Half Japanese and half Irish-American, this young and talented singer has attracted over 2.3 million views of her rendition of Rihanna’s “Umbrella” on YouTube. The Wall Street Journal has claimed that Marie Digby feigned her grassroots effort and amateur status (Marie signed with Disney’s Hollywood Records in late 2006) to generate buzz on the online video site. Digby responded back on her blog that she never lied about being signed, and her posts to YouTube were her own “desperate” response to a lack of promotion.
I think today will be the first ever blog that I write … as i’m furious. fuming. angry beyond words.
Thank god for blogs because I can say whatever the F.. i want to .
So basically, I got a call recently that some shmuck from the Wall Street Journal wanted to do an article about me. He interviewed some people at my label and then asked to talk to me on the phone. I talked to this guy for an hour, told him every detail of my journey so far in music…
Here’s Lesson 1 for me in Media – The writer will use whatever quote he wants of yours to make it fit his ‘angle’. This loser was desperate for a good story… he knew what he wanted to write before he ever even talked to me.
The guy’s angle is this : that I am a complete phony and fake and a pawn of my record label in some brilliant marketing scheme.
IS this guy completely insane. You think it’s that easy? That you get signed and suddenly everything’s taken care of for you!!!??
DO you think that my record label came to my house, my bathroom! and told me what songs to sing and told me that in a matter of weeks i’d be some ‘youtube ‘ phenom??!?!Wake up – I am GRATEFUL to be signed but you know what, Labels don’t come to your house, hold your hand, and direct youtube videos for you .
I have so many dear friends who were signed to the biggest record labels in the world, made amazing albums and were DROPPED. that’s it…..
Marie Digby – Rihanna’s Umbrella
Marie Digby – Nelly Furtado’s Say It Right
Who am I going to believe here? Marie. Sometimes you have to take destiny in your own hands, especially if the record labels aren’t giving you the exposure you need to succeed. And what better way to do it today then the Internet?
As Carson Daly puts it, “I don’t think we need a television show to find talent in America,” introducing a performance by Ms. Digby last month. “We have the Internet.”
What a scumbag from WSJ. He pretty much knew a YouTube scandal story like the one about LonelyGirl15 would make for an interesting read, so he spun Marie’s success to fit what he needed.
I think she’s extremely talented and beautiful. Kudos to her for taking success into her own hands! :D
Wow! What a beautiful voice she has!
Not bad at all! She’s got a good voice but I don’t like the fact on how people on youtube get famous so fast. You really can see where her Irish and her Japanese part are different.
What’s wrong with getting noticed on YouTube?
I say do whatever it takes to make ends meet and youtube has been doing that for a lot of people. She seems pretty shy during the Carson interview, probably not used to the “celebrity” status yet, but I’m sure she will. Great find.
She deserves her status. I guess even Disney has scouts watching youtube. Her voice is smooth and very fitted for singing the songs she has. To be honest, I perfer Marie Digby’s version of “umbrella” for her supreme announciation skills as to rihanna(no offense). Digby’s “Say It Right” is also very remarkable, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see her version on itunes, if it isn’t already. One thing is for sure.. Im going to download her version of Umbrella on itunes to show my support for her! As for her blog, she mentioned that her friends also got signed, made amazing albums, then got DROPPED, with the fame Marie has aqquired, she isn’t about to dissappear anytime soon. I can’t wait till Marie Digby releases her first CD
yeahhh, what’s wrong with being discovered on youtube! i hope to be discovered on youtube one day.. by justin timberlake.. to be his future wife
Marié Digby is another one of the singer/songwriters that I’ve been following on Youtube for quite some time now, as was Esmée Denters before JT got a hold of her. I think her most chilling piece was her cover of Incubus’ “Love Hurts”, which is as profound of a song as you could possibly make without getting cliché, but I think her version was ridiculous haunting which gave it an extra edge.
The thing I love about Marié is that her approach is quite fresh – she loves the sound of acoustic and stays rather true to that, converting songs in full stereo to a gentler form. It’s a format few artists can say they’ve really conquered (without lying to themselves) so it’s nice that she has a good grasp of that approach.
Why does this story seem to confirm my long-running bias that the music industry is evil? (Maybe I just watched Be Cool too many times)
-j
Beautiful voice and beautiful face. She’s the goldmine that Hollywood looks for. Having a fan following on YouTube these days is one sure way to get noticed by the bigwigs.
People shouldnt care in which way an artist gets famous. As long as she didnt harm anyone, purposely misled someone or lied her way into fame, we should just let her do her thing. Right? And she’s a talented singer.
Well, it’s a ‘plus’ to have a poor background. People will think you had to work extra hard to get famous. So they will grow sympathy.
