OK Go danced across the Internet in 2006 with the music video “Here It Goes Again”— a video the band filmed for about $5 and featured them doing a choreographed dance routine on treadmills. Millions of people shared it over the Internet, which launched the song into the Billboard 100 and earned the group a Grammy.
But then the band’s label, EMI, disabled the video’s embedding feature in hopes of earning revenue from YouTube views. That meant people could no longer post the video on their own blogs or Web sites for their audience to watch—it could only be viewed on YouTube.
Big mistake. Views of the video plunged 90 percent, from 10,000 views per day to just over 1,000 a day. Ouch.
You can’t fault EMI for wanting to profit off the video’s success, but the revenue brought in from YouTube views was so minimal that it didn’t offset the success that comes with a viral video, argued the band’s lead singer, Damian Kulash in a recent op-ed, “WhoseTube?” published in The New York Times. The label underestimated the value of viral content and failed to understand the way information is shared on the Internet:
“Viral content doesn’t spread just from primary sources like YouTube or Flickr. Blogs, Web sites and video aggregators serve as cultural curators, daily collecting the items that will interest their audiences the most. By ignoring the power of these tastemakers, our record company is cutting off its nose to spite its face,” Kulash said.
He makes a point that all advertisers and marketers should take to heart: Don’t ignore the tastemakers. These online portals allow people to spread a message that resonates with them to a larger audience—people who follow their blogs, visit their Web sites and probably share their interests.
Content becomes viral not only because people like it, but also because it can be spread through a medium quickly and easily. So while a message might have the creative qualities it needs to become a hit with an audience, preventing people from sharing it hinders its ability to go viral.
The band’s latest video is a testament to the power of allowing people to share content. State Farm Insurance sponsored the band’s latest video, which allowed it to be embedded on any Web site (though the band has split from the label since then). “This Too Shall Pass” got 1.4 million views in less than 48 hours after it was released.
