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September 06, 2007
The Marie Digby head-fake
With a few million views of her homemade music videos on YouTube apparently leading to a rash of TV appearances and a song being featured in a high-profile MTV show, musician Marie Digby seems to be the latest break-out amateur star discovered by the grassroots.
But in another example of how shortcuts on the road to authenticity eventually lead to a cliff, the WSJ tells us in a page-one story that Digby's do-it-yourself music videos were part of her record company's carefully crafted plan to feign amateur status. It's the amateurs who often benefit the most from grassroots-driven word of mouth in our social-media world.
Digby never disclosed her record label affiliation as she worked her way through the world of social media, an important consideration for many music lovers in the search for Artists Who Matter. Digby's MySpace page checkbox for "record label" was blank until the Journal started asking questions (now it says "major" for "record label.") At a recent gig in Los Angeles attended by her own record company executives, Digby said of her YouTube videos, "I just turned on my little iMovie, and here I am!" Nifty-presto!
The fuller story was that her record label, Hollywood Records, had signed her 18 months ago, gave her a Mac, consulted with her on what songs to videotape and even created a studio-level recording of "Umbrella" to post to iTunes.
So Hollywood did what Hollywood does: it airbrushed out parts of reality to create a better illusion, and Digby played along. The grassroots bought it, just as it did for another nubile amateur-out-of-nowhere, Lonelygirl15. Like that young and sweet-faced ingenue, Digby had plenty of professional, behind-the-scenes help.
But if Lonelygirl15 taught us anything (she was quite the precocious type) it's that once the facade of amateur status is broken, a significant portion of the grassroots crowd feels duped. Buzz built on trust dissipates.
When it was announced this summer that Lonelygirl15 was killed off -- she was sacrificed by a cult for her blood... yeah, happens every day around here! -- the world yawned and scratched itself.
Young singer-songwriter Marie Digby is, after all, a real person but launching a promising career (or product, or company) with such careless consideration for authenticity demonstrates remarkably poor judgment about the nature of word of mouth.
Update: Buzz built on trust dissipates because disappointed or even angry buzz can be toxic. There's plenty of the latter spreading hours after the Journal's story appeared. A few of the comments now on Digby's YouTube profile page:
- "It was a lousy thing to do to her true fans."
- "Thanks for selling us out to the corporate machine and lying about who you actually are."
- "The very *reason* so many of us liked her was *because* we thought she wasn't a fabrication of corporate marketers."
- "Building your career on a lie, instead of trusting your own talents and abilities enough to let them do the talking, it won't pay, not in the long run."
Digby has talent and her evangelists are trying to neutralize the naysayers, creating a classic showdown in the theater we cover. Too early to tell if all of this will harm or help her career. After all, publicity built on controversy requires the context of purposeful intent; Marie Digby isn't Madonna, Marilyn Manson or even Mark Cuban, intent on changing the game.
The real point here is that as Bob Dylan once sang, "To live outside the law, you must be honest."
Other blogs that reference The Marie Digby head-fake:
» It's not nice to fool YouTube Fans: Disney's role in Maria Digby's overnight success" from FunnyBusiness: Everything About Business Except The Bottom Line
Three months ago very few people had heard of singer Maria Digby. YouTube changed all that. Those who believe that social media is changing how business is conducted, hailed her meteoric rise --2 million views to her YouTube cover of [Read More]
Ben,
Great post. Sometimes I'm puzzled by marketers understanding of social media. It seems that they would understand that if they are asking people to spread the word about something, they have to do it with honesty and transparency. While Ms. Digby, Carson Daly and the LA radio station all are to blame for their misrepresentation, I am most disappointed in Hollywood Records. I know, I know...it is the music business and they're not exactly the most high-integrity business out there. But brands need to wake up and quit trying to dupe people into buying something, or worse yet, believing in something. They have to look at consumers as friends. I layered onto your thoughts at my blog if you'd like to check it out.
http://thecword.typepad.com/thecword/2007/09/whoops-was-that.html
I read this article earlier today and was once again dismayed. However Hollywood Records got exactly what they wanted- Publicity and now we are talking about it...they get more.
@Suki - I understand we're talking about it, but not really in a positive way. What label wants people talking badly about their artist? Sorry, but if that's how the label really feels, that's a cop-out. I hear PR people representing celebs like Paris Hilton say that the time, this "Any attention is good attention" thing is the same old ‘ends justify the means’ arguement.
Right now, marketing people inside the label are high-fiving each other because they got one by fans. All it did was make it harder for the next artist who genuinely deserves a shot, and who doesn't have major label support behind them.
So true! As Seth Godin says in "All Marketeres are Liars" .. you should tell stories but they MUST be AUTHENTIC.
"To live outside the law, you must be honest."
TRUE!... i like that phrase.
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http://href.hu/x/2sv1
the fake "reality show" (the surest path to an audience as a musician in the 2000s) has come to YouTube.
Her looks are an 8.5 her talent is a 5. I'm sure she'll be huge!
So much effort goes into faking sincerity, at some point it's not just smarter but easier to be sincere. At least I'd like to think so.
What the hell are you all you guys putting her down about. Look at Britney Spears before you think about talent. She can play guitar and piano...I don't think even with Hollywood to help her that she can learn to play in three months and that is just for one instruments. I like to hate too but you guys are taking this bit overboard.
What the hell are you all you guys putting her down about. Look at Britney Spears before you think about talent. She can play guitar and piano...I don't think even with Hollywood to help her that she can learn to play in three months and that is just for one instruments. I like to hate too but you guys are taking this bit overboard.
She never lied about being signed on to a record deal. Let's not judge her according to one source. She had indicated on her myspace page that she was signed to a record deal, waaay before the WSJ article. According to Marie' she decided to post youtube videos of her singing the current top 40 songs, to get recognized. That's exactly what happened when people recognized her for singing Rihanna's Umbrella. Prior to her youtube videos majority of the people in southern california didn't even know about her. She doesn't get the same publicity as Britney Spears...Ashley Simpson...or the other starlets. It was only because of her youtube videos that she finally got recognized. She definitely has talent. Listen to the other songs she's written.
HOLD UP...My understanding is that she got the record deal because she won a song contest sponsored by Pantene shampoo. They put one of her songs on a compilation of "Radio Disney" songs.
Then they gave her a laptop and told her to go record some songs on YouTube. This doesn't sound like a grand conspiracy. It sounds more like they were trying to blow her off to me.
Seriously, all marketing is some type of fraud. Who cares how she gets her name out. She sounds way better than the other pop stuff that is out there. And I don't see anyone throwing a fit about how they got their names out there. Maybe we should hear her side of the story http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=4165438&blogID=307265009.
Maybe we should commend her record for such a genius campaign
whatever it is, I still like Marie Digby!
