Singer and songwriter Lisa Lavie is one of the leading examples of how the Internet has changed the dynamics of the music business and how any artist can reach out to millions of people in record time. To date, Lisa’s YouTube page has registered over 116,000 subscribers and her videos have been viewed over 30 million times since joining the site in 2007.

The rise to fame

Born in Canada in 1983, Lisa discovered singing when she was only ten years old. Six years later, she was invited to tour all over the country with a popular hip hop group and began writing songs as well. Music producer Ben Margulies got wind of Lisa’s work and invited her to California to pursue a singing career. She was featured in soundtracks for the movies “Stick It” and “The Guardian”, both released in 2006.

The following year, with a record label yet to sign her, Lisa began using YouTube to post music videos of songs from an album that was then still being made. She received an overwhelming response and was immediately featured on various entertainment talk shows, dubbed as the latest sensation to hit the web. Videos of “Angel” and “Save Your Breath” were garnering record-breaking hits and receiving outstanding approval from viewers. In keeping with a promise to respond to each viewer, YouTube had the impression that her responses were automated and suspended her account. A petition from Lisa’s fans ensued and after only a few days, her YouTube channel was reinstated.

Lisa believes that constantly communicating with her fans is the key in keeping their number growing and finding out what they think about her work. Although she used to be able to reply to each of her viewer’s comments, the sheer number of current messages has prevented her from continuing to do so. Nonetheless, she remains to be responsive to as many fans as she could, making hundreds of replies at a time.

Lisa put up a second YouTube channel dedicated to displaying and responding to comments from her fans and viewers.

Reaching out to the world

An August 2009 article by Chris Albrecht, featured on Businessweek.com, delved into the question of whether the music business has been put in jeopardy by music videos going viral and freely available almost anywhere on the internet. The article went on to discuss how, contrary to what most record labels have been insisting on, sales in the industry have been boosted by the popularity and exposure generated by artists via online portals and social networking media that allow video sharing among their subscribers.

True enough, Lisa Lavie has proven that the Internet can spell more success in the music industry. Completing her album in 2008, Lisa promoted her work on YouTube. Entitled “Everything or Nothing”, the album was made available via iTunes and reached the iTunes pop chart Top 20. Lisa remains to be an unsigned artist and continues to use YouTube and other social networking sites such as Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, and BlogTV to promote her work. Her first major concert had over 20 thousand people in attendance, proving once more how viral videos and marketing can push an artist to fame.

Realizing how the Internet has helped her reach out and connect to more people than anyone could imagine, Lisa has used the same medium to air her support for certain causes. She is a known advocate of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) and has appeared in several charity events. Her most recent project was a music video of a song called “Altar Call (Haiti)”. It is currently featured on her YouTube channel, bearing the message to spread the video as well as the word out for everyone to do their part in helping raise funds for victims of the Haiti tragedy.