“you Just got Covered”
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“base” performance, primarily, because of the visual mediation of the musical
performance. One of the aims of this article is to focus on the visual form
and style of do-it-yourself (DIY) or DIO covers on the same social media
platform to highlight certain common characteristics. The specific band
also exhibits a process of “evolution” in the making of their DIO music videos
uploaded to YouTube and this is something that a number of YouTube users 3
go through in order to attract a larger viewership and potentially come to
enjoy the financial benefits of YouTube’s Partner Program.
In addition, the comparison between WOTE’s YouTube and their Ellen
DeGeneres performance illustrates that self-made YouTube music videos
featuring amateur, unknown, or aspiring recording artists performing familiar
songs form a YouTube genre in its own right. Many of these videos are smallscale musical and visual productions, whose appeal depends on elements that
innovatively marry limitations, inadequacies, and possibilities as illustrated
by WOTE’s YouTube cover. The word “genre” instead of “trend” is already being
used to describe such videos. 4 In addition, the publication of guides to YouTube
such as Social Media for Musicians: YouTube, 5 which aim to help aspiring
musicians to improve the quality of their video presentations as well as build a
“brand” that would possibly secure a successful monetization of their cover song
videos, further illustrates the fact that such videos need to meet certain criteria.
Small-scale does not of course imply an inferior form of the music video genre
or of the source performance of the song being covered. Furthermore, some of
these self-made videos may also be read as a form of personal expression that
combines the intimacy of the home video, the confessional elements of online
video diaries or video blogs (also known as vlogs), 6 and performance elements
that may be closer to the process of a technical exercise or educational process, 7
rather than an attempt to get noticed by talent producers. YouTube cover song
videos predominantly establish a connection with a preexisting commercial
product, but at the same time follow YouTube-based communicative patterns
and thus form a cultural phenomenon outside industry favored practices and
3 See also Cayari’s case study about Wade Johnston, a teenage YouTube musician. Christopher
Cayari, “The YouTube effect: How YouTube has provided new ways to consume, create, and share
music.” International Journal of Education & the Arts 12.6 (2011): 1–30.
4 Jean Burgess, “‘All your Chocolate Rain are Belong to Us?’ Viral Video, YouTube and the
Dynamics of Participatory Culture.” In Video Vortex Reader: Responses to YouTube, ed. Geert
Lovink and Sabine Niederer (Amsterdam: Institute of Network Cultures, 2008), 101–109.
5 Gary Hiebner, Social Media for Musicians: YouTube (Boston: Cengage Learning PTR, 2014).
6 See Strangelove’s discussion on the confessional elements of online video diaries. Michael
Strangelove, Watching YouTube: Extraordinary Videos by Ordinary People (Toronto: University
of Toronto Press, 2010).
7 See Cayari, “The YouTube Effect.”
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“base” performance, primarily, because of the visual mediation of the musical
performance. One of the aims of this article is to focus on the visual form
and style of do-it-yourself (DIY) or DIO covers on the same social media
platform to highlight certain common characteristics. The specific band
also exhibits a process of “evolution” in the making of their DIO music videos
uploaded to YouTube and this is something that a number of YouTube users 3
go through in order to attract a larger viewership and potentially come to
enjoy the financial benefits of YouTube’s Partner Program.
In addition, the comparison between WOTE’s YouTube and their Ellen
DeGeneres performance illustrates that self-made YouTube music videos
featuring amateur, unknown, or aspiring recording artists performing familiar
songs form a YouTube genre in its own right. Many of these videos are smallscale musical and visual productions, whose appeal depends on elements that
innovatively marry limitations, inadequacies, and possibilities as illustrated
by WOTE’s YouTube cover. The word “genre” instead of “trend” is already being
used to describe such videos. 4 In addition, the publication of guides to YouTube
such as Social Media for Musicians: YouTube, 5 which aim to help aspiring
musicians to improve the quality of their video presentations as well as build a
“brand” that would possibly secure a successful monetization of their cover song
videos, further illustrates the fact that such videos need to meet certain criteria.
Small-scale does not of course imply an inferior form of the music video genre
or of the source performance of the song being covered. Furthermore, some of
these self-made videos may also be read as a form of personal expression that
combines the intimacy of the home video, the confessional elements of online
video diaries or video blogs (also known as vlogs), 6 and performance elements
that may be closer to the process of a technical exercise or educational process, 7
rather than an attempt to get noticed by talent producers. YouTube cover song
videos predominantly establish a connection with a preexisting commercial
product, but at the same time follow YouTube-based communicative patterns
and thus form a cultural phenomenon outside industry favored practices and
3 See also Cayari’s case study about Wade Johnston, a teenage YouTube musician. Christopher
Cayari, “The YouTube effect: How YouTube has provided new ways to consume, create, and share
music.” International Journal of Education & the Arts 12.6 (2011): 1–30.
4 Jean Burgess, “‘All your Chocolate Rain are Belong to Us?’ Viral Video, YouTube and the
Dynamics of Participatory Culture.” In Video Vortex Reader: Responses to YouTube, ed. Geert
Lovink and Sabine Niederer (Amsterdam: Institute of Network Cultures, 2008), 101–109.
5 Gary Hiebner, Social Media for Musicians: YouTube (Boston: Cengage Learning PTR, 2014).
6 See Strangelove’s discussion on the confessional elements of online video diaries. Michael
Strangelove, Watching YouTube: Extraordinary Videos by Ordinary People (Toronto: University
of Toronto Press, 2010).
7 See Cayari, “The YouTube Effect.”