Youtube Music

Above is a picture of a Julia Nunes show I went to a few years ago at Ramapo College. The venue was very small and a lot more people showed up than expected, so everyone who couldn't get in sat out and listened in the hallway. When Julia realized this halfway through the show, she came out and played a few songs for us in the hall.
None of this would have happened if it weren't for YouTube. You see, Julia was just a college student with a ukulele and a camera. She played some songs and threw them up on youtube to show a few trusted friends. Someone working for youtube found one of these video, featured it on the front page, and she grew a following. That following continues to grow, years later, and she now has almost 200,000 subscribers.

YouTube has changed the entertainment landscape in many ways, but Julia Nunes is a great example of how it's changed music. Because of the site, people are getting discovered who otherwise would not. There are many other examples or this, such as Pomplamoose, a talented duo who's production and editing is enough to make my head spin.

They, like Nunes, are now so successful that they can tour and make a living on their music alone, thanks to the following they've grown on YouTube. They were even featured in a Hyundai Sonata commercial

Then there are more famous cases of the site helping to launch a career, such as Justin Beiber's... I'll forgive YouTube for that one.