The Utube Blog

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

News: Terra Naomi just released in the UK three songs, “Up Here” and “Summertime,” and a cover of Rihanna’s “Umbrella.”

The songs are available through Island Tunes. (Sorry, not yet on US iTunes.)

Analysis: I just bought these songs. The “Umbrella” cover is spine-chilling, amazing, mesmerizing, mind blowing, jaw dropping, hair standing, I-can’t-believe-I-just-heard-that unbelievably good. Wow, I just love this version and could listen to this song over and over again (I just listened to the song six times in a row). You’ve got to listen to this song on Island Tunes (you can preview it for free, but it’s even better in its entirety)! Amazing.

The “Summertime” song has a cool, pyschedelic vibe to it, very different from the video above. “Up Here” is pretty much what you hear on the video above.

Analysis: Awesome. Just wait until Terra whips out the kazoo! What a hoot! This woman is so talented.

For more about Terra Naomi, here is my interview with her.

News: Terra Naomi is opening for The Fray in the UK. She decided to give us a glimpse of her tour by posting a video every night. Here’s the first, with Terra and her band in her hotel room.

Analysis: Lovely!

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:  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).

I love this song.

Terra Naomi is back with a new single, “Not sorry.”  She also bares her soul again on her blog, seeming somewhat fed up with some emails she has received.  This is a cool song, but isn’t the lighting on the video kind of dim?

News: Over the weekend, Terra Naomi was one of the artists who performed at a sold-out show of over 70,000 at Wembley Stadium for the Live Earth concert to bring awareness to global warming. Terra wrote her song “Say It’s Possible” after seeing Al Gore’s movie “An Inconvenient Truth.” Video here.

Terra writes about the experience on her blog:

“it was not until i stood on stage watching corinne bailey ray’s performance that i started to calm down. i don’t know what happened, but i suddenly lost all fear and was filled with a sense of peace. i looked out from behind the curtain and the stadium suddenly appeared much smaller. less intimidating. by the time i walked out onto the stage to play my song, i felt completely safe and calm and happy. i looked out into the crowd and felt completely at ease.

“it was the most incredible performance experience of my entire life.”

Hello, YouTube. Here’s my latest video. One thing about the title: the video was 3 minutes and 20 seconds, but I added credits at the end, which made it longer.

The original song at the end is “Song for Paige” by Lee Wadlinger, one of my former students. He’s great. Go here for more about his music: http://www.myspace.com/leewadlinger and http://nextbestrecords.com/

I hope to make a few more YouTube videos this month, so stay tuned.

This video is hilarious, especially the ending.

News: Terra Naomi, the first musician to be discovered on YouTube, had an interview with Cisco as a part of its “Human Network” feature. You can see the video on Cisco. I’m not sure if a text copy is available on Rolling Stone. Terra also performed “Close to Your Head” for the interview, see below. The song is one of my favorites.

Terra Naomi, “Close to Your Head”

UPDATE: Terra Naomi’s single is now available on iTunes for 99 cents. You can get the full version and the acoustic version. You can listen to the entire song here. I’ve already purchased mine. Please consider supporting Terra!

As I’ve written already, we all can show the music industry that more amateurs from YouTube and the Internet deserve a chance. Terra’s done her part. Now, it’s our turn. 99 cents, that’s all it takes. You can help change the music industry forever — and for the better.

Official single

Acoustic version

UPDATE, Monday, June 11: This is not an ad. This is a request for support. Please consider supporting Terra Naomi, the first musician from YouTube to break through with a major label. She did it with her magical, uplifting song, “Say It’s Possible,” which goes on sale today. You can listen to the entire song here. The official video is below.

I think the song’s beauty speaks for itself. Let me just add this: the music industy is filled with dinosaurs who can be pretty settled in their ways. Because YouTube is new and different, some music industry reps still harbor some skepticism about signing amateur artists from YouTube. As one exec said, “Strong online popularity doesn’t necessarily translate to real sales.”

That’s where we come in. Terra Naomi has opened a door for other amateur artists by showing to the music industry there’s talent to be discovered on the Internet. Terra’s done her part. Now, it’s our turn. We have the power to break that door down, so the music industry cannot ignore all the unsigned talent out there any longer.

