Daria Musk

A true example of the power of viral and social media, and a likely indicator of the future of the music business, singer/songwriter Daria Musk can lay true claim to the phrase ‘overnight sensation.’ Musk might just be the very first musician to be discovered globally live, and in the moment through the world’s newest social network, when she performed what is being dubbed the first pro-level concert on Google+ Hangouts. Within minutes of beginning her broadcast, Musk had hundreds of Google+ users around the world clamoring to participate. One of Google’s top engineers took notice and began adjusting the tech on the fly to work around the 10-person Hangout limit, while the fans began a community-organized rotation in and out of the top ten seats so that others could join in. To play for as many people as possible, Musk performed 6.5 hours straight for an audience of global viewers, who interacted with her and each other face to face.

Her second performance a week later was live-streamed for unlimited viewing and watched by 9,000 viewers in 100 countries. Her third concert integrated with YouTube Live, bringing in an estimated viewership of more than 200,000 people. Those fans helped to pick her first single and the cover of her debut EP, which hit #22 on Amazon.com the night it was released. Fans even recorded their own voices via Soundcloud to create a multi-lingual intro for her song, “You Move Me”. Musk has since used her newfound fame and global reach for the greater good, organizing a give-back tie-in with The ONE Campaign to garner signatures to petition the UN to alleviate the famine in Somalia and other countries in the Horn of Africa.