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August 31, 2006
DC Lugi Direct
One of the hot stars on YouTube is Dave Coyne, aka DC Lugi. He may not have as many viewers as the authentically questionable Lonelygirl15 or as many subscribers as the Lucille Ball-like Brookers, but he has an extremely loyal following.
Coyne is a Washington, DC-based actor, comedian and musician. He began posting his one-man skits to YouTube in March 2006 and built a reputation with funny send-ups of "Snakes on a Plane" by creating fake film auditions and a U2-inspired video called, "Someone tell Sam Jackson he's my bro."
Coyne's other work -- impersonations of Christopher Walken, Jack Nickelson, Kevin Spacey, Bono, Archie and Edith Bunker and President Bush -- are spot-on. His original songs are first rate. For someone who shoots his own work and does his own post-production, DC Lugi is a sensation; his work could easily be broadcast on Comedy Central, as many fans wish it were so.
But does the rise of amateur culture as defined by budding stars like Coyne need traditional media to be successful? It's all about scale, of course. The bigger the media, the bigger the money. Strike a deal with a traditional media outlet and they'll want control over the work. Some amateur stars consider traditional media as their goal, but not Coyne. He's thinking about using the Dell model: sell direct. He's considering creating DVD's of new material and selling them over the web. His audience's response? "Tell us where to send the money." So he forfeits a big advance and a professional sound stage, but he retains all of the control.
With social media tools like YouTube democratizing the traditional mechanisms of mass marketing and b2b companies making it easier to mass-produce, distribute and sell content, it's never been a better time for a budding artist with talent and ambition to bypass Hollywood and become what's truly creative: the artist-as-entrepreneur.
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You make a good point about YouTube and the new influx of good ideas into the ring. It's been refreshing and the opposing views are giving us a far better picture than any mainstream media I know. However, would you agree that we really need a way to sort the best from messages that have less interest for us. At this point -- it still takes too much time to get to a great blog like this one. I think the means might be out there for the more technically savvy:-)
Brain Based Business
Right. It's the same dynamic that has been happening in publishing (all kinds), music, and now film/video.
It's interesting that Coyne does not view traditional media as his goal -- he's probably one of the few at this point. But I'd bet he's a trendsetter.
If you liked Snakes on a Plane, you will love this collection of the things snakes eat posted by my bud on trailfire.com. Here is the link -
http://www.trailfire.com/nikhilkrishna/trails/10541
Mariam
