Instant fame phenomenon an insult to true artists
With that being said, YouTube has redefined entertainment. It has torn down geographical boundaries and enabled people all over the world to share their own skills, or at least what they consider as valuable abilities, with anyone and everyone. Strangers with a synthesizer and a good voice can become international celebrities overnight. Comedy can be performed from dorm rooms. Quirky talents and gritty film-making on a digital camera become internet masterpieces.
However, just as YouTube has undoubtedly redefined entertainment, it has also begun to redefine the performing artist. In fact, even the term "YouTube artist" has been coined to describe anyone who uploads his or her performances to the web. A performing artist no longer has to be a person who studies a trade for years before struggling his or her way into a profession of expressive creation.
YouTube has expanded the definition of artist to encompass people of any age, any skill level, any income level and so on. A performing artist can now be almost anyone. But such fame is, more often than not, ephemeral. YouTube stardom is short-lived, and videos that are viral one month fade easily into oblivion the next.
In a country largely famous for instant gratification, the performing arts — one of the last things one would expect to lump into the same category as the dollar-menu cheeseburger and the Facebook status update — are now becoming nothing short of "instant." YouTube, while being a great online entertainment and educational source, is beginning to slowly take depth out of the performing arts.
The "performing artist," rather than carrying a somewhat heroic connotation, is no longer a title that needs to carry much weight. Simply put, YouTube has made performance art an increasingly shallow trade, and when anyone can grab a guitar and proclaim themselves an artist via the internet, it becomes difficult to distinguish what is quality performance art and what isn't. YouTube has essentially begun to strip away artistic standards.
That's not to say YouTube hasn't done great things for many people. It allows people to share humor, ideas, music and much more.
If nothing else, it has at least made "rags to riches" an even greater possibility, as aspiring young performing artists can now make a name for themselves without having to be born within the exclusive confines of the wealthy or connected.
But with it's benefits come costs and changes to the performing arts field. As observers and maybe even performers, we should keep them in mind.