Marie Digby in the WSJ

Today's issue of the Wall Street Journal has an article by Ethan Smith and Peter Lattman that tells the story of Marie Digby, the musician that has seemingly made it big with home made videos and word of mouth by using YouTube.



Her videos have over 2.3 million views, according to the article, and have been used on MTV's "The Hills". This apparently has culminated with Hollywood Records press release announcing "Break through You Tube Phenomenon Marie Digby Signs With Hollywood Records."

The article then goes on to disclose that in reality, Digby signed with Hollywood Records in 2005, 18 months before she became a YouTube phenom. This radio interview continues the portrayal that Digby is an innocent start up nobody that found fame and fortune on accident.

This all brings me to this... Do you consider this a case of genius marketing, or customer deceit? Even if you never knew of her before, would you feel lied to and misled? Or do you now respect the outside the box approach to using the trends of independent music to bring new artists into the mix?

Personally, I deeply appreciate the marketing attempt, but I also see how it might run the risk of back firing on them. If it does, I think it will be a backfire triggered by the media and not the fans. Fans like the product and don't want to know about all the mess of advertising and contracts. The media likes to create the controversy. I guess time will tell.