One Musician Gets A Record Deal Through Tinder, Another Can Pay Her Rent Solely From YouTube
Here are two stories about musicians doing well that could be described as social media success stories. But Ryn Weaver's claim that "Tinder got me a record deal" is a bit misleading. And, while it's conceivable that Shannon Hurley could make money via activities on social networks like Facebook and Twitter, YouTube enabled her success by being so much more than a social network. In fact, both tales are almost simply updated versions of old stories from a time before the web existed.
"Tinder got me a record deal."
There's been some controversy about Ryn Weaver's success with "OctaHate" and her deal with Friends Keep Secrets. The question seem to be whether or not this was manufactured or manipulated in some way by a major label.
So that's one element people may find of interest in the tale of Ryn Weaver (pictured above).
But here's what she says about the role of hookup/dating app Tinder in getting whatever deal she got:
"It was four years ago, I moved to New York City and it was actually on Halloween that I met Benny [Blanco] through my ex-boyfriend…Then, [months later]…my friend had a Tinder account, and we were out in LA, and she was like, 'Who is this guy? We have mutual friends!' And I was like, 'Oh my god, swipe yes! I know him!'"
"And so we ended up asking [Benny] what he was doing here in LA. He was like, 'I come here half the year to make music.' And then we all were going back and forth…and he was like, 'Come to my birthday party tomorrow.' So we go to this party, it was so silly. My friend was going for him, and I was like, 'Um, let me talk to you for a second, I’ve been really trying with the music thing.' And he was like, 'Well, good luck.' [laughs] So then I sent him my Soundcloud, along with a couple of his friends, and he ended up calling me like two days later like, 'We really want to work with you.' Tinder got me a record deal."
So it's a who you know, friends of friends kind of thing facilitated by a dating app. You could credit Tinder. Or you could just say that we now use more channels for communication and that those channels are what allow us to connect with people. And connections are a big part of making things happen that involve other people.
How YouTube Is Helping One DIY Artist Pay Her Bills
Shannon Hurley says she's making "enough money to pay rent" from her YouTube videos. Don't know how much she pays in rent but let's just assume that's her way of saying that YouTube provides a substantial part of her income.
Chris Robley interviewed Hurley about the revenue she's seeing from YouTube as well as the marketing power.
Hurley doesn't break out revenue figures but she does describe her approach to YouTube which includes a combination of lyrics videos for each song and official music videos for top songs from each album.
In fact, Hurley doesn't say anything you shouldn't have already heard or figured out if you've been in the game very long. What she does that's particularly interesting is illustrate that every single aspect of what's happening on YouTube in terms of both marketing and revenue are important pieces of the puzzle.
In fact, YouTube is a smaller version of a larger world in which one must almost always diversify one's revenue streams for long-term success as an artist while recognizing that sometimes the whole can be greater than the sum of the parts.
Hypebot Senior Contributor Clyde Smith (@fluxresearch) recently launched DanceLand. Send news about music tech startups and services, DIY music biz and music marketing to: clyde(at)fluxresearch(dot)com.
Benny’s deal is at Interscope.. so we Assume Ryn will rock through there when it’s ready..
I don’t think Shannon is paying rent from her youtube videos. She only has 361 subscribers and only one video with five figure views (most only have 200-300 views).
It seems she’s getting money from allowing her music to be used in product/brand videos on YouTube–which is great–but a distinct difference from making money from her own videos.