JOSHUA TREE, CA—While it’s not called a sport yet, Radnich’s piano performances often take more energy than any “lazy” day at the gym. With the dexterity and agility found in top athletes, it seems Radnich is capturing a world-wide audience as his performances are replayed on YouTube as part of The Piano Guys channel line-up. As sales and marketing gurus continue to explore ways to utilize the new media, it appears that The Piano Guys and their small team of musician artists have struck the right chord. Up against big names like The Harlem Globetrotters, the team took home well over half the votes to determine that their channel was the most deserving of the “Most Up-And-Coming” YouTube Channel among the top four chosen by YouTube to compete in its June contest. The world-wide contest took place over the course of a week-long voting period, ending just last Wednesday, with the winner’s channel being posted on YouTube’s home page today and expected to be seen by over 40 million viewers.
“We were extremely excited to even be chosen by YouTube to be part of this contest, and to win the entire thing is hard to grasp.” — Paul Anderson, owner of The Piano Guys
“We started producing our videos as a way to market our Yamaha piano business and show the public and our potential customers how special these instruments are and how fun music-making can and should be. What ended up happening was that people from around the world were drawn to our channel’s music videos where we bring to light the amazing talent of the artists we work with – Jon Schmidt, Steven Sharp Nelson, Spencer Schmidt, and Jarrod Radnich—and these artists’ work also highlights the fun and entertainment value people can have playing and listening to live music,” continued Anderson.
“What a thrill to be able to share entertaining and exciting musical arrangements and performances with so many people.” — Jarrod Radnich
“When I wrote the “Pirates of the Caribbean medley” for piano I was told that no one else would want to try to play it because it was far too difficult. Well, with some great business advice we marketed the sheet music anyway as part of a new Virtuosic Piano Solo Series and it’s paying off. You would be surprised how many pianists want virtuosic quality compositions that have a modern feel to them,” explained Radnich. Radnich’s videos on YouTube are headed toward the one-million views mark; led by his performance of his copyrighted arrangement of a piano medley from Pirates of the Caribbean, which is the same arrangement he “virtually” performs “live” on a Yamaha Disklavier each day at Disneyland’s Tomorrowland.
The Piano Guys videography team includes Paul Anderson, Tel Stewart (who is studying New Media at Dixie State), and Shaye Scott, who were joined by Devin Graham for the Michael Meets Mozart video featuring Jon Schmidt on piano and Steven Sharp Nelson on cello, which is the other video is nearing one-million views on The Piano Guys channel. The Piano Guys team has a goal of introducing one amazing music video each week. “We are producing ‘cool’ music videos of talented musicians performing their best work, and it takes a lot of work and creativity to be true to the artist’s music and performance while keeping the YouTube audience’s eyes glued to the video,” explained Tel Stewart. Anderson added, “But it’s