No video, no problem for artists on YouTube

When Ludacris' manager wanted to create buzz for his client'supcoming CD, he went directly to YouTube.com. But instead ofreleasing a flashy video for Ludacris' song "Let's Stay Together,"Chaka Zulu just uploaded the track directly to the site with a justpicture of the rapper as accompaniment."You actually get tovisualize the music," said Zulu, who is also co-founder of Ludacris'Disturbing tha Peace label. "Even if it's not a real video, music isemotion. Music has a concept and theme."Though YouTube is known asthe Internet's greatest video warehouse, it's becoming known as theplace to find new music, no video needed. Put in the name of yourfavorite artist and there's chance that besides an assortment of itsvideos, you'll find a song with perhaps just a picture or a montageof photos to accompany it - and it still gets thousands of views.Ifanyone wants to hear Akon's remake of Michael Jackson's "Wanna BeStarting Something," it's there. Someone yearning for the new GunsN' Roses track "Shackler's Revenge" or T.I.'s new release "Live YourLife" featuring Rihanna, all it takes is a quick search of theirname and song title. No problem. While some of the songs are posteddirectly by an artist's camp, others are uploaded by fans eager toshare and discuss new music by their favorite act.DJ Sickamore, whowas director of A&R at Atlantic Records for two years and now ownsan entertainment management company, says YouTube is a simpler wayto listen to music on the Internet."Other file hosting sites havetoo many steps," said DJ Sickamore. "If I like a song, I can hear itinstantly without any problems. You definitely have to takeadvantage of this tool."Zulu first noticed the power of YouTube sansvideo two years ago when he posted Ludacris' song "War with God"with just the rapper's picture as a visual on the site. Soon after,Zulu's BlackBerry was bombarded with text messages."It had theInternet going crazy," recalled Zulu. "I was getting tons ofmessages about how they loved it. I didn't know that many peopleheard it."It's a viable marketing tool for us now," he added.Countrystar Taylor Swift has also caught on. For the upcoming Novemberrelease of her sophomore CD "Fearless," Swift, along with her label,hopes to create a picture or video montage for each of the CD'stracks for YouTube. So far, she's enjoyed checking out the fan-created postings of her songs on YouTube."It's like having anothervideo," said Swift, 18. "For me, it's a chance to see someone else'stake on my music. I embrace that and think it's cool."It's easy tosee the benefits YouTube offers: It gets millions of views per day,according to the site. In addition, by posting a song on YouTube, itcreates excitement in a low-cost way, compared to other promotionalmethods, such as sending out crop of street team members to variouslocal nightclubs or other events."You can do mass advertising forevery song through one click," gospel artist Tye Tribbett said. Heand his choir Greater Anointing, who have had their songs posted onYouTube, had strong success on the Billboard gospel charts with thealbum "Stand Out" this year.Still, there are downsides, such ashaving an unreleased track floating on the Web before a labelapproves of its release."It's a double-edge sword for us," saidDavid Bell, director of digital marketing at the Zomba Label Group,which includes Jive Records, home to Justin Timberlake, Chris Brown,Ciara and Britney Spears, among others. Despite the potential ofreleasing songs first on YouTube, he said advertising on the radiois still a preferred method."It's another channel for leaked music,"Bell added. "It's not just peer-to-peer sites anymore. All they'retrying to do is show their love for the artist, but at the end ofthe day, they're taking a leaked track and (it's) just sort of amultiplication of our music."Tribbett wasn't initially keen on hissongs being posted without his knowledge either. But now he believesYouTube had a major influence in helping the group's album becomesuccessful one."I said to myself, 'Whoa, hold on. Who put my stuffout before the album even came out?" he recalled. "But I realizedthat's the promotion that whet people's appetites to the point wheresales were better because that happened. So, I was like, 'Well,never mind. Whoever it was, do it again.'"---On the Net:http://www.youtube.com