Inside The LA Company That Helped Make Silentó's 'Watch Me' A Viral Hit
LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) — From celebrities to children, people all over the world have uploaded YouTube videos of themselves doing the "Whip/NaeNae" dance to Silento's single, "Watch Me."
But what made it go viral?
A Los Angeles company called, DanceOn, with founders including superstar Madonna, partnered with Silento to help push his 2015 single from somewhat known to number three on the Billboard's Hot 100.
"I call it the 'dancers are DJs' model. If you get enough dancers dancing to any one thing, they break out into the mainstream and everyone will know the song," said Carly Casey, Vice President of Programming for DanceOn.
That means the days of only MTV and the radio introducing songs are long gone. DanceOn partners with artists and a network of YouTube stars to create their own dances to the newest hot songs.
DanceOn and its network of dancers take a cut of the advertising revenue while helping the songs, and all the YouTube videos, go viral.
"[The songs] get more purchases on iTunes and move their way up the chart because people listen to them online. It's like, 'What song is that? Where can I find it?'" said Casey.
DanceOn's biggest success in 2015 was Silento's "Watch Me" and even Silento himself credits this new type of online, dance-focused marketing for taking his song to the next level. Silento clinched his record deal after partnering with DanceOn.
"They helped the song blow up because it was like, each video was different, so people were just like, 'Ah man, go to this video, go the next video,' and all of the videos had millions of views," said Silento in a DanceOn promotional YouTube video.
So what does DanceOn say is the next viral dance craze? "Lean and Dabb" by iLoveMemphis (also known as iHeartMemphis).
In recent weeks, DanceOn created its first YouTube music video to "Lean and Dabb" and they hope it will go viral and get millions of views.
The video features YouTube stars, ages 12-14, as dancers in the video. The teenagers already have impressive dance careers, from working with Mariah Carey and Janet Jackson to performing at the Super Bowl and the White House. Each of them has thousands of YouTube followers on their own, helping to bring millions of views (and ears!) to the song and video – and expected to take "Lean and Dabb" to the top of the charts.
Celebrity Dance Choreographer Oth'than Burnside was involved with both "Watch Me Whip" and "Lean and Dabb."
"I'm excited to see from this point forward where this song [Lean and Dabb] goes," said Burnside. "Whether you're young or old, anyone can do these dances – and that's what makes it so great."