News: I was watching Nightline last night and heard about this amazing group of 5th graders at PS22 who sing in a chorus at school in Staten Island, New York. Their music teacher is Gregg Breinberg. They’ve received several million views on YouTube and have drawn attention from media and musicians alike through their postings on YouTube. Stevie Nicks of Fleetwood Mac reportedly cried listening to this video of “Landslide” and invited the students to her concert today.

Here is their website, and YouTube channel.

Analysis: I have received many complaints on how YouTube has gone downhill to a commercialized site filled with unispired videos. While that may be happening, the PS22 videos reminded me of the amazing creative amateur spirit that first pervaded YouTube. Thanks for the reminder, kids. You are the best thing on YouTube right now.

Footnote: The always IP-sensitive Techdirt blog wonders whether the RIAA will send YouTube a DMCA notice of alleged copyright infringement to shut down the kids’ performance of copyrighted music. Well, by the positive reaction from Stevie Nicks and Tori Amos to the kids’ performance of their songs, I seriously doubt it. I have written extensively about how “informal copyright practices” fill in the gaps in copyright law, such as here where no formal license has apparently been granted but it appears the practice is accepted by the copyright holders. You can download my article “Warming Up to User-Generated Content” by clicking here.

News: Last week, I came across the video of this amazing pianist Suzanna Hlinka, who had just joined YouTube and posted a few videos. Her performance of Rachmaninoff was so mesmerizing I made it my selection for Video of the Week. Now, within a few days, the video has over 1,600 views.

I did some digging and found out her biography (quoted below)–it’s beyond impressive:

Pianist Suzanna Hlinka has been praised by Australia’s Courier Mail as “A prodigious talent” and for her playing style, rich with “poise and finesse.” Born into a Sydney-based musical family in 1984 she began playing the piano at the age of three under the guidance of her mother, Olga Hlinka. Her teachers have included Jana Kovar, Sue Thompson, Natasha Vlassenko, Jiri Hlinka, and Oleg Stepanov, with whom she completed her Bachelor of Music degree in 2004 at the Queensland Conservatorium Griffith University. In the aforementioned institute Suzanna accompanied its Young Conservatorium choirs and won numerous awards including the Griffith University Award for academic excellence during three consecutive years.

Suzanna completed her Masters degree in 2007 at the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague as a pupil of Peter Toperczer. Throughout her time in the Czech Republic she simultaneously held a teaching position at the International School of Music and Fine Arts Prague and was awarded for her Thesis entitled “Mathematics and Music: Connections”, the prestigious Gaudeamus (Kapsch s.r.o.) award in the competition “Ceska Hlava,” a project supporting scientific and technical intelligence in the Czech Republic. She is currently based in Bern, Switzerland.

Suzanna has been a prizewinner of the Yamaha Piano Competition in Australia, Concertino Praga International Radio Competition for Young Musicians and the Rudolph Firkusny International Piano Competition in Prague, amongst others. She has performed as a soloist with many orchestras including the Orchestra, Youth Orchestra, Conservatorium Orchestras, and the Chamber Ensemble of Queensland as well as the South Bohemian Chamber Philharmonic Orchestra. Suzanna is regularly invited to perform in festivals in Australia and Europe and has appeared on Australian and Czech television and radio such as SBS, 4EB, 4MBS, ABC, and Czech radio.

Alongside her soloist activities Suzanna devotes herself to chamber music cooperating with musicians such as Pavel Eret, Christoph Blickling and her father, Vojtech Hlinka. Suzanna has performed in Australia, Czech Republic, Germany, Italy, Japan, Norway, and Switzerland.

Analysis: I know I have a good eye for talent, but, wow, it’s just amazing to learn how accomplished this person on YouTube really is. Suzanna will be launching a website soon.

December 11 marks the launch of YouTube in Russia. Terra Naomi will be performing at the opening in Russia.  Amazing.

Video click here.  Esmee was very nervous, but there’s no doubt she will be a star.

(Sorry, Oprah’s disabled the embedding of videos, so you need to click the link above.)

News: One of my readers commented that I should have noted that Esmee Denters will be donating all of her royalties from sales of her new song, “Crazy Place” (featured on this video) to charity. The song will be available next week on her website, www.esmeeworld.com. Justin Timberlake and his label Tennman Records will match the amount with a donation of their own.

Analysis: It was almost a year ago when I first began writing about Esmee. Back then, she was an 18-year-old Dutch girl singing to her karaoke machine from her bedroom in her parents’ house. Now, a year later, she’s signed with Justin Timberlake’s new label and will be appearing on Oprah on Tuesday. Wow, now that’s incredible.

As I said when Esmee first announced getting signed to a music contract, I feel so happy for all the success Esmee is experiencing. It couldn’t have happened to a sweeter person. Although Esmee did once have a desire to become a social worker, my guess is that she will be able to achieve much more good through her music. What musician donates all her royalties for her first single to charity? Esmee is something special.

News: As typical for this amazing songstress, Terra Naomi has posted some very personal blog posts on her blog, discussing why she hasn’t posted many videos on YouTube after being discovered there. Here’s what she says: “A real lack of free time along with a few bad experiences made it really easy to distance myself from myspace and youtube, but i decided that i need to make more time to communicate with the people who actually get something from my music (unlike many of the other people i have to make time to talk to and deal with on a daily basis).” Terra confesses she’s still trying to “transition” from being an unknown artist posting on YouTube to a signed musician.

The good news is that Terra has decided to launch another “Virtual Tour” on YouTube, by posting a video every night of her upcoming tour with The Fray: “i also decided to revisit the virtual tour, and i will post a new video every night of the tour, from my hotel room. or maybe the bus. depends on where i am after each show, i guess!”