You can buy Terra’s single from Island Records here

(.79 English pound, which I think converts to $1.55 US dollar). There’s even a promotion where you can get the track for free if you register.  The single is now available for 99 cents on iTunes (US site), in both full and acoustic versions.

Terra discusses how her life has changed since being discovered on YouTube.

Terra Naomi talks about her days as a student studying classical opera. It’s a time when Terra started doing drugs with a bunch of drug-addicted musicians in Detroit. She eventually went home to her parents and collapsed–they took her to rehab.  Terra vowed never to go back to that low point in her life.

The opera training explains a lot. That’s one thing that is distinctive about Terra’s voice. She sometimes sings soprano in her songs, and it’s so pleasant to listen to. (You can hear her range in “In The Summertime,” for example.)

Terra visits high school students and talks about how she connects with young teens. Her song “Jenny” was written in response to 8 high school girls who wrote Terra about thoughts of committing suicide.

The “Say It’s Possible” montage at 0:26 left in the video is fantastic! It might be my favorite version.

I can’t wait to see this song hit No. 1 on the charts when it’s officially released.

This video shows how hard it is for musicians, even those with incredible amounts of talent, to be discovered today. Thank heavens for YouTube in discovering the talent in this video.

Nice to see talent, discovered.

Terra Naomi jokes around about not letting her stardom get to her head. She also has posted her new song “In the Summertime” and invites you to make her 3rd version of her video of “Say It’s Possible.”

News:  YouTube announced its 2006 YouTube Awards after one week of voting.  I was away all last week, but here’s how I think the winners were selected.  I believe YouTube selected the 10 finalists for each category and allowed 1 week of voting online.  The winners were announced today and the runners up.  You can see the winners here and all the runners up in each categoryl here.  The winners were:

Best Music Video:  Terra Naomi, “Say It’s Possible”

Most Creative Video:  OK Go, on Treadmills

Most Inspirational:  Free Hugs Campaign 

Most Adorable:  Kiwi!

Best Series: Ask a Ninja

Best Commentary:  The Winekone, Hotness Prevails

Best Comedy: Smosh 2, Stranded

Analysis:  I’m surprised Lonelygirl15 wasn’t up for voting.  I don’t really follow the series, but it seems like a huge omission for YouTube not to include the show. 

I also think that YouTube should do much more with these awards.  I can’t believe the entire thing happened within 1 week, without much time for voting or publicity.  I think the winners were on CBS this morning, but I don’t think many people even knew about it.  In the future, YouTube should try to increase the publicity and stature of the event.

First, I would always hold the awards the week before the Oscars.  Second, I would create a nice trophy and perhaps even give some monetary award to the winners.  After all, most of the winners probably are “starving artist” types.  (I’m not sure what the winners got, other than their names posted.)  Third, I would hold a nice banquet at which the winners are announced.  YouTube should film the announcements and then create a short video for their site.    I also would increase the number of categories.  There should be a “Video of the Year,” for sure, and a category for “Best Video from a TV show/YouTube partner.”        

Why should YouTube do this?  It’s good PR for their site.  And it adds to the incentive for people to create videos for their site.  Adding prestige to the Awards will only add to YouTube’s appeal to users.    

The Utube Blog: OK, let’s turn to some easy, short answer questions. I promise not to ask any Barbara Walters, what kind of tree would you be questions, but let’s start with, Who are your biggest musical inspirations?

Terra: Joni Mitchell, Bob Dylan, Lou Reed, Radiohead, David Bowie, and Mozart.

The Utube Blog: Who are you listening to on your iPod right now?

Terra: Imogen Heap, Laughing Hyenas, and Radiohead.

The Utube Blog: Favorite movie?

Terra: Right now it’s “West Side Story.”

The Utube Blog: Favorite book?

Terra: Right now it’s “Midnight’s Children.”

The Utube Blog: Ever watch American Idol?

Terra: Nope.

The Utube Blog: You might be the only one in America based on last week’s Idol ratings… Any New Year’s resolutions?

Terra: Nope. Every New Year’s Day I make a list of things which will happen in the coming year. Goals, wishes, intentions… this year there are about 60 I think.

The Utube Blog: Describe a typical day in the life of Terra Naomi.

Terra: These days I get up, walk my dog Elliott, read MySpace messages and emails, make any phone calls I need to make, go to the gym or yoga, and then to the studio where I spend the rest of the day/evening. I’m loving that!

The Utube Blog: Yeah, sounds like a nice gig. What’s one interesting fact about you that even some of your friends don’t know?

Terra: Honestly, I am guilty of giving out WAY too much information. I don’t think there’s anything I haven’t told someone. Even my mom and dad know every detail of my life—much to the dismay of some of my ex-boyfriends!

The Utube Blog: At the law school where I teach, some of my students are in a band called the “Backup Plan.” The name is kind of a joke about what would happen if they didn’t make it as lawyers. Let’s just imagine that Terra Naomi was still undiscovered, or the music thing just hadn’t worked out. What would your backup plan be?

Terra: Great name—I would probably be living on my mom and dad’s couch. Or in my car.

The Utube Blog: Well, thank heavens for us you don’t need to go to your backup plan! The world is a better place for it. You are definitely the best thing YouTube has discovered so far. I think I’ll end on that note, thanks so much for sharing with us, Terra! Look forward to your next album.

Terra: Thank you!!!

Part 1 of the Interview with Terra Naomi

Part 2 of the Interview with Terra Naomi 

The Utube Blog I really, really love “Close to Your Head.” On YouTube, you say that you were inspired to write the song by an encouraging comment you received from someone on YouTube. What was the comment?

Terra: He literally wrote “the stars are close to your head.” I don’t think English was his first language and it was such a beautiful sentiment. Before I knew it I had written the song “Close to Your Head.”

The Utube Blog: When you write a song, do you write the lyrics and music at the same time or together? Does one come before the other? You seem to be able to compose very quickly — “Say It’s Possible” in 5 minutes.

Terra: It depends—there is no one process when I write a song—sometimes everything comes together, like “Say It’s Possible,” and other times I write the melody and chords first, then the lyrics, and vice versa.

The Utube Blog: On April 9, 2006, you wrote on your blog that you wrote the most important song you have ever written? Which song was that? And do you still feel that way about it?

Terra: That song is “Something Good to Show You.” I wrote it after singing backup for Neil Young’s album “Living with War.” I do still believe that it is one of my most important songs. I won’t say “most important” because I think “Say It’s Possible” is also a big one for me. “Something Good to Show You” is a political song and I had not written a political song up to that point.

The Utube Blog: Besides the recording contract, what’s been the biggest change in your life since you’ve been discovered?

Terra: Well, all the recent changes in my life relate to that one big change. But before the recording contract I think it was the realization that my music could reach people around the world. And not only reach them, but inspire them. I always thought that was possible, but seeing it actually happen was such an incredible affirmation. I stopped caring whether I ever got signed, whether I got the approval from the industry, because I saw that the real people of the world were embracing me. I make my music for those people, not for the music industry.

Part 1 of the Interview with Terra Naomi

[Tomorrow: Part 3 of The Utube Blog's interview with Terra Naomi]

The Utube Blog: Hi, Terra, thanks for taking some time to chat with us. OK, let’s get right to the song that made you famous, “Say It’s Possible.” When I watched your original YouTube video, it stopped me in my tracks. It’s what I call a showstopping performance. I’m sure that many others have felt the same way, given the over 1 million views the video generated and the many people from all parts of the world covering it. Why do you think this song resonates so much with people, or is it still a mystery?

Terra: First of all, thank you! I’m not really sure what it was about that video/song. I think part of it was the stark, honest performance—me in front of my video camera, no frills, no edits—I don’t think people are used to seeing that these days. The rest is sort of a mystery. I wrote it in about 5 minutes—everything just flowed out of me, the words, the melody, the chord pattern—and I think it came from an honest place inside of me that other people can relate to.

The Utube Blog: Five minutes?–that’s incredible. You have a real gift. Now, I’ve read that it was your manager’s idea for you to give a “virtual tour” on the Internet after you decided not to tour on the road. Who is your manager, and where did he or you get such a crazy idea? Be honest, did you actually think it would work?

Terra: My manager/producer is a supremely talented and lovely man named Paul Fox. He made records for XTC, 10,000 Maniacs, the Sugarcubes, the Wallflowers, Semisonic—and many more. I was sitting in his studio one day and I just couldn’t handle the thought of going out on the road again on my own…those solo tours were unbelievably grueling. So the two of us came up with the idea that I should film myself and post … I decided to name it “the Virtual Summer Tour.” We honestly thought that maybe 1,000 people would see them at the most.

