YouTube Next Launching Pad for New Acts?

YouTube launched a major viral talent search this fall; today the winners of the first "YouTube Underground" video awards were recognized on Good Morning America. YouTube had indie bands upload their own footage and fans got to swap and vote for their favorites. After thousands of entries and, according to Diane Sawyer, millions of votes were cast. The winners are...

Best Video: "He Said, She Said" by Maldroid. For those who remember when MTV played videos, this will remind you of Aha's seminal video for "Take on Me" that featured cartoon sketch animation. Maldroid takes that concept and modernizes it. This is exactly the type of band that should benefit from YouTube stepping into the breach for video promotion.

Best Live Performance : "Gets So Hard" by Pawnshop Roses. This is not about the Screech sex tape. Pawnshop is one of the Philly bands making a stir with their great live show. They fit nicely into the roots rock renaissance going on in both the U.S. and abroad.

Best Song: "The Way It Is" by Greenland. With an Arnold Schwarzenegger claymation-like action figure introducing the band, this video will also remind viewers of MTV days gone by, when Peter Gabriel was dominating the network with his videos for songs like Sledgehammer. Greenland writes Beatles-esque pop songs with harmonies and catchy hooks that obviously impressed the YouTubers.

Most Creative: "Freak Show Carnival" by Ostrich Head. This L.A. based hip-hop outfit certainly has one of the most interesting group names I've heard in a long time. While they may remind you of the Black Eyed Peas in some ways, they definitely have a style all their own.

All four bands will play before a host of major labels tonight, so one or more of them could be on the breakout list for 2007. There is no question that OK Go! benefited from major YouTube buzz to become a breakout band this year, and I have no doubt that many more will come from the upstart online network.

For nearly two decades MTV was a critical exposure point for young artists trying to make a breakthrough. Then MTV stopped playing videos. Sure, you have FUSE, MTV2 and MTVU still doing some music video programming, but with the real action for music videos is online. AOL, MySpace and Yahoo all serve as a great platform for fans to catch the latest videos. But, my perception is that the major label and established artists dominate these spaces. YouTube may be the place to be to discover new music.

This morning on Good Morning America, YouTube announced the winners of its first Underground Video Awards. After thousands of bands uploaded their own videos that were swapped and voted on by millions, as noted by Dianne Sawyer on GMA, the winners are...

Best Video - "He Said, She Said" by Maldroid. For those that do remember the early days of MTV, this video will remind you of A Ha's "Take On Me" cartoon sketch style video. The video is very well done and the song is good too. This is exactly the type of band that will benefit from YouTube's stepping into the breach as buzzbuilder.