Analysis: In the past few months, I’ve wondered a little why Terra Naomi and Esmee Denters (both of whom posted many videos on YouTube before their signings with record labels) don’t continue to post that many videos anymore. Certainly, they have more demands on their time, especially trying to release a new album. At the same time, though, YouTube is where the fan base is that helped them get discovered. It’s great to hear Terra will be launching another “Virtual Tour” on YouTube.

For more information on Terra Naomi, visit here.

News:  The New York Times has a feature article today about Matt Sloan and Aaron, two guys in Wisconsin who developed a runaway hit–with over 19 million views–on YouTube called “Chad Vader.”  Chad Vader is Darth Vader’s younger brother, who works, of all places, at a grocery store.

Analysis:  Hilarious.

News:  Sorry, I’m a little late in reporting that Terra Naomi has officially released her debut album “Under the Influence” with Island Records in the UK.   If you have iTunes, you can flip your switch at the bottom to “United Kingdom” to buy the album because (for archaic reasons employed by music labels) it’s not yet available in the United States version of iTunes.

Analysis:  Awesome achievement.  From YouTube to a music label within a year.  Without a doubt, Terra Naomi is the most important musician to come from YouTube.  Her song “Not Sorry” is doing well on iTunes (and apparently on the radio in the UK).

News: Esmee Denters is one of the biggest musical discoveries on YouTube. This spring, she signed with Justin Timberlake and got to perform with him in Europe. Here’s Episode 1 of her mini-documentary, “Around the World with Esmee.” For more posts on Esmee, visit here.

Analysis: The best part is the ending, where we get to know Esmee a little more.

News: Little Loca, aka Stevie Ryan (who in real life is white, even though she plays a Latina on YouTube), gets her own TV show tonight on the CW network, 7:30 p.m. It’s called “Online Nation” and it will be all about amateur user-generated videos. The LA Times has a feature on Stevie in its Sunday edition. Below is a promo:

Analysis: This is ironic. Just as ABC, NBC, and CBS announced this week free videos of their shows online, online amateur videos will be migrating to TV, albeit on the unknown CW network. One day soon, the Internet + TV will be the same thing–or at least delivered on the same device.

News:  Openly gay YouTuber Chris Crocker signed a TV deal with 44 Blue Productions.  The show will follow his life as a gay male in a small town.  Crocker recently made a name for himself by defending–in a passionate, teary-eyed rant–Britney Spears from her detractors for her MTV flop.  Crocker’s video got over 8 million views.  More.

News:  According to the BBC, MTV just signed faux rap stars Mike O’Connell and Ken Jeong to a film deal, which “will centre around the rise of a delusional rapper and his Asian foreign exchange student friend as they take on the world.”  The pair go by the name Million Dollar Strong.  

Analysis:  Wow.  To make a feature length movie from a YouTube music video, that’s pretty amazing.  Lonelygirl15 didn’t even do that.

News:  Former Seventeen magazine editor-in-chief Atoosa Rubenstein has selected Esmee Denters as one of her “alpha kitties,” which she describes as follows:

“What’s an Alpha Kitty, you ask? Someone who’s brave, creative, fierce, passionate and…well, yes, weird. Weird is the new normal, haven’t you heard? After all, who wants to be cookie-cutter, anyway? Ugh. B-O-R-I-N-G. “Le freak c’ést chic” is our motto in the world of Alpha Kitty. We’re a celebration of being different…of being individuals…of self expression.”  Other alpha kitties are here.

News:  The Wall Street Journal has a front page article exposing YouTube singer Marie Digby as a fake of sorts.   She is a fake amateur. 

The WSJ uncovered the fact that Digby had a recording contract with Disney’s Hollywood Records back in 2005.  Digby, however, never revealed her professional status on her YouTube channel or MySpace page, nor did Hollywood Records on its YouTube channel.

Analysis:  Being accused of being a “fake amateur” singer–wow, now that’s interesting.  I guess it’s better to be an amateur on YouTube than a professional singer. 

This is much different from the “lonelygirl” incident where the question was whether the person was real or fictitious.  Here, there’s no doubt Marie Digby is a singer and a real person, so I don’t know what all the fuss is about.  Why is the Wall Street Journal spending front page coverage to this story?  It’s only helping spread publicity for Marie Digby (which seems counter to the thrust of the WSJ article).

UPDATE:  I answer in another post whether Marie Digby did anything wrong.

News: YouTube sensation Esmee Denters announces a contest, shows a preview of behind-the-scenes video of her rise to stardom, and then performs an original song at the end. UPDATE: Esmee took down the original video with the new song and posted a different video without the new song, but with a souped up version of “Figure It Out.”

Analysis: Happy anniversary, Esmee! It’s been quite a year. Thanks for sharing it with the YouTube community. The best is yet to come.

News:  Larry Ratliff has an excellent article describing how YouTube helped propel Andy Samberg’s career, first on Saturday Night Live, and then in his first feature film, “Hot Rod.” 

Ironically, Samberg’s big break came when someone posted an unauthorized clip of his skit “Lazy Sunday” from Saturday Night Live onto YouTube.  Before that, Samberg was relatively unknown.  But after the video went viral on YouTube (getting over 5 million views), SNL signed Samberg and his Lonely Island crew fulltime.  SNL produce Lorne Michaels also signed Samberg to star in his movie “Hot Rod.” 

Of his YouTube fame, Samberg said:  “We were very fortunate. That YouTube wave was coming, and we just happened to have a nice clip that landed on the crest of it. It got us a lot of attention just as it was swelling.”