve won the 2014 and 2015 awards for “Best Song Ever” and “You & I,” respectively.
-- Posted by the YouTube Culture & Trends Team
Friday, 12 February 2016
The Music Videos That Get Love on Valentine’s Day
Around Valentine’s Day, we’ve noticed that some music videos consistently become popular, every year. For example, here are the YouTube views of “I Just Called to Say I Love You” by Stevie Wonder in February 2015:
As Valentine’s Day approaches, YouTube users endearingly share, message and email “I Just Called to Say I Love You” at a much higher rate.
But that’s just Stevie Wonder. Here’s the music that people play the most around Valentine’s Day:
1Methodology
Songs that have at least a 50 percent increase in views on Valentine’s Day vs. average across January, March, April, and May (using the same weekday in the month), 2012 to 2015. To control for well-known songs (and eliminate obscure ones), we’ve omitted any videos that, on average, do not have at least 20,000 views/day outside of Valentine’s Day.
To create this list, we searched for songs with views that increase at least 50 percent on Valentine’s Day, every year, since 2012. Of all music on YouTube, only 18 songs fit this criteria.
Some observations:
-- Posted by the YouTube Culture & Trends Team
Total Views* of “I Just Called to Say I Love You” by Stevie Wonder
*“Views” is based on both official and fan-uploaded videos claimed using Content ID
As Valentine’s Day approaches, YouTube users endearingly share, message and email “I Just Called to Say I Love You” at a much higher rate.
But that’s just Stevie Wonder. Here’s the music that people play the most around Valentine’s Day:
Songs That Consistently Become Popular on Valentine’s Day
Views of video increased by at least 50 percent on Valentine’s Day, every year, since 2012.1
| Artist | Song | Release Date |
|---|---|---|
| Laura Pausini | Le Cose Che Vivi | 1996 |
| Nat King Cole | L-O-V-E | 1964 |
| Axel | Amo | 2005 |
| Franco de Vita | Te Amo | 1988 |
| Joaquín Sabina or Sabina y Cía | Contigo | 1996 |
| Adam Sandler | Grow Old With You | 1998 |
| Stevie Wonder | I Just Called to Say I Love You | 1984 |
| Savage Garden | Truly Madly Deeply | 1997 |
| Barry White | Can't Get Enough of Your Love, Babe | 1974 |
| Barry White | You're the First, the Last, My Everything | 1974 |
| Umberto Tozzi | Ti Amo | 1977 |
| Elton John | Can You Feel the Love Tonight | 1994 |
| Jovanotti | A Te | 2008 |
| Axel | Tu Amor Por Siempre | 2005 |
| Rabito | ... Que Te Quiero | 2003 |
| Tercer Cielo | Enamorados | 2012 |
| Chayanne | Completamente Enamorados | 1990 |
| Bryan Adams | Have You Ever Really Loved a Woman? | 1995 |
Songs that have at least a 50 percent increase in views on Valentine’s Day vs. average across January, March, April, and May (using the same weekday in the month), 2012 to 2015. To control for well-known songs (and eliminate obscure ones), we’ve omitted any videos that, on average, do not have at least 20,000 views/day outside of Valentine’s Day.
To create this list, we searched for songs with views that increase at least 50 percent on Valentine’s Day, every year, since 2012. Of all music on YouTube, only 18 songs fit this criteria.
Some observations:
- Barry White and Axel both have two tracks each.
- Nat King Cole’s “L-O-V-E” (1964) and Barry White’s “Can't Get Enough of Your Love, Babe” (1974) are the oldest tracks on this list.
- Spanish, not French, may be the language of love: Seven of the 18 songs are in Spanish, eight are in English, three in Italian, and none are French.
- The only woman is Laura Pausini (an Italian artist).
-- Posted by the YouTube Culture & Trends Team
Thursday, 11 February 2016
2015: The Year of Fetty Wap
Among this year’s Grammy nominees, Fetty Wap’s “Trap Queen” epitomizes a rags-to-riches success story. It’s one of the few nominated tracks that, at its inception, was released by an independent artist.