The Utube Blog: What drew you to YouTube, anyways? You could have launched your virtual tour on MySpace music or your own website. Why YouTube?

Terra: YouTube was actually an afterthought. I had never used the site. I had an account set up because a friend had made a live performance video of “The Vicodin Song” at one of my hotel cafe shows and he suggested posting it on YouTube. So I did. But I had never used the site other than to post the video. MySpace had recently started its video hosting section so I posted my videos there. A few days later, as an afterthought, Paul said, “Why don’t you post them on YouTube, too?”

The Utube Blog: That was a pretty good afterthought. YouTube’s probably not an afterthought to anyone any longer. By the way, in the video in which you visit YouTube’s offices, one of YouTube’s reps appears to say, if I heard correctly, that your dad emailed YouTube pointing out your video for “Say It’s Possible.” Was it really your dad? If it was, will he get a cut of your future royalties?

Terra: Haha—no—it was not my dad. I didn’t go back to check on this, but she probably said “Chad” as in Chad Hurley. Apparently Chad stumbled upon my video soon after I posted it and then forwarded it to a few other people at his company, including the woman who was responsible for choosing the featured videos. According to this woman, she watched it 5 times and then put it on the front page.

The Utube Blog: No way, Chad Hurley…the cofounder of YouTube? Wow, that guy has many talents–not only running a company, but finding the next great musical talent. Chad Hurley deserves the many thanks of all your music fans. But I think after Google bought YouTube Chad probably won’t be needing a cut of your royalties. Regardless, your virtual tour on YouTube was a huge success, giving you exposure and leading to a major recording contract. But, now with your success, do you think you will continue your virtual tour on YouTube?

Terra: Well, I don’t call it a virtual tour anymore—that was really just a summer 2006 thing—but yes, I will definitely continue posting videos. I’ve been busy in the studio lately, but I plan to start posting videos again very soon.

[Tomorrow: Part 2 of The Utube Blog's interview with Terra Naomi]

Since I’ve been following YouTube, I don’t know how many videos I’ve surfed through. But if you asked me what are the two most important YouTube videos created so far, I think my choices would be quite easy to make.

(1) The first video is the more infamous video of then-Senator George Allen calling his opponent Jim Webb’s video guy a “macaca.” This video probably gave the Democrats the control of Congress, after Webb was able to pull out a close victory that put the Dems over the top in the Senate.

(2) The second video is Terra Naomi’s “Say It’s Possible.” It’s the video that proved that musicians can be discovered on YouTube, it proved what’s possible on YouTube.

This week, The Utube Blog will feature an exclusive interview with Terra Naomi, who was generous enough to take some time out of her busy schedule to share her thoughts about YouTube, her music, and much more. Stay tuned.

To start off the New Year, I thought it would be fitting to write about hope and possibility. Terra Naomi is a singer and songwriter whose success provides hope to all wannabe singers and musicians hoping to be discovered on YouTube. (Esmee Denters, are you listening?) Not too long ago, Terra, too, was undiscovered. But then Terra performed her original song, aptly titled “Say It’s Possible,” on YouTube on June 16, 2006. Later that month, YouTube stuck it on its homepage as its featured video. The video now has over 1 million views, and, the rest is, shall we say, history. Just this past month, Terra signed a recording contract with music label Island Records (who produce The Killers, Hoobastank, Melissa Etheridge, Bon Jovi, and others).

But what’s great about Terra Naomi — besides her amazing, angelic voice — is that she has shared her song with other YouTube users, allowing them to cover it and even teaching them how to play the chords in this video. And many, many people from all parts of the world have. Here’s one of the more endearing covers:

That’s not all. Even with her success, Terra makes videos and stays a part of the YouTube community. She made a video of her trip to YouTube’s offices, where she gave an “unplugged” performance of sorts. She also just made a new “official” video of “Say it’s possible,” which she put together from videos sent in to her by YouTubers who answered her question in 3 words or less, “What would you do/want if anything were possible?” Here’s the new video, just posted yesterday — Enjoy: