Video Of The Week: Emma McGann

Our portfolio company YouNow is a broadcasting app that tends to be used by entertainers, youtubers, and young people in general. While not as well known as Periscope, it’s users are super into it and highly engaged. This week came the story that a singer/songwriter in the UK named Emma McGann got a song in the top 20 pop charts by regularly performing it on YouNow.

Here’s a short video that tells the story:

#Music

Comments (Archived):

  1. JimHirshfield

    I saw @aweissman tweet this yesterday. Cool story of staying home and performing to a larger audience than at a local venue.

    1. jason wright

      it’s a great connector. a bit sterile though without the vibe of a live audience to compliment the performance.

      1. sigmaalgebra

        I know what you want. You are not fooling me! You want her to perform live while you and your friends pig out on stacks of great pizza and several pitchers of good, cold beer!But, actually, can get beer and pizza at home, too, right? And can get a little device to let video via computer drive a big screen TV. So, have a beer and pizza party with Emma performing on a 48″ screen! She’s not wearing much in clothes: You prefer more, less, prettier, what?But Emma is bubbly, more so than most beer. Ah, the wonders of Mother Nature, makes both young women and cold beer really bubbly! Right, the cold beer is only in the US; in Emma’s country, it’s warm beer, but still bubbly, right? But, but, but, for a biggie, do they have really good pizza in Emma’s country?

        1. jason wright

          i’m about 40 miles away from her. there’s warm beer, and pizzas, and kebabs for the brave of heart and stomach :-).the upside is that she sings without a brummie accent.

  2. jason wright

    so Fred, when are we going to see an avc gig?

  3. William Mougayar

    She is definitely talented. Congratulations. Beating George Ezra’s Listen to the Man is not an easy feat. [I love George Ezra and saw him live this summer]So, How is this different from YouTube? Could Emma have accomplished the same thing by being on YouTube? I’m asking so that YouNow’s differentiation is better understood. [The partial answer is that YouNow has more social chat interactions, is used by a younger generation, and puts the broadcaster at the center. What else?]

    1. jason wright

      it’s all about mass niche isn’t it?

      1. William Mougayar

        They have the audience

    2. awaldstein

      Is YouTube an interactive chat channel? Don’t think so.

      1. Matt A. Myers

        It’s a training ground for trolls..

      2. William Mougayar

        No. Therefore that’s one of YouNow’s differentiation

        1. awaldstein

          my point william.lists of differentiations are just features, core differences that define are what matter.

          1. William Mougayar

            Yup, it takes work to articulate your core well. I don’t get it that some startups equate the community swell around their users as the equivalent of marketing.

          2. awaldstein

            You touch on an interesting point.You also touch on what we define as marketing (let’s not go there)!But community and bridging it to a larger market is a juicy topic.

          3. William Mougayar

            “community and bridging it to a larger market is a juicy topic”very pertinent to consumer startups that have millions of users but still don’t comprehend the marketing opportunity they have. it’s like operating with one hand tied behind your back.

          4. awaldstein

            it’s not believable to me that a consumer company with millions of users VC investment is unaware of the power of build on a community platform.

  4. sigmaalgebra

    She’s cute and bubbly. Mother Nature is really good at making young women that way! Too bad she can’t afford clothes! With YouNow, looks like she stands to discover a really good Mr. Right. Hope she does! Maybe he will get her some clothes. Then they can have lots of little guitar players!Ah, so much Internet content out there; so much difficulty for an individual, 2+ billion of them, finding what they will like for their own interests. Or, some people, 1000s, 100,000s, maybe more, would really like Emma’s content, but, then, how the heck would they find it? With AVC, at the rate of one artist each, what, two weeks?Naw, no one would be interested in a better way to find Emma. Not a chance.Besides, soon enough she will find Mr. Right, I mean, Mr. Right will find her! But, of course, if there were an easier way for a Mr. Right who would really like Emma, then still better!

    1. PhilipSugar

      You must be trolling because that is an ignorant comment.

      1. sigmaalgebra

        Details, please. Don’t be shy; let loose. Cough it up. Let it out. “Trolling”? I don’t see any fish in this pond.Gee, once someone said “Can’t please all the people all the time.”

      2. Joy Kennelly

        Thanks for saying something. LOL Man, what an idiot. Can you say sexist? I knew you could…Being an online music sensation isn’t a new phenomenon however, Terra Naomi, a musician I invited to speak at the Musicians Institute during one of my social media panels was the very first artist to find success online. Perhaps you could invite her to your platform Fred.Here’s her bio: “Terra Naomi is one of the greatest artist success stories in YouTube’s history, creating a global Internet-hit with “Say It’s Possible.” Admired by artists around the world, Naomi has toured/performed with The Fray, Martha Wainwright, Tyler Hilton, Sara Bareilles, Corinne Bailey Rae and Natasha Bedingfield.Naomi created international attention with her stand-out performance at “Live Earth” with Al Gore at Wembley Stadium. Terra’s debut album, ‘Under The Influence,’ was released in the UK by Universal Island Records in November 2007. Her current album, ‘To Know I’m Ok,’ is produced by John Alagia (the producer of John Mayer, Dave Matthews Band and Jason Mraz).Terra has circumvented traditional music distribution and promotion methods, forming strategic partnerships with Hipstamatic, YouTube, Ustream, Klout, 1Band1Brand, and other influential technology companies and iPhone app developers to release the new album.With 21,000,000+ YouTube views, 2,750,000+ plays and 50,000+ friends on MySpace, equally impressive global audiences on Google+ and Facebook, Terra’s audience and reach continue to grow. https://www.sonicbids.com/b

  5. Dave Pinsen

    This is the fewest comments I’ve seen on an AVC post in as long as I can remember.

    1. fredwilson

      video of the week is always a low comment post. since sept there have been five of them. the lowest comment count before this post was on Sept 5th (29). the most was a couple weeks ago in the mid 60s. so yes, this was a very light one but not entirely unexpected

      1. Dave Pinsen

        Hmm. I guess it’s because fewer visitors watch the video than read the post, and, consequently, fewer feel comfortable commenting about it.

  6. george

    Downloaded the App, it’s pretty cool! Definitely a more contemporary feel targeting a youth audience, high style points.Hope it gets sustainable traction…