“Trap Queen” charted on Billboard in February 2015, but the song was first uploaded online in April 2014 without any promotion – the DNA of a sleeper hit. What happened in those nine months? How did a high school dropout, with only a couple of years' worth of rapping, rise from anonymity? And, perhaps most importantly, how does a homegrown hit from a small New Jersey city germinate into a full-blown international phenomenon?
To find out, we analyzed the video views for “Trap Queen,” a strong barometer of his popularity, as well as the articles and posts which brought it most attention.
First, let’s examine the ascent of “Trap Queen,” from May 2014 to present day.
“Trap Queen” experienced huge growth in January 2015, but it took eight months to get there. “Trap Queen” may seem like an obvious hit, but from May to December 2014, it was freely available on YouTube, unknown to most of the music community.
Here’s a timeline documenting the track’s views, articles, and social media that spread the video to new audiences.
In 2015, however, things quickly change.
Once “Trap Queen” broke in New York in January 2015, it quickly spread to surrounding states over the course of next month. For Fetty Wap (and, likely, much of hip-hop), the New York market seemed to be a catalyst for mainstream success.
No surprise, with a song like “Trap Queen”: it worked.
-- Posted by the YouTube Culture & Trends Team
“Trap Queen” charted on Billboard in February 2015, but the song was first uploaded online in April 2014 without any promotion – the DNA of a sleeper hit. What happened in those nine months? How did a high school dropout, with only a couple of years' worth of rapping, rise from anonymity? And, perhaps most importantly, how does a homegrown hit from a small New Jersey city germinate into a full-blown international phenomenon?
To find out, we analyzed the video views for “Trap Queen,” a strong barometer of his popularity, as well as the articles and posts which brought it most attention.
First, let’s examine the ascent of “Trap Queen,” from May 2014 to present day.
Weekly Average Views of “Trap Queen” by Fetty Wap
“Views” is based on both official and fan-uploaded videos claimed using Content ID
“Trap Queen” experienced huge growth in January 2015, but it took eight months to get there. “Trap Queen” may seem like an obvious hit, but from May to December 2014, it was freely available on YouTube, unknown to most of the music community.
Here’s a timeline documenting the track’s views, articles, and social media that spread the video to new audiences.
May 2014By the end of 2014, “Trap Queen” has received an impressive 2.2 million views, but it still has a long way to go before reaching mainstream status (at the time of writing, it’s been viewed more than 700 million times). The song effectively spent 75 percent of the year under the radar — a perfect example of slow, word-of-mouth growth. But it’s still a local hit, played predominantly in the Northeastern U.S. New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and New England represent 73 percent of “Trap Queen” plays.August 2014
- Fetty Wap uploads an audio-only version to YouTube. It receives approximately 1,000 views/day (190,000 total) until he uploads the official music video in August 2014.
- During this period, “Trap Queen” is a local hit. 57 percent of his views are from his home state of New Jersey, followed by 25 percent from New York and 2.2 percent from Virginia.
October 2014
- Fetty Wap releases the official video for “Trap Queen” on August 7.
November 2014
- Views of “Trap Queen” increase to about 15,000/day.
- A majority of views for “Trap Queen” shift from New Jersey, Fetty’s home state, to neighboring New York.
- Rapper Bobby Shmurda posts a video of himself singing to “Trap Queen” to his hundreds of thousands of Instagram followers.
December 2014
- Views of “Trap Queen” increase to about 30,000/day.
- Hip-hop blog Pigeons and Planes tweets and showcases “Trap Queen” as one of the Best Songs of the Week, one of the first major media outlets to drive visitors to the YouTube music video.
- Complex Magazine covers Fetty Wap in his first major interview.
- Fetty Wap signs to record label 300 Entertainment.
- Views of “Trap Queen” remain steady at about 30,000 - 50,000/day.
- Near the end of December 2014, Trap Queen appears on a number of “best of 2014” lists, including a wrap-up from Huffington Post and Noisey (which called it the “hottest New York record of the year”).
In 2015, however, things quickly change.
January 2015
- Views for “Trap Queen” skyrocket to 200,000/day.
Month-to-Month Growth of “Trap Queen” Views
“Views” is based on both official and fan-uploaded videos claimed using Content ID
February 2015
- Having appeared on several prominent end-of-year lists, Fetty is gaining mainstream popularity.
