Yahoo Finance YouTube stars Jack & Jack, Nash Grier create next Beatlemania
For Jack Johnson and Jack Gilinsky, the path to stardom began far from the concert stage, in the bedroom of their Omaha homes. The childhood friends recall putting together “cheesy” video clips, using a built-in camera on their old MacBook.
“We made a YouTube channel when we were in fourth or fifth grade,” says Johnson. “It never got too big, but it was kind of us, just messing around, putting our sense of humor out to the world. We got a couple thousand subscribers.”
It took a brief, 6-second clip to push that number to millions.
The clip posted on the popular short-form video sharing sight Vine, featured the teens dressed up as nerds, solving a math equation while vandalizing a neighborhood car. The duo racked up 250,000 subscribers in one week. To date, the clip dubbed “Nerd Vandals” has been watched 6.5 million times.
“We really didn’t expect it to take off the way it did, and we couldn't be more grateful for it” Johnson says.
Consider that an understatement. Now 18 and 19 years old, Johnson and Gilisnky have a combined 14 million followers across all social media platforms. They have parlayed that online success into a promising recording career and a home in the Hollywood Hills. They have released 11 singles, 9 of which have landed on Billboard charts. They’ve achieved all of this without a record deal.
“Coming from social media, it’s really hard to be taken seriously when we make music. It’s like – oh, those Viner kids,” Gilinsky said.
“At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter where you’re from. If you have talent, that’s the name of the game,” says Johnson.
That mindset has been the driving force behind DigiTour Media, a Los-Angeles based startup founded by former recording industry insiders Meridith Valiando Rojas and her husband Chris Rojas.
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The couple set out to bring social media stars into the limelight five years ago, organizing small YouTube concert tours aimed at college students. Valiando Rojas says barely any online talent had representation at the time and knew little about performing outside of their bedrooms.
“It was, and kind of still is the wild, wild west,” she says. “It took some time to get them on board and for them to understand that we were going to protect their brand, this was going to be innovative and game-changing.”
The initial success convinced Valiando Rojas to incorporate Vine users and vloggers into what was predominantly a live, music performance. She had performers enroll in improvisational classes and hired scriptwriters from Second City and The Groundlings. The result? A national tour, tailor made for tweens.
“In 2013, it became all teen girls,” she said. “It became like Beatlemania.”
The concerts known as DigiTour have all the makings of a traditional pop concert: teenage boys, fans swarming, and yes, shrieking girls. But Valiando Rojas says the overall experience is more intimate. Performers take group selfies and fans shell out up to $300 for V.I.P passes which include personal meet and greets. The stage sets are much shorter, to give the audience the same experience they’re familiar with on social media sites. Fans vlog about the shows online.
“It’s very fast paced because this audience is a little ADD,” Valiando Rojas said. “They want a lot quickly, sort of like they scroll through Vine and go through Snaps on Snapchat.”
DigiTour is on track to sell more than 200,000 tickets this year alone, for performances across the U.S. and Europe. They’ll host their biggest event to date next month --an all day festival known as Digifest, at Citi Field in New York, where nearly 13,000 fans are expected.
All the success has made DigiTour media an attractive outlet for companies looking to tap into the tween market. The company has already inked deals with major brands, including Coca-Cola, Verizon, and Invisalign, which set up a “kissing booth” at DigiTour’s events last year.
Investors have also come calling. The company raised $2 million in their last round of funding, with Ryan Seacrest, Guy Oseary and Allen DeBevoise, co-founder of Machinema, among the list of big name backers.
“We’ve done a lot with a little, made a lot of noise,” said Valiando Rojas. “Now we’re looking to build out the departments and our capabilities.”
Last year, the company produced and distributed its first documentary – a behind the scenes look at Jack and Jack’s tour. Earlier this year, the company started a merchandise subscription service similar to Birchbox, which includes a magazine and products centered around social media stars.
All the while, Valiando-Rojas has continued to scroll through her own social media feeds religiously, in search of the next big star.
“It’s all about what the fans want,” she said. “It used to be a label, or studio, or company that thought ‘ok, this is what this audience will want. I‘m going to put it together, package it, put it out there and see how they respond.’ Now, it’s instant feedback, from the audience.”
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