The rise of youtube stars have baffled a lot of us. We all knew that youtube was a powerful promotional tool, but I know 15-year-old girls who are considering getting nose jobs to look more like Zoella and botox to look like Tanya Burr.
Six months ago, youtubers were the "famous people you've never heard of", but that's rapidly starting to change - especially since the latest Band Aid single featured popular youtubers Alfie Deyes, Joe Sugg and Zoe Sugg, who has also been named the fastest-selling author of 2014.
Successful youtubers now have shows on BBC Radio 1, Penguin book deals, cosmetic ranges and spend a lot of time traveling the world, whilst millions of subscribers buy into their brand.
Youtube has benefited hundreds of musicians and performers alike. Thousands of artists have youtube accounts, and there are hundreds of production companies across the world filming live sessions of artists to share on youtube.
However, whilst a band with a modest following receives around 12,000 views per song, parody popstar youtuber Miranda Sings' comedic original song, 'Where my beas at?' receives over 5 million hits. Another baffling statistic, but Colleen Basinger, the comedian behind Miranda Sings, is a smart girl who you can learn a lot from.
I had the pleasure of talking to Dubstep violinist and composer Lindsey Stirling, whose career has reached another level since applying youtuber tactics to her channel. In 2012, her song 'Crystallize' was the eighth most-watched video on youtube, with over 96 million views.
She described having a youtube channel as "the game changer for me. I would be nothing without it."
Lindsey, who was raised in Gilbert, Arizona, is a trained classical violinist. She was voted off America's Got Talent 2010 in the quarter finals, when Piers Morgan told her that there was no place in the world for a Dubstep violinist.
Morgan has been proven wrong. Lindsey's music channel 'Lindseystomp', at the time of writing this, has nearly 6 million subscribers to her youtube channel and has wracked up over 800 million views. Her fans follow her on her global tours, send her artwork and call themselves Stirlingites.
This level of fan loyalty, who not only watch every video, but share them around too, has been an asset to Lindsey's career. In 2014, she released a second successful album 'Shatter Me', supported Italian tenor, Andrea Bocelli, on his latest tour and was featured on Jessie J's latest album, playing on her song 'Loud'.
Her highlight from the last year has been touring: "I love getting to meet my fans, share my art, and I love to see my music come to life for the first time for thousands of people every night. And I get to travel the world with my best friends."
Youtubers are lifestyle bloggers, giving viewers a front row seat into their daily lives. Whilst Lindsey posts her music videos on 'Lindseystomp', she has a separate channel 'Lindseytime' where she gives her fans an insight into her life. This channel has over 300,000 views and each video racks up thousands of hits in a matter of days, attracting die-hard fans.
A huge part of being a youtuber is connecting with your fans, and Lindsey is always being showered with requests, across all social media channels.
"The gamer community is huge online so I've done a lot of game covers because my fans love them," Lindsey explained. This was particularly proven when Lindsey's video 'Dragon Age' racked up 2.5 million views in two days.
This year, Lindsey hopes to collaborate with more artists. "I am still recovering from writing my last album. I've been touring non stop since I released my last album and I don't write on the road."
"Collaboration is a huge promotional tool and youtube is a collaborative community," Lindsey explains, as she gives her advice on creating a successful youtube channel. "Work together and everyone is better off. Also, build up as many social medias as you can at the same time."
"Devin Graham taught me everything he knew and mentored me in youtube the full first year I had my channel."
There are thousands of talented musicians swimming around in this saturated musical market. As is the case in all industries, you need to find an original way to stand out, but this doesn't mean that you shouldn't follow in the footsteps of those who are already shining.
The future of the digital age is blurrier than ever, particularly given that technological and cultural advancements tend to develop at different speeds. Setting up a youtube channel takes no time at all. If this turns out to be the marketing strategy that works for you, maybe you'll be the next face of youtube, breaking into the music industry faster than you can imagine.