music

A couple of years ago, computer-savvy kids were viewed as music-downloading pirates who were going to sink the record industry. Now they're seen as potential saviors.

Credit their worship of tween idol Justin Bieber, the 16-year-old Canadian cutie discovered on YouTube. He is single-handedly getting young people to buy CDs again with a strategy of quick, shorter-length releases -- he had two million selling titles in less than five months -- for low-ball prices. Tickets for his sold-out concert Tuesday at Target Center are commanding as much as $375 on Craigslist.

While recent teen stars such as Miley Cyrus used TV's Disney Channel to jump-start their singing careers, YouTube has become the new launching pad, with its endless supply of self-posted videos.

It's the place hungry executives go to find the next Bieber -- kids such as 12-year-old Greyson Chance, who sang Lady Gaga's "Paparazzi" at a school talent show in April and uploaded the performance on YouTube. Five weeks and nine million views later, he was signed to a record contract by Ellen DeGeneres.

He's simply following the lead of Bieber, who posted videos of himself singing in a Stratford, Ontario, talent show two years ago so relatives could see his performances. An Atlanta manager saw them and brought Bieber to a Georgia recording studio. The rest is instant history.

Twitter power

Creating an aura of accessibility is one-third of the formula for teen pop success (along with looks and talent), said Ann Donahue, senior editor at the trade magazine Billboard.

Bieber is "very smart when it comes to how he interacts with the young girls, particularly his use of Twitter," Donahue said. "He's always making shout-outs to fans and responding to them when they say, 'Justin you'll make my 7th grade if you will reply to me,' and he'll reply with like, 'Have a good day @ school.' "

He has more than 3.2 million followers on Twitter, ranking him right behind Lady Gaga, the current queen of pop.

"Fans feel like they have like a one-on-one relationship with him," said Steve Bartels, president of Island Def Jam, the record label that signed Bieber. "He takes his time with people. He Twitters all the time. He's online all the time. He's answering people. It's all his initiative. It's very genuine."

One follower is Liddy Busch of Mankato, who will celebrate her 15th birthday by going to Bieber's concert in Minneapolis. "I'm a fan of his on Facebook," she said. "I check it every day, like 200 times."

The price is right

Bartels thinks that pricing and value-added packaging are helping sell Bieber CDs. His current disc, "My World 2.0," includes a "golden ticket" contest to see a Bieber show in the Bahamas, and at $11 it sells for $3 to $7 less than most comparable titles. The deluxe edition ($15) has bonus material and allows buyers to create a digital poster of themselves with Bieber.

Working with the young star, Bartels launched a new label, Teen Island, to reach the teen/tween audience. Opening acts on his tour include two recent signees: Jessica Jarrell, 15 (who has a duet with Bieber on "My World 2.0") and Burnham, a trio of teen brothers.

More than any other demographic, tween girls "love mementos and keepsakes," said Fordham University media studies Prof. Paul Levinson. That helps drive CD sales -- more than 90 percent of Bieber's album sales are physical CDs instead of digital downloads, much higher than the industry average of 74 percent.

At the same time, these girls love discovering artists on the Internet.

"It's fun to find somebody new by yourself," said Liddy, who spends two hours a day on her computer checking out music and videos. "I don't like songs on the radio -- they overplay them."

Levinson, author of the 2009 book "New New Media," ranks YouTube in the Top 5 all-time innovations affecting the recording industry -- ahead of MTV and compact discs.

"It's transforming entertainment access across the board," he said of the five-year-old website. "Things are becoming more democratized. Stars are not dependent on moguls discovering them."

The risk of exploitation

Longtime Minneapolis music impresario Don Powell, who worked with Stevie Wonder, David Bowie and the Jets, recently signed a 12-year-old Scottish singer he found on YouTube. Powell plans to produce and manufacture the CD himself and distribute it via a major retailer such as Target or Best Buy.

"I didn't look at his age so much -- though that's an attractive issue -- it's just the extraordinary sound that comes from somebody this age," said Powell, who declined to name the boy. "He's a serious singer. I think he's going to have a career as opposed to one or two years of fame and go away. That's one of the strongest messages I learned at Motown: Build a career, not one-hit wonders."

With these Internet-spawned newbies being exploited as instant cash cows, they risk ending up as one-hit wonders who can't adjust to the real world.

Bartels said his staff learned about teen stardom from dealing with Usher, who was 13 when Island Def Jam signed him. Now 31, Usher actually brought Bieber to the label.

Bieber's mother and a school tutor travel with him. "It's a careful minding process," Bartels said. "You've got to be vigilant about it, and be caring. We try to be responsible. Everything takes time."

Except overnight YouTube stardom.

Jon Bream • 612-673-1719