Kristurr Is on youtube?! O_o, Do you SING??? If you sang, My Love, Kristurr version, maybe you can get justin’s attention, I forgot, but I think someone on youtube got justin’s attention and was able to sing with him.
-AllaN
Okay, I’ve been following Marie’s success for the past week cause I LOVE HER VOICE and STYLE! If you search her now, she has a CD out already, which is available on I tunes, and she’s been performing at Hotel Cafe, and anotherHollywood
Regis performance. Her songs are great!
-AllaN
Shes got a beautiful voice and gorgeous to boot, dont listen to any of the haters.
The Wall Street Journal article was wrong. There was no deception. The article, using the term, “feigning amateur status” attempted to disparage Marie Digby, however, there is no indication she feigned anything. By all appearances, Marie Digby has always been herself.
The article stated:
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“Ms. Digby’s MySpace and YouTube pages don’t mention Hollywood Records. Until last week, a box marked “Type of Label” on her MySpace Music page said, “None.”
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However, she had joined MySpace in 2004, roughly 2 years before she was signed, and she merely didn’t bother to update a setting, and she’d probably forgotten that setting even existed. I joined a MySpace music page, and it could even be missed when first signing up. And, since months after she recorded her CD, there was no indication it was ever going to be released, I wouldn’t expect that changing her MySpace status to signed would cross her mind, even if she knew about it. The article went on to state, “After inquiries from The Wall Street Journal, the entry was changed to “Major,” though the label still is not named.” Why name a record label when there is no indication they are going to release your CD? (Note, the CD, titled “Unfold”, finally came out on April 8, 2008. Buy it, it’s great).
The Wall Street Journal article also contained:
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‘Most of Ms. Digby’s new fans seem pleased to believe that they discovered an underground sensation. A YouTube user posting a message in response to a cover of Linkin Park’s “What I’ve Done” wrote, “you truely have talent! get urself out there…if u really wanted im positive u could land some sick record deals!! id buy a CD 4 sure!”‘
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In fact, the vast majority of the posts were about her music, and not about “discovering” her. For most of us viewers, a huge number of people had already seen her videos when we found her, which were posted long before the WSJ article, so we could hardly claim to have ‘discovered her.’
The term “feigning amateur status”, used in the WSJ article seems completely ridiculous to anyone who has watched all of her videos.
Consider the following quote in the article, with the subtitle, “The Lucky Nobody”.
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“As Ms. Digby’s star rose, other media outlets played along. When Los Angeles adult-contemporary station KYSR-FM, which calls itself “Star 98.7,” interviewed Ms. Digby in July, she and the disc jockey discussed her surprising success. “We kind of found her on YouTube,” the DJ, known as Valentine, said. Playing the lucky nobody, Ms. Digby said: “I’m usually the listener calling in, you know, just hoping that I’m going to be the one to get that last ticket to the Star Lounge with [pop star] John Mayer!” The station’s programming executives now acknowledge they had booked Ms. Digby’s appearance through Hollywood Records, and were soon collaborating with the label to sell “Umbrella” as a single on iTunes.”
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Note the use of the term, “played along” as if the stations were doing something sinister. Note, Marie Digby had not had a CD released at this time, and the radio station’s DJs announced, over the air, that they found Marie Digby on youtube. And, what Marie Digby said is so totally credible that to cast it in disparaging terms seems incredibly cynical, even for someone in New York City! Note, Marie Digby claims the idea of posting videos on youtube was her own idea, and the radio station, and Carson Daly, both claim they found Marie Digby on youtube. Sinister? Hardly. Read the last quote again, and think.
While I dislike the term, ‘nobody,’ because everyone is ’somebody,’ nonetheless, Marie Digby was known to few people other than family or friends before the youtube video, so, if Marie Digby was playing a part, it was herself. Again, to disparage someone based on supposition, which also require manufacturing a nonexistent conspiracy, is beyond disingenuous. I would say, given the factual error, and the complete lack of research, the Wall Street Journal reporters who covered this were “feigning professional status,” however, that might be a bit harsh. After all, there is a special term, “Investigative Journalism!” Clearly not all journalist meet that standard.
Marie Digby has posted that a Wall Street reporter talked to Marie Digby for about an hour, but they never asked the questions that would have cleared this up. Instead, they took her response, which merely meant that her signed status wasn’t relevant to her goals (and frankly, would have seemed ridiculous in the videos), as meaning she was hiding it.
There were radio station interviews, before the WSJ article, where she mentioned being signed. If she were hiding it, she would have hid it there too.
In most of her videos, she didn’t speak unless singing. Her personal business is her business, and nobody else’s. The WSJ article took an irrelevant omission, and turned it into a conspiracy.
I gather Marie Digby’s family is rather well off. She never mentioned that in her videos either. I wouldn’t say she was, “feigning middle class status,” but I’m sure some people would! Sad!
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