Dub-Stepping Violinist Lindsey Stomp Earned $6 Million Via YouTube

[RedRockRun]

Dubstep and violin? That actually kind of bothers me.

 

[Erttheking]

my favorite part of this story is that the labels wanted nothing to do with her before, and now they're beating down her door. hahah screw those corporate bottom-liners. they're destroying real art. the age of information is bringing it back.

As much as I like her and I'm happy for her success I wouldn't call what she does real art. She's just using her skill to play music created by somebody else.

So what? Are cover albums not real art?

 

[Hugga_Bear]

On the one hand it is nice to see something relatively different being popular around the interwebs, on the other hand I find her videos boring and the one live performance I saw was extremely underwhelming. She always dances in the same way and after the fifth time it's quickly apparent that she can't really dance in any other manner. Her original music is interesting but I've never heard anything that wowed me and I found her covers less appealing than the originals all round (though in fairness I gave them less time than her originals).

So...nice to see something unusualish doing well? $6 million is ridiculous though but y'know, ranty ranty laissez faire capitalism is pooey and all that.

 

[Baresark]

She definitely does some interesting stuff. No one can deny that. I really like the Skyrim one, that dude can SING, and her violin play goes with it really well. I also really like the production values of her videos as well.

 

[Elfgore]

First things first, I only knew like the first three people. Everyone else I'm completely clueless about. Second, no mention of Crystallize [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aHjpOzsQ9YI]? Clearly her most popular and awesome song there, original too.

I do have a passing interest in how much YouTuber's make. Especially larger groups such as Achievement Hunter and Funahus. They've got to be raking in the cash to pay for several grown men and women's paychecks. I'm honestly surprised to see her so high up though, wasn't aware she was still so popular.

 

[Saulkar]

First things first, I only knew like the first three people. Everyone else I'm completely clueless about. Second, no mention of Crystallize [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aHjpOzsQ9YI]? Clearly her most popular and awesome song there, original too.

Sounded really good but I could not listen past the one ten mark. The moment the drop hits it is physically unpleasant to listen to. That is why I cannot suffer dupstep, the sudden loss of a coherent melody is somehow beyond words in describing how much it bothers me without being painful. The fact that the violin remained unchanged while the backing music did not made it somehow worse. Skinny Puppy is all over the place yet it somehow does not bother me in the least, what is that all about?!

Anyhoo, I am in no position to hold it against her and even though I only just discovered Lindsey due to this article I wish her luck.

 

[sXeth]

If record labels deal in covers, that's news to me, but then again I don't keep up with the music business all that well let alone how it works.

Record Labels are pretty willing to get behind covers, as a large percentage of the classical/opera market is based on such (there are original works in those genres, granted). Even in more mainstream music (sort of), there's stuff like Kidz Bops, or Me First & the Gimme Gimmes. You even have groups like Apocalyptica, Van Canto, or Fozzy who all started out with at least one album of complete covers as their debut on labels.

 

[Gordon_4_v1legacy]

That cover of the Pokemon theme is actually rather beautiful. Of course I'm biased since's she also cosplaying Anime!Misty at the same time, so probably not being objective about it

 

[Dark Knifer]

Ha. Just like the richest celebrities I don't care about any of the highest grossing youtube starts. She's ok though.

 

[Queen Michael]

As much as I like her and I'm happy for her success I wouldn't call what she does real art. She's just using her skill to play music created by somebody else.

......She also plays original music. Quite frequently actually relatively speaking. I'm not sure how that slipped you by considering they mention record labels rejecting her then clamoring for her when she started doing well. Why would she approach record labels and they her after the fact if she didn't play original music, only covers? If record labels deal in covers, that's news to me, but then again I don't keep up with the music business all that well let alone how it works.

Even if she didn't play her own original music I would definitely consider covers art especially hers. I mean, if she's not changing the arrangement in some way she's adding something to it and if she's not doing that the dancing is most certainly her own (She practically invented violin dancing, or whatever a good name for it would be, as far as I know. Don't think anyone else even does it, even 8 years after she started) and the design of the environment/effects/whatever hers and whoever helped her create it. To so narrowly define art I'm sorry to say this comes off as callously pedantic to me. As if all art needs to start out as an original thought when we all know how much has been borrowed, if not directly copied short of lawsuit or malice, to create something new.

I know she does original work, but let's be honest. That's not what she's famous for. She's famous for cover stuff and it's her fame based on that that record label parasites wish to capitalize on.

The only reason I know her name is because of her cover of Radioactive with Pentatonix. I remember her as, "That midget mormon violinist". She's not bad, but she's not great either. There are a lot of really talented violinists out there who don't do music video covers of crap pop.

Yes, because doing covers of long dead classical and baroque musicians is so much harder and unique.

Yes, exactly. Saying it sarcastically makes it no less true.

Not to mention her actual albums sell perfectly well and she is one of the highest selling independents.

Yaaaay.

Really? You're actually going with harder and more unique. I mean, for some pieces harder is certainly true, though not all, but more unique? Every violinist and their mother covers classical and baroque works. The number that genuinely try something original can probably be counted without taking your socks off.

Yes, I'm actually going with harder and more unique. Certainly harder and more unique than covers of Imagine Dragons.

I can promise you that the amount of people who've covered classical and baroque works is enormously higher than the amount who've covered Imagine Dragons. So more unique? Nnnnnope.

 

[KoudelkaMorgan]

I actually have only heard like 3 of her covers. I didn't know people assumed that was all she did. I guess I'm knowledgeable due to Pandora constantly playing her stuff on my stations until I finally gave them all the thumbs down to actually hear something else. I don't even have her as a station, but I like her stuff mostly.

 

[M0rp43vs]

So what? Are cover albums not real art?

No. Definitely not. The only music that is art is rehashing classical music that's at least several centuries old. That everyone who's picked up a string instrument has done a rendition of. Without adding a single unique flair to it as that would be "ruining it". /s

 

[DementedSheep]

As much as I like her and I'm happy for her success I wouldn't call what she does real art. She's just using her skill to play music created by somebody else.

......She also plays original music. Quite frequently actually relatively speaking. I'm not sure how that slipped you by considering they mention record labels rejecting her then clamoring for her when she started doing well. Why would she approach record labels and they her after the fact if she didn't play original music, only covers? If record labels deal in covers, that's news to me, but then again I don't keep up with the music business all that well let alone how it works.

Even if she didn't play her own original music I would definitely consider covers art especially hers. I mean, if she's not changing the arrangement in some way she's adding something to it and if she's not doing that the dancing is most certainly her own (She practically invented violin dancing, or whatever a good name for it would be, as far as I know. Don't think anyone else even does it, even 8 years after she started) and the design of the environment/effects/whatever hers and whoever helped her create it. To so narrowly define art I'm sorry to say this comes off as callously pedantic to me. As if all art needs to start out as an original thought when we all know how much has been borrowed, if not directly copied short of lawsuit or malice, to create something new.

I know she does original work, but let's be honest. That's not what she's famous for. She's famous for cover stuff and it's her fame based on that that record label parasites wish to capitalize on.

In general I don't like her covers much, I prefer her originals. Maybe I'm an outlier but wasn't her most popular song Crystallize which is original?

 

[Queen Michael]

As much as I like her and I'm happy for her success I wouldn't call what she does real art. She's just using her skill to play music created by somebody else.

......She also plays original music. Quite frequently actually relatively speaking. I'm not sure how that slipped you by considering they mention record labels rejecting her then clamoring for her when she started doing well. Why would she approach record labels and they her after the fact if she didn't play original music, only covers? If record labels deal in covers, that's news to me, but then again I don't keep up with the music business all that well let alone how it works.

Even if she didn't play her own original music I would definitely consider covers art especially hers. I mean, if she's not changing the arrangement in some way she's adding something to it and if she's not doing that the dancing is most certainly her own (She practically invented violin dancing, or whatever a good name for it would be, as far as I know. Don't think anyone else even does it, even 8 years after she started) and the design of the environment/effects/whatever hers and whoever helped her create it. To so narrowly define art I'm sorry to say this comes off as callously pedantic to me. As if all art needs to start out as an original thought when we all know how much has been borrowed, if not directly copied short of lawsuit or malice, to create something new.

I know she does original work, but let's be honest. That's not what she's famous for. She's famous for cover stuff and it's her fame based on that that record label parasites wish to capitalize on.

The only reason I know her name is because of her cover of Radioactive with Pentatonix. I remember her as, "That midget mormon violinist". She's not bad, but she's not great either. There are a lot of really talented violinists out there who don't do music video covers of crap pop.

Yes, because doing covers of long dead classical and baroque musicians is so much harder and unique.

Yes, exactly. Saying it sarcastically makes it no less true.

Not to mention her actual albums sell perfectly well and she is one of the highest selling independents.

Yaaaay.

Really? You're actually going with harder and more unique. I mean, for some pieces harder is certainly true, though not all, but more unique? Every violinist and their mother covers classical and baroque works. The number that genuinely try something original can probably be counted without taking your socks off.

Yes, I'm actually going with harder and more unique. Certainly harder and more unique than covers of Imagine Dragons.

I can promise you that the amount of people who've covered classical and baroque works is enormously higher than the amount who've covered Imagine Dragons. So more unique? Nnnnnope.

An empty promise to back an equally empty statement doesn't matter at all.

Wait. I just wanna be clear here. Do you mean that the amount of people who've made Imagine Dragons covers are more numeruous than the ones who've covered, say, Mozart?

 

[Link XL1]

you know, im glad she's making bank doing what she loves (i assume), but is it really any of our business how much lindsey or pewd's make? like, how the hell do you even get that information??

 

[renegade7]

Personally I prefer Taylor Davis. Her musicianship is just a little more "authentic" for lack of a better word, more about the playing and the skill than about the cinematics and the presentation. Not to knock on Lindsey Stirling of course, since they're both great artists and they're the reason I decided to learn the violin, but some of the other performers deserve some attention as well.

As much as I like her and I'm happy for her success I wouldn't call what she does real art. She's just using her skill to play music created by somebody else.

Except in the rare cases where sheet music for your instrument is readily made available in some form, all you can really do is "interpret" the piece (especially given that some of these companies have copyright lawyers and love to use them). And while the idea or theme of the piece might not be your own, there's a lot of room for artistic expression in how exactly you go about taking one piece and finding your own way to perform it.

For instance, here's two different people playing the Terran music from StarCraft:


Same basic idea, same very specific piece, same instrument, two very different approaches. That's usually how musical composition works in the real world, you start out by working with what's already there, not by going right out and composing your own symphonies. The technical term for this is variation (as in "variation on a theme", where the theme is something that didn't originate with you), and it's a recognized and respected style of composition.

 

[Nailzzz]

I have been meaning to check out Lindsey Stirling as I heard she does some great violin work, but the revelation that its accompanied by dubstep is making me really second guess myself. I'm a big fan of bands that mix violins with electronics like The Cruxshadows and Opheliac era Emilie Autumn, but I fear that dubstep will ruin it the way it ruins everything.