- Funkmaster Flex, on his radio show, debuts French Montana's remix of “Trap Queen.”
- For several weeks, “Trap Queen” has gone head-to-head against other hip-hop tracks on hip-hop site The Boombox. It now enters its Hall of Fame after users vote it superior to songs by Fabolous, J. Cole, Dipset, and Lil Wayne.
- Views double again, month-to-month, to 400,000/day.
- In an interview with i-D, Rihanna says that “Trap Queen” was the last song that she purchased.
- During a performance, Kanye West brings Fetty Wap as guest to perform “Trap Queen” at the Roc City Classic in New York City, after declaring it to be his "favorite song right now." Footage of Jay Z and Beyoncé, dancing to Fetty's performance amidst the crowd, emerges.
- Less than a week later, queen of acoustic hip-hop covers Niykee Heaton uploads a cover of “Trap Queen” on YouTube.
- Florida surpasses New York as the most popular source of “Trap Queen” views. “Trap Queen” reaches national status, spreading to multiple states beyond of the Northeastern U.S.
Views of the Official “Trap Queen” Music Video
August 2014 - July 2015
Once “Trap Queen” broke in New York in January 2015, it quickly spread to surrounding states over the course of next month. For Fetty Wap (and, likely, much of hip-hop), the New York market seemed to be a catalyst for mainstream success.
March 2015April 2015
- Views reach the 1,000,000/day mark.
- Billboard runs an interview with Fetty Wap on March 5, where the rapper expounds on his unique blend of rap and singing: "I just wanted to do something different. Everybody was rapping. Everybody wants to be a rapper so I did something different. I started singing. But I ain't want to be a singer, so I did my own thing."
May 2015
- “Trap Queen” reach 2,000,000 views/day.
- In his most televised appearance to date, Fetty plays the MTV Movie Awards alongside Fallout Boy, with the band providing the backing to his performance of “Trap Queen.”
- Fetty, whose Paterson, N.J., roots are often discussed in interviews, is featured on NJ.com. His mother reveals that despite his perpetual modesty about his musical upbringing, Willie Maxwell II — Fetty Wap's real name — had played the piano and sang in the church quartet where his grandfather served as pastor.
- “Trap Queen” reaches 3,000,000 views/day.
- Drake reaches out to Fetty about collaborating, and the pair release “My Way.”
- Fetty gives a video tour on YouTube of his hometown Paterson, N.J.
June 2015
- By now, it’s so evident that “Trap Queen” is the summer's biggest track that pop culture site Jezebel names its songs of summer list Beyond ‘Trap Queen.'
- Fetty receives one of the top accolades for up-and-coming hip-hop artists, and lands in XXL Magazine's Freshman Class of 2015.
- The Music Choice channel uploads a video of Fetty receiving the award for Most Played Video in early 2015. Fetty, visibly moved, mumbles, "I ain't never win nothing in my life before ..."
July 2015
- Peak “Trap Queen.” Daily views of “Trap Queen” climax at approximately 3,500,000/day and growth has stalled to roughly 3 percent more than the previous month.
- Official video for Fetty’s “679” is released.
August 2015September 2015
- Fetty becomes the first artist in history to hold four top 10 spots simultaneously on Billboard's Hot Rap Songs chart with “Again,” “679,” “My Way,” and “Trap Queen.”
- Fetty performs a “Back to School” concert in Paterson, N.J, and Mayor Jose Torres awards Fetty with the key to the city.
October 2015
- Fetty's highly anticipated self-titled album is released. It debuts at #1 on the Billboard 200 Albums Chart, and proceeds to sell 75,000 copies in the first week.
- Fetty features on French Montana's “Freaky,” as well as Ty Dolla $ign's “When I See Ya.”
November 2015
- David Guetta releases his video for “Bang My Head,” featuring Fetty alongside Sia.
December 2015Fetty Wap’s path to success was highly unorthodox. Rather than approach his musical career through traditional approaches, Fetty took a more unique route: he promoted the track on social media as far as it would go, and let the excitement of his growing fan base fuel its spread.
- “Trap Queen” is nominated for two Grammy Awards in the Best Rap Song and Best Rap Performance categories.
No surprise, with a song like “Trap Queen”: it worked.
-- Posted by the YouTube Culture & Trends Team
Wednesday, 10 February 2016
Tori Kelly: From bedroom EP to Grammy nominee
Highlights:
- Tori Kelly, who has built her career on YouTube over the past eight years, is nominated for Best New Artist.
- She’s bootstrapped her community of now 2 million subscribers, built on prolific uploading and YouTube collaborations, a contrast from the tried-and-true strategy of studio releases and radio play.
- Instead of studio releases, her most-viewed videos are covers (albeit well-timed with official releases) and collaborations, the predominant source for gaining new fans.
At a 2010 “American Idol” audition, Simon Cowell told 16-year-old Tori Kelly that she looked like a human orange, noting, "I thought your voice was almost ... annoying."
Now, at 23, Tori Kelly is nominated for a Grammy in the category of Best New Artist.
She’s built much of her career on YouTube, with subscribers trickling in with every new cover, song, and video uploaded. Unlike most emerging artists, surprisingly, there’s no single track or video that is responsible for her success: her achievements are the result of a steady grind. It’s an aspiring musician’s dream: she has built an enormously loyal fan base at ~2 million YouTube subscribers, and she did it without a major release or significant radio play.
So how did Tori Kelly go from a six-song EP in her bedroom to performing alongside Andrea Bocelli? Of all Tori Kelly-related activities, what attracted the most new fans?
We dug into the data to find out.
First, let’s look at Tori Kelly’s subscribers over the past eight years (shown relative to her fellow Best New Artist nominees, for context).
2016 Grammy Nominees for Best New Artist: YouTube Subscribers
On Artist’s Official YouTube Accounts (including VEVO)
Tori Kelly’s first real brush with YouTube came much earlier than for the other Best New Artist nominees. In 2007, as a 14-year-old, Kelly uploaded a cover of John Wesley Work, Jr.'s "Go Tell It On The Mountain."
Tori Kelly’s first upload, singing "Go Tell It On The Mountain"
Over the past several years, she’s released more than 200 videos on her personal account (excluding collaborations with other YouTubers) — that’s more than twice as much as the second most prolific Best New Artist Nominee on YouTube, Meghan Trainor (86 videos). The hustle has paid off: many of her fans have been following her career for years, with roughly a third of her subscribers dating to 2013 or earlier.
Here are the most significant events during this time period, denoted by increases in subscribers to her YouTube channel.
Daily Increase in Subscribers: Tori Kelly’s YouTube Channels
1/1/2010 - 12/31/2015 for ToriKelly and ToriKellyVEVO
There are some 25 notable “spikes” in the above chart – moments when her subscribers suddenly increased, signaling an important event, such as a new upload, press coverage, or live performance. Let’s take a closer look at each of these spikes.
2010
November 9 (+1,033)
Kelly almost replicates her previous success by collaborating with AJ Rafael and JR Aquino to cover Far East Movement’s “Rocketeer.”
2011
July 22 (+847 subscribers)
Kelly & Todrick Hall cover Beyoncé’s “Best Thing I Never Had.”
November 14 (+608)
Kelly and AJ Rafael cover Justin Bieber’s “Mistletoe.”
December 1 (+867)
Kelly joins fellow YouTube musician AJ Rafael to cover Mariah Carey’s “All I Want For Christmas Is You.”
2012
January 22 (+2,815 subscribers)
Kelly duets with beatboxer Angie Girl, performing a cover of Frank Ocean’s “Thinkin Bout You.” It goes on to receive over 24 million views.
Tori Kelly’s most popular video, a cover of Frank Ocean’s “Thinkin Bout You”
August 7 (+1,198)
Kelly releases a live acoustic version of “All In My Head," which receives more than 17 million views.
Tori Kelly’s “All In My Head”
By the end of 2012, a 20-year-old Tori Kelly has more than 250,000 subscribers, almost entirely built on the success of her covers. None of these videos are breakout hits, but they are brilliantly timed and well-received: astutely, Kelly often covers songs within weeks of their release, and seizes on their initial buzz.
Her cover of Frank Ocean’s “Thinkin Bout You,” for example, preceded the official release of the song by three months. Ocean’s track had leaked online in mid-2011, but was promptly removed until its official release in the spring of 2012. Kelly’s cover, meanwhile, came out in January 2012.
Kelly also built off the popularity of Beyoncé’s “Best I Never Had,” releasing her cover weeks after the song’s official debut. Similarly, her second most popular video, a cover of “Suit and Tie,” was uploaded three months after Justin Timberlake released the track.
2013
March 10 (+5,264 subscribers)
Tori Kelly uploads a cover of Justin Timberlake’s “Suit & Tie.”
July 30 (+5,976)
Tori Kelly uploads a Vine of herself singing “Sun Is Out and I’m Feeling OK” in her car on the way to the studio.
September 5 (+2,344)
Scott Hoying (of Pentatonix) and Tori Kelly post a video of themselves covering Katy Perry’s “Roar.”
October 3 (+2,274)
Kelly uploads a lyric video for “Dear No One,” setting it in one of her oldest fan Tumblr sites.
Tori Kelly’s “Dear No One” lyrics video
November 7 (+3,780)
“Dear No One,” Tori Kelly’s first official Vevo video, is released.
December 26 (+2,947)
Tori Kelly appears as a guest on SUP3RFRUIT, the YouTube channel run by Pentatonix members Mitch Grassi and Scott Hoying.
2014
February 27 (+4,044 subscribers)
Kelly premieres “Paper Hearts.”
August 8 (+1,517)
Kelly uploads a video for “Silent,” featured on the soundtrack for “The Giver.”
November 4 (+2,669)
Kelly joins Pentatonix on a rendition of “Winter Wonderland/Don’t Worry Be Happy.”
2015
February 27 (+1,902 subscribers)
Tori Kelly releases the official video for “Nobody Love.”
March 31 (+1,959)
Kelly releases a Snapchat-themed lyric video for “Nobody Love” on her own channel.
April 28 (+3,036)
Kelly takes part in a live stream with fans from Google NYC HQ.
May 18 (+4,846)
Kelly performs “Nobody Love” at the Billboard Music Awards the night before.
June 24 (+4,026)
Kelly’s first major label album, “Unbreakable Smile,” is released.
August 3 (+24,775)
Tori Kelly appears as a guest on Miranda Sings’ channel for a vocal lesson.
August 7 (+8,587)
Miranda Sings joins Kelly on her channel and the two perform a unique cover of Taylor Swift’s “Bad Blood.”
August 31 (+6,968)
Kelly performs “Should’ve Been Us” at the MTV Video Music Awards.
October 25 (+3,478)
Andrea Bocelli and Tori Kelly duet at the MTV Europe Music Awards.
It’s worth noting that collaborations with other YouTubers were an important source of subscribers. At the beginning of her career, Kelly would often team up with fellow YouTube musician AJ Rafael, and it was her joint cover of “Thinkin Bout You” with Angie Girl that resulted in Kelly’s most-viewed video. Later, she began to work with members of the prominent YouTube group Pentatonix (10 million subscribers), joining them on their track “Winter Wonderland/Don’t Worry Be Happy.” She also appeared on the popular channel SUP3RFRUIT (~1.9 million subscribers) and collaborated with Scott Hoying. Finally, in August 2015, the first of her two video with Miranda Sings (6 million subscribers) resulted in the single largest daily increase over the past 6 years (~25,000 new subscribers in one day); in sum, both videos resulted in a staggering 33,362 new subscribers.
2016
January 4 (+2,648)
Kelly lands on the cover of Seventeen Magazine.
If there is one common thread running through Tori Kelly’s career, it is her unwavering work ethic.
Percent of Artist’s Views, by Video
On Artist’s Official YouTube Accounts (including VEVO)
Over the course of nearly 10 years, she has released a multitude of videos for her fans, whether covers, originals, or vlogs. No single video is responsible for than 10 percent of her total views – a stark contrast to the other Best New Artist nominees, for whom one or two tracks are responsible for the bulk of their popularity.
As validating as winning this year’s Grammy for Best New Artist would be for Tori Kelly, she has already achieved what seasoned musicians have managed to foster: a remarkably caring and involved group of fans.
-- Posted by the YouTube Culture & Trends Team
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