*What do Prince, Bruno Mars, Stevie Wonder, Ed Sheeran, and other well-known music artists have in common?
They have received the harmonizing video treatment by no other than online video star L. Young.
The technology behind the video coupled with his a cappella vocal prowess packs a powerful punch and keeps fans asking for more.
It all started three years ago when L. Young saw a couple of short online spoof videos from Europe with the basic concept of smaller, box videos inside of one main video.
A consummate music artist since childhood, he was fascinated by what he saw but did not know how to harness it – yet. After several failed attempts to reach the creators of the spoof videos to ask questions about the process and the app, Young did the next best thing – his own research and listened to the radio.
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“I decided to download a picture collage app and started playing with it,” Young told EURweb.com. “I did a couple of videos and they were pretty bad. But there was a lot of training of sorts to get used to using the app. One day I was just riding down the street and someone on the radio made a reference to the movie, ‘Lean On Me’ and I remembered I liked the alma mater song from movie and thought it would be cool to do that with that app.”
The Louisville, Kentucky native added:
“I just decided to do it for fun, then I posted it, took a nap, because those things take a while to complete, and when I woke up it went viral. From there I had all of these different fans requesting different songs and before I knew it (the videos) became really huge.”
Overjoyed by the reaction to his version of the “East Side High Alma Mater” song, the former choirboy, contacted the makers of the app that helped him make his song hoping to snag a deal, but they gave him the old-brush-off, which is why he is not naming it.
“I don’t want to give the specific name of the app not because it’s a trade secret or anything like that,” said Young. “I went to this app company before things got really, really huge and because I saw the potential in it. I spoke to them about making it more user-friendly for musicians, how to do this thing, how I can get an endorsement, and being paid by impressions by leading people to their app. I got multiple questions everyday about what app am I using and I would tell people. I know (the app company) got downloads and impressions off of that and I thought rightfully so that I should get paid. They flat-out said no. Then 6 months later they took my ideas and developed their own version of the app.”
While Young will not reveal any names, he encourages other harmonizing video producers to look for any picture/video collage app that allows recording for more than five minutes. That sounds easy enough, right? Not so fast – creating the right video can take hours before sharing it with the world.
“First, I have to arrange the piece and depending on how intricate and how long it’s going to be that can take a while, “said Young. “Then I have to learn my arrangement. Everything is done on the cell phone in real time. So, there’s no editing software after the fact. There’s no splicing together a video and making it seem as though it’s one long recording of six different videos. Then I have to find good lighting and hit record. The Michael Jackson (video) took 32 hours to complete. I was up all night and took little naps. I had never done a video that long before and it was very intricate with a lot of transitions. It would take me four of five times to (complete).”
One may think that covering songs by big-name music artists may prompt a few calls from lawyers to stop the online postings; however, not for Young. He has only received praise and recognition from many of the artists’ “people.” Of course, it also helps to have everything in order. He works with YouTube and another company that makes sure he has the licensing rights to stream his videos online. The profits are split down the middle from impressions when people click or watch the videos. Young gets half because of his voice and likeness and the artist or publisher gets the other half because they own the song. Young looked back at the day when he realized he could get paid for his harmonizing videos.
“With the song ‘More Than Words’ by Extreme, their people put a tag on my video to monetize it. I didn’t monetize it,” said Young. “I felt like I’m not going to make any money off of this. It’s not my song, I’m just going to put the video out. This is for popularity. They requested that I monetize it because it was making so much money and they wanted to get that money from the video. That’s what let me know that now they’re going to get paid, so how can I get paid? That’s when I started a company that works with the record companies and publishers to make sure that their taking their cut for the composition and me as well.”
- Young has a background that makes sure he gets things right. At five, he was already in the adult choir at church. By thirteen, he added acting to his roster, worked professionally in regional theater, and went on to attend the prestigious Youth Performing Arts High School in Louisville. He performed all over the U.S. as well as in Brussels, Belgium and London. In fact, he even nabbed a singer/composer deal with MCA Records and wrote music for up-and-coming artists like Keke Wyatt.
When MCA was scooped up by Geffen records in 2003, Young had to move on. While he had an opportunity to work with other labels, eventually he realized that the major label route was not for him. In 2013, his independent track, “Love Is A Verb” made it into the R&B top twenty charts.
Plus, he has gone on to release four CDs independently, including his latest album 4Ever Young featuring “Knocked Out”:
“I saw the future and the direction where the middleman needs to be cut out,” said Young. “I kind of saw what’s happening now progressing before a lot of artists did. So, I decided that I’m going to do my own music and live shows. I produce, write, and do everything. I don’t need a label to finance me.”
He added, “Even though I wasn’t making a lot of money (at first), I saw that all of it was coming to me and I didn’t have to pay anybody else. I was like this is what I want to do and I didn’t have to get approval from 15 other people whether or not they liked the album and this ‘n that. Sometimes that can kill your career. It could make you a star. It’s a gamble.”
It is a risk that is definitely paying off for L. Young. In addition to his video and studio music projects, he also composes music for films and television. You have probably heard his work in the films “Barbershop” and “Don Jon” as well as in television for shows like “According To Jim,” “Basketball Wives,” and “Burn Notice.” Also, lookout for his own picture/video app – soon. To find out more about L. Young, check out his website at https://lyoungmusic.com/.
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