When I was in highschool, I got into the habit of trawling through YouTube to find various A Cappella artists and and performances from groups of this nature. This was partly because I myself was involved in an A Cappella group and was looking to find new repertoire, but also because I really enjoy listening to music of this nature. Out of the many artists and groups I listened to, I could only find one of them on the shelf of my local JB Hi-Fi. Perhaps the shelfspace for the Idea of North was accumulated because they are an Australian band. If I were to travel to another country, their CD would be no where to be found. Why? A Cappella as a genre is a niche. The majority of consumers couldn’t care less about A Cappella music, and therefore it is not a profitable genre for businesses to carry.
YouTube was a great platform to find this music because it allowed anyone to upload their A Cappella songs and performances. It didn’t need to be high quality, it didn’t need to be perfect. As long as someone had a recording device, it could be uploaded,and after that it could be viewed. YouTube is how I found an A Cappella group called Pentatonix – a five piece band who at the time covered pop songs to attract attention to their amazing talents. Over time, their video production has improved, and their repertoire has evolved to include original music.
By using covers of popular songs distributed on a free video streaming platform, Pentatonix draws in potential fans. While these songs are chosen because the group enjoys the original piece, the real purpose of these covers is to generate attention for the group. By creating a medley of songs from Daft Punk, they draw in the fanbase of that particular artist, as well as those who listen to EDM. Despite being situated in a different musical genre, their cover of that artist and their style attracts those people to watch. By collaborating with other niche artists (like Lindsey Stirling or Tori Kelly), they also open up the doors to new viewership. From there, viewers can keep exploring their other content, finding original songs amongst the covers. This is the long tail effect. Drawing in users and pulling them towards content via generative values, allowing their audience to follow the band down a rabbit hole which gradually becomes more niche.
LYRICS:
The internet is truly great, we’ve access to all things.
Decentralised can let us thrive, post content, we’ll be kings!
But, wait, if we’re all creating this content then we’ll end up with an abundance of information and our works not going to be worth anything anyway, is it?
Give me your attention, please I just need your attention,
your attention please: It’s the new economy.
Give me your attention, I made this thing, I have a selfie,
read my blog!- / No watch my vid!
THE MOST AMAZING THING I’M SURE YOU CERTAINLY DON’T KNOW
Wait, did they click on me?
I think they clicked on me.
Well you’d better say something smart before you lose their attention.
Give me your attention, please I just need your attention,
your attention please: It’s the new economy.
Give me your attention, please I just need your attention,
I have to know what makes you stay, your time is what pays me.
Experience is important for loving what I see.
Like authentic personalities that relate well to me.
Well I’m a fan of master crafts, I’ll join their Patreon
If I can watch it instantly, my money will be gone.
Well we’ll Give you our attention, yes we’ll give you our attention.
All you have to do is what we want you to.
We’ll give you our attention, yes, just make sure you’re authentic.
If we find you’ve sold out then you’re yesterdays news.
We’ll give you our attention [give me your attention],
yes we’ll give you our attention [give me your attention]
All you have to do is [please stay]
What we want you to [I need some pay]
We’ll give you our attention [give me your attention],
yes, just make sure you’re authentic [give me your attention]
If we find you’ve sold out [your attention please]
then you’re yesterday’s news [it’s the new economy]
elysium design utopia 
That was sick! My only constructive comment is to somehow promote the video in some way maybe a screenshot as the feature image because otherwise people could accidentally skip it and its a bit of a banger. Good writing as well I think A capella’s and YouTube are both great to talk about in that A capella is definitely niche but it has a strong fanbase and Youtube I hadn’t thought about but is a great example of the long tail effect and they are definitely capitalising via adds on every niche video out there.
Will be following for more A capella videos
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Really awesome post and video! You are incredibly talented!
I really like that you used Music as an example for how attention has become the new form of currency, and the cause and effects of this. Youtube is most definitely the most obvious example of a media platform that exposes attention-grabbing content, although an argument could also be made about vine.
Great post though! Lovely voice too!
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Interesting take on the weeks topic and I think it really worked well! You differentiated yourself in a way that influences readers to think “Wow now this I haven’t seen on a blog before!”. What you say is also correct about YouTube being a social information hub, where users had the freedom to upload or share any form of mainstream or underground music.
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Hey, coolio. I can’t believe there’s someone else at uni who’s heard of the Idea of North.
I love this whole attention/economy dynamic of the topic. At first I considered it more a metaphor, but then it sort of suddenly clicked that it was literally an economy. The niche principles are the exact same as specialising and securing a niche market wherein you can dominate supply and get all that sweet, sweet attention. I guess that’s why I know the Idea of North and not any other Australian A Capella groups.
Or maybe I just don’t listen to enough A Capella.
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