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YouTube Announces First Award Winners
NinjaTurtle writes to mention the first winners of YouTube's awards series. Several of the site's (hoped-to-be) annual awards went to video series that have become very popular on the site, including the 'Ask a Ninja' segments and the pop band OK Go. "'Ask a Ninja' triumphed over what may be YouTube's biggest celebrity, Lonelygirl15. That bedroom production finished fourth, behind 'Ask A Gay Man' and 'Chad Vader.' Terra Naomi won for best music video for her song 'Say It's Possible,' a one-shot clip of her playing acoustic guitar and singing. Naomi has parlayed her online success into a record deal with Island Records and will release her debut album this summer."
None of these clips would have existed if it weren't for Viacom....
I didn't like the way YouTube structured their voting for these awards. I went on solely to vote for Ask A Ninja, and found that you were pretty much required to submit an entire 'top 10' for the category. What's worse, the 'ballot' was filled w/ the current top 10 vote-getters (in their current order) by default, so I'm guessing a lot of lazy vote-casters (like myself) ended up giving videos they'd never seen undue credit.
:)
(Still glad the Ninja won, though.)
Dishonourable YouTube, It has come to the attention of the ruling masters of the Shinobi-ryu that you are allowing the depiction by various mystic means of moving picture of an imposter claiming to be a Ninja. As the only true remnants of the proud Bushido tradition that is ninjitsu today, we insist that you cease and desist allowing our image and trademarks to be blatantly stolen by this gaijin. Please accept this message as your only warning. Should you not comply with our demands, our legal department will take action, possibly including decapitations of hostages or the poisoning of pets. Domo.
Life needs more saving throws.
The geek in me says its good that an online service has a nationally reported awards show. The cultural critic says its bad that awards are so ubiquitous that even an online service has an awards show.
Here will be an old abusing of God's patience and the king's English.
Terra Naomi probably could have turned her internet fame into a career on her own. Instead she decided to sign with a major label, and let them ruin her. We've seen it before, a mass of overexposure that kills an artist, no support after a lackluster album (produced and written by others), and terms that make prisoners smile...
It may have taken longer and been more difficult, but most likely would have lent a longevity and authenticity to her that she's not going to find with a label.
I find it odd that someone who had those kind of pageviews wouldn't realize that they might be better off with no label. I'd be happy with one tenth of the traffic she's getting; then again, I'm not a girl on the internet. For some reason, that's still novel, and still rakes in traffic, interest, and a potential audience.
It remains to be seen how Island Records is going to treat her - will they help her build a lifelong career, or will they treat her like a William Hung flash-in-the-pan? The results will be telling. I'm curious to see how an organization that has proven itself to be internet-unsavvy will handle Naomi, who was an internet only phenom.
Ask a Gay Ninja.