After much deliberation, The CD Baby YouTube contest winners are ready to be announced! We were astounded by the the amazing response from so many of our artists. We received more than 250 entries and it was a pleasure watching each and every one of them. In fact, we had so many awesome submissions, we decided to give away a few extra prizes. With all the great work, it was hard to narrow it down. Everyone who entered should be proud.
And without further adieu, here are the winners!
Best iPhone Video
Prize: Free Year at Host Baby and 5 Album Submissions
Winner: WOJE – Til Hope Takes Flight
Our winner for best video created with an iPhone used a bunch of random toys to create a touching story about good triumphing over evil! WOJE brings you into their world of toys so effortlessly, you don’t even think about what camera they used or how it was put together. You just want the good guy to save the princess! Proof that you can still make an entertaining video with a phone and whatever you have around the house!
Most Creative
Prize: Free Year at Host Baby and 5 Album Submissions
Winner: All India Radio – Rippled/Lucky
The award for Most Creative video ended up as a tie between two videos by the same artist! All India Radio uses a technique called “Light Painting” to give their videos a supernatural feel. The results are one part art, one part animation, and all parts stunning! With over 200k total views, it’s clear that we aren’t the only ones mesmerized by their creativity!
Best Cover Song
Prize: Free Year at Host Baby and 5 Album Submissions
Winner: Perpetuate – Black Velvet
The top prize for Best Cover Song goes to the band Perpetuate for their Heavy Metal version of Black Velvet, originally performed by Alannah Myles. It’s a song you don’t expect to work in the metal genre, but Perpetuate prove it does! You’ll be singing along and head-banging after the first 10 seconds guaranteed!
Best Use of Annotations
Prize: Free Year at Host Baby and 5 Album Submissions
Winner: Nathan Shirley – While Good Folk Sleep
Annotations are the boxes of text that show up while you are watching a video. They can provide vital information about what you’re watching, jump to another time, and even link to another related video. Nathan Shirley put annotations to good use in his video for his album “While Good Folk Sleep.” The video contains his entire album, and with easy to click link boxes, you can jump to any track on the album instantly. This makes for a great and creative way to allow people to listen to any of his songs instantly from one page!
Most Likely To Go Viral
Prize: Free Year at Host Baby and 5 Album Submissions
Winner: Max Madill – Princess On An Island/Pizza Song
Everybody wants to go viral, but exactly how to make that happens remains ever elusive. Most videos that go viral somehow manage to gain instant popularity through a perfect storm of events, but that shouldn’t keep you from trying! Max Madill makes videos that scream viral! After watching them, you get an uncontrollable urge to send them to your friends. His songs are raw, funny, endearing, and feature some pretty awesome dancing! We couldn’t choose between his two future-hits “Princess On An Island” and “Pizza Song” for the video most likely to go viral, so watch them both and decide for yourself which one to share on Facebook!
Most Ready for MTV
Prize: Free Album Submission
Winner: Skandle – Can’t Knock the Hustle (Remix)
Ok, so MTV doesn’t play many videos anymore, but we still got a lot of entries that were so pro they belong there! It was hard to pick the winner, but something about Skandle’s remix of “Can’t Knock the Hustle” just kept jumping out. This video looks like it had a big budget whether it had one or not! Vibrant colors, quick edits, great camerawork, and cool, laid back rapping make for a fun video that looks like it belongs on your TV screen!
Best Special FX
Prize: Free Album Submission
Winner: Princess Katie and Racer Steve – Sand In My Sandwich
Special FX are best when they enhance the story, instead of distract you from it, and Princess Katie and Racer Steve did just that with their mostly animated video for “Sand In My Sandwich.” Using creative original animation intertwined with live-action footage of Princess Katie and Racer Steve themselves, they’ve made a video that’s entertaining for kids and adults alike! Somebody give these guys a show on Nick Jr.!
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