The Lies Continue - Another YouTube Fraud: Marie Digby

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Marie Digby YouTube Musical Talent and Hollywood Records
It seems we have another Lonelygirl15 on our hands — and by that I mean another lying little … ok, let’s call her a “lady.”

She lies; we lie. What’s the big deal, right?

The Wall Street Journal is reporting that 24-year-old Marié Digby, a seemingly unknown who hit it big on YouTube, was actually working with Hollywood Records for the last 18 months to cultivate her “out-of-the-blue, little ol’ me” image on the video sharing site. At every turn, it seems, her “story” has been crafted and twisted and muted to hide that fact from the public.

Some examples:

Invited to a radio station to do an interview, the DJ pretended that they had discovered her on YouTube. In fact, the interview had been set up through Hollywood Records.
Her MySpace page showed no sign of any professional involvement until the Wall Street Journal contacted her about it.
Even now, as the story is slowly beginning to leak out, in public appearances it seems she still pretends as if all her success has come magically out of nowhere — as opposed to strategically out of the corporate offices of a major recording label.

The truth is, though they are complicit in the lies they perpetrate, I don’t really hold these young wannabes in contempt. They’re young; they’re unknown; they want to “make it.” And then suddenly some company comes along and promises them that if only they’ll “play along for a while,” they just might hit it big. Also, of course, there is nothing illegal about it.

The sad part is that like Digby, these young wannabes do indeed have talent. And so when the backlash hits, will it be Hollywood Records who catches the brunt of it?

Of course not.

When I think of Hollywood Records, I think it must be some non-descript building somewhere in L.A. I think they must have a logo of some sort, but I couldn’t tell you what it looks like. Like most who have ever listened to Marié Digby, I don’t know and don’t really care who Hollywood Records is.

When I think of Marié Digby, however, a very specific person comes to mind — Marié Digby. And, unfortunately for Marié Digby, Marié Digby is the only person she will ever be. If Marié Digby becomes tarnished now, Marié Digby may never live it down.

While that might be a slight blow for the likes of Hollywood Records, it would surely be a fatal one the musical career of … (can you guess?) … yes, Ms. Digby.

While what Digby is doing doesn’t seem to go as far as Lonelygirl15, one has to wonder why Hollywood Records felt it necessary to create such a story. Sure, it’s a good story to see a nobody from their bedroom suddenly pop up on YouTube and then a few months later play the late night talk show circuit; but in this day and age, don’t these companies know that sooner or later they’ll be found out?

What’s wrong with simply putting an unknown up on YouTube, letting her do all the “personal and authentic” things that appeal in this vlog age, things like singing unaccompanied in your living room and making video blogs that speak directly to your fans, but then just say that she is also working with a record company?

What would be the big deal? She would still be an unknown, and so the viewers of YouTube would still have the pleasure of “discovering” her. But you wouldn’t have to outright lie to people.

Maybe Hollywood (and by “Hollywood” I mean the mainstream entertainment industry) feels they NEED to lie to people. Maybe they feel they aren’t doing their jobs unless they’re lying to people. I don’t know, but the more I see them involved in the vlog world, the more lies I see.

The web is a great communication device, no doubt. That makes it a great tool for marketing too. And it’s only getting better and better. But it seems that many companies, large and small alike, still don’t get it. The heart and soul of any communication device is always the same: it’s the communication, not the device.

Even though a new device might make easier for you to lie to us, you’ll still be found out in the end if you do. And we’re still going to judge you on that.

And so I’m not sure why I have to keep asking for this, but it seems I do: Please stop lying to us. Please!

Below is Digby singing Umbrella – the song that seemed to catapult her to fame “out of nowhere”: