YouTube has been around for a while, but its impact on the current generation is so great that some of our biggest stars owe it a lot. It doesn’t matter if you are releasing original singles or covers; the site receives billions of visitors each month. This makes it a powerful platform with a large potential audience. You never know who may be watching your video.
Many people who wanted to be A-listers, uploaded their work in the past onto YouTube in the hopes of it going viral enough for them to get discovered. With the help of some luck, some talented artists do end up being noticed by agents and producers which brought them a big success. Below we have a list of six internationally-recognized artists who owe YouTube a lot for their successful careers.
1. Justin Beiner
Justin Bieber is undoubtedly the most popular YouTube star, but he also had to start somewhere. Justin Bieber started making YouTube music videos in his early days. His videos were viewed by 100 people, followed by a thousand, then ten thousand, which gave him motivation and he continued to post more videos. He was eventually discovered by his manager, who flew him from Atlanta to meet Usher. After a lengthy bidding battle with Justin Timberlake’s big names, Usher signed Justin to Island Records.
2. Alessia Cara
Alessia Cara was only 13 when her first YouTube video cover was posted. Her love for music led her to post more, and she was loved by many. EP Entertainment’s founder was shown an Alessia Video by his daughter. This gave her the opportunity to start her journey towards success. Alessia says that it barely feels real. She sometimes feels that she’s just watching her body outside of herself.
3. The Weeknd
Abel Tesfaye (also known as The Weeknd) gained fame on YouTube, anonymously, unlike many other YouTube celebrities. The Weeknd uploaded three songs under the username xoxxxooxo in 2011. They were Loft Music, What You Need and The Morning. Many people liked the songs and said that the song What You Want was an amazing R&B song made all the more appealing with a buttery anonymous voice.
4. Tori Kelly
Despite the criticism Tori Kelly received about American Idol, Kelly didn’t allow anything to get in the way of her success. Instead, she pursued her own interests and started making music in her bedroom in true YouTube fashion. Soon, her videos became famous and Scooter Braun became a fan of her viral videos. Now, she performs at the Grammys and plays ping pong alongside the Biebs.
5. Carly Rae Jepsen
Remember the days when you listened to “Call Me Maybe” over and over? Justin Bieber as well as Selena Gomez did the same. The song was released by Carly in September 2011. Justin discovered the song a few months later, he liked it so much that he created a lip-sync video and shared it with his followers on Twitter. The song became a huge hit. Scooter Braun could not resist Justin’s strong recommendation and signed Carly as soon as possible. This video is solid proof that one great video can launch a career.
6. James Bay
James is a low-key performer, but it’s hard to deny the impact that his music and songs have on our generation. Before he tasted the sweets of success and being signed, he was just a normal musician. He played gigs five to six nights a week. His modest social media following makes it clear that he was not interested in any other thing than music. It is this passion that has gotten him to where he’s on this day.
The stories of these zero to hero music artists is truly inspiring and also gives us big lessons about achieving our dreams. All these artists haven’t just dreamed of getting somewhere. They had more. They have passion. With that passion, they devoted their everything to their love for music and always insisted to be better at it and improving their skills. They focused less on the destination and more on the path. They liked the path itself which lead them to a beautiful destination.
