Facebook R&B crooner Mario has been relatively quiet on the music front for…
10 Most Web-Savvy Musicians: Artists Who've Aced the Internet
- Posted by Shelley White
Gorillaz
Creative Corporate Collabos
Virgin
Webmastery: Damon Albarn's cartoons 'n' tunes project Gorillaz has always had a dynamic and forward-thinking Web presence. Since the band's inception, Gorillaz.com has been packed with quirky videos, custom games and plenty of bonus eye candy detailing the band's fictitious universe. Most recently, Gorillaz teamed with Microsoft to promote the new Internet Explorer 9, running a contest that invited fans to draw the band's newest "member," the Evangelist (on a specially created app).
Further Net Working: Lest you think the band is just shilling for Microsoft, the latest Gorillaz album, 'The Fall,' was created entirely on an iPad and is available free on their website.
Further Net Working: Lest you think the band is just shilling for Microsoft, the latest Gorillaz album, 'The Fall,' was created entirely on an iPad and is available free on their website.
Arcade Fire
Taking Indie Cred to the Web Masses
Merge
Webmastery: It's not every day that beloved Canadian rock gods reinvent the music video. Arcade Fire did just that last year by teaming up with Google and director Chris Milk on a beautifully rendered interactive Internet project. 'The Wilderness Downtown' features the band's song 'We Used to Wait' and allows fans to input their location and actually see themselves taking part in the video (among other neato interactive effects).
Further Net Working: They also broadcast their August 2010 concert at New York's Madison Square Garden live over YouTube, tapping Terry Gilliam to direct.
Further Net Working: They also broadcast their August 2010 concert at New York's Madison Square Garden live over YouTube, tapping Terry Gilliam to direct.
OK Go
Viral Video Superstars
Chelsea Lauren, FilmMagic
Webmastery: Even if you're not a fan of their music, chances are you've seen an OK Go music video or two. And marvelled at it, then sent it to your friends. From their first viral hit, 2006's 'A Million Ways' (featuring the band doing choreographed moves in a backyard) to the seminal 'Here It Goes Again' (the one with the treadmills) to the insanely awesome Rube Goldberg machine in 'This Too Shall Pass,' these guys have taken the lowly, tired song promo and reinvigorated it for a new generation.
Further Net Working: Part of the reason the band split with EMI was because the label wouldn't allow their videos to be "embeddable."
Further Net Working: Part of the reason the band split with EMI was because the label wouldn't allow their videos to be "embeddable."
Radiohead
Pay-What-You-Want Pioneers
Colin Greenwood
Webmastery: Thom Yorke and his cohorts created the model that thumbed its nose at the record labels and put purchasing power in the hands of the people. Radiohead's 2007 album, 'In Rainbows,' was released as a digital download available only on their website, Radiohead.com. When you clicked on what the price was, you got a pop-up saying, "It's Up to You." Although they never officially released numbers, in the end they sold more records than any previous release (around 3 million, including digital downloads and traditional retail sales). Moreover, the pay-what-you-want experiment won points with fans and created a model that has been mimicked by others.
Further Net Working: Radiohead invited fans to create music videos for 'In Rainbows,' with Virtual Lasagna's winning entry for 'Reckoner' becoming the official video for that song.
Further Net Working: Radiohead invited fans to create music videos for 'In Rainbows,' with Virtual Lasagna's winning entry for 'Reckoner' becoming the official video for that song.
Kanye West
Generator of Twitter Rants and Free Tracks
Brian Kersey, AP
Webmastery: Kanye West isn't afraid to speak his mind. And, fortunately, Twitter allows him to do so immediately, to millions of fans, at the click of a "Send" button. Whether defending his actions on the 'Today Show' with Matt Lauer or atoning for Taylorgate, Kanye's ego-centric pronouncements will go down in Twitter history. (One pithy example: "I can't be everybody's hero and villain savior and sinner Christian and anti Christ!") Josh Groban recently performed the best of Kanye's wacky tweets on the 'Jimmy Kimmel Show.'
Further Net Working: He gave away free tracks online each week leading up to the release of his latest album, 'My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy.' Most recently, he gave fans a first listen of his collaboration with Jay-Z, 'H.A.M.,' in exchange for a "like" on the duo's Facebook page.
Further Net Working: He gave away free tracks online each week leading up to the release of his latest album, 'My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy.' Most recently, he gave fans a first listen of his collaboration with Jay-Z, 'H.A.M.,' in exchange for a "like" on the duo's Facebook page.
Lady Gaga
First Lady of the Blogs
Collin Erie/AOL
Webmastery: Lady Gaga is truly an artist of the Internet age. Her rise to fame was slow, her first release 'Just Dance' taking months to creep up the charts. Her fame grew through the constant support of (then-) tastemaking bloggers like Perez Hilton. Now, her controversial outfits (see: meat dress), performances (see: 2008 MTV VMAs) and music videos (see: 'Alejandro') have made her a near-constant presence on celebrity and gossip sites, winning her more than a billion views on YouTube. All this exposure pays quite nicely, too: Forbes magazine predicted she'll make $100 million in 2011.
Further Net Working: Like Kanye, she's a Twitter superstar, reaching a record-setting 8 million followers in February 2011, and she's used that platform to raise money and awareness for her pet causes, including HIV/AIDS funding and LGBT issues.
Further Net Working: Like Kanye, she's a Twitter superstar, reaching a record-setting 8 million followers in February 2011, and she's used that platform to raise money and awareness for her pet causes, including HIV/AIDS funding and LGBT issues.
Justin Bieber and Drake
Superstars Born Electronically
Def Jam, Getty Images
Webmastery: If there's anyone who is the poster child for the 21st century rags-to-riches fantasy, it's Justin Bieber. His story is legend: A small-town kid posts his covers of Usher and Justin Timberlake songs on YouTube, subsequently attracts the attention of Usher and Justin Timberlake. Signs with Usher, becomes a ginormous superstar. Similarly, Drake went from being teen 'Degrassi' star Aubrey Graham to hip-hop's next big thing via MySpace. His indie mixtape 'So Far Gone' was posted on his MySpace page and generated millions of plays even before he had any kind of record deal. Lil Wayne (who's also known to give away free tracks online) took notice of the hype and signed him.
Further Net Working: 6.7 million Beliebers hang on to JB's every tweet. And Drake's early grassroots Web domination allowed him to sign the best record deal in history ($2 million advance, he owns his masters and publishing, and Universal gets only a relatively small distribution fee).
Further Net Working: 6.7 million Beliebers hang on to JB's every tweet. And Drake's early grassroots Web domination allowed him to sign the best record deal in history ($2 million advance, he owns his masters and publishing, and Universal gets only a relatively small distribution fee).
Pink
Inviting the Dirty Little Freaks Into Her Head
Zomba
Webmastery: Pink first hit the pop charts more than a decade ago, so it's strange to think that this 30ish mom-to-be could still make a splash in the world of ever-changing youth tastes. But Pink has remained relevant by embracing social media wholeheartedly, and allowing fans to live inside her brain through her frequent, candid and entertaining Twitter updates. And with the baby on the way, it could be an interesting opportunity for fans to get an up-close-and-personal peek into her pregnancy. Childbirth by Twitter in 2011!
Further Net Working: She's supplemented her latest greatest-hits package by offering 'Pink Track by Track' -- videos revealing the personal stories behind her songs -- on her website.
Further Net Working: She's supplemented her latest greatest-hits package by offering 'Pink Track by Track' -- videos revealing the personal stories behind her songs -- on her website.
Nine Inch Nails
Giving It Up for Free
Interscope
Webmastery: NIN mastermind Trent Reznor is a vocal supporter of the "direct sales" approach to music distribution. Dissatisfied with his record company experiences, Reznor became a free agent in 2007. Both his 2008 releases, 'Ghosts I-IV' and 'The Slip,' were released electronically, the latter completely free, with downloads topping 1.4 million. (Limited-edition vinyl and CD/DVD versions were made available later.) He's also spread the digital music gospel, helping hip-hop poet Saul Williams release an album over the Internet in 2007, embracing peer-to-peer file sharing technology and making it clear he's OK with people passing his music around.
Further Net Working: Reznor's 2007 album 'Year Zero' was created as part of a Webby-award-winning alternate-reality game.
Further Net Working: Reznor's 2007 album 'Year Zero' was created as part of a Webby-award-winning alternate-reality game.
Girl Talk
Mashup Maven Says No to Copyright
Webmastery: The mashup concept has been around so long it might seem old hat, but when Girl Talk started taking bits and pieces of music and shoving them together in creative ways (all without permission), it was revolutionary. Like Radiohead, the man born Gregg Michael Gillis offered up his 2008 album 'Feed the Animals' as a download over the internet on a 'pay-what-you-want' system. And his latest effort, 'All Day' was offered free through the Illegal Art website. After Gillis tweeted about the surprise release last November, so many fans clamoured to download it that the site went down.
Further Net Working: He was a featured player in the documentary 'Rip! A Remix Manifesto,' which argued that because of easy replication and distribution through the internet, copyright's days are numbered.
Further Net Working: He was a featured player in the documentary 'Rip! A Remix Manifesto,' which argued that because of easy replication and distribution through the internet, copyright's days are numbered.
- Filed under: The Hit List
All the AOL Music info you want to know
Fat Joe Loves the Dough in 'Ballin''…
The BoomboxYouTube Cash rules everything around Fat Joe, Wiz Khalifa and Teyana Taylor in…
Tim McGraw Stops Atlanta Show to Help…
The BootFrederick Breedon IV, Getty Images Sunday night's stop on the Two Lanes of…
Beyonce Pregnant With Second Child
The BoomboxJamie McCarthy, Getty Images Looks like Blue Ivy will be having a sibling sooner…
Add a Comment
Graham
2 replies to Graham's comment
Shame you didn't include Marillion on your list.They were the first poineers of the internet surely?
February 26 2011 at 1:07 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply
Physwizz
Absolutely Graham - anybody with any knowledge of the music industry and the internet, knows that Marillion (whilst maybe not as fashionable as Bieber etc) were one of the true pioneers of using the internet to reach their, still sizeable, fanbase. There's a reason why it's known as the "Marillion model" in the music industry and music press.
February 26 2011 at 4:41 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply
mart
I totally agree Graham. Sadly there's two reasons. One the to55ers that write this garbage have never heard of Marillion and if they did this fine band wouldnt be considered 'cool' enough to be on AOL's Celeb savvy news pages.
Perhaps that makes Marillion even cooler in many eyes!
TIFF
PLEASE WATCH MY STORY ON YOUTUBE
TIFFANY LEBOUEF FULLY EXPOSED
Art wise
1 reply to Art wise's comment
Kanye is giving away his CDs away because he is such an As***hole he can't sell them anymore. This guy needs to go crawl into a hole and disappear
February 04 2011 at 7:01 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply
Peg
LMAO. My thought exactly.
February 04 2011 at 11:53 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply
The Devil
2 replies to The Devil's comment
Anybody know how I can get that much exposure for a blog?
February 04 2011 at 5:34 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply
aqinq
Or maybe it's simply about the charge they get from having millions of fans anxiously awaiting their next 140 characters. Here are Spinner's 10 most Web-savvy musicians, along with examples of their Net worth. My boyfriend thinks the same with me. He is eight years older than me, lol. We met online at agelesscupid.c om a nice and free place for younger women and older men, or older women and younger men, to interact with each other. Maybe you wanna check out or tell your friends.
February 26 2011 at 8:20 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply
weibwbo
Lest you think the band is just shilling for Microsoft, the latest Gorillaz album, 'The Fall,' was created entirely on an iPad and is available free on their website.btw,I'm a doctor,30 ,rich but still single.It's hard to get a girlfriend in my town ,most of them like my money more than like me.I just want to find my true love.so i uploaded my hot photos on millionairesocial .c om under the name of hotlove2.u dont have to be a millionaire,but u can meet one there. ..if you girls see this comment,i hope you will check my photos out there.maybe you are the one whom i'm looking for!!!
March 12 2011 at 7:51 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply
9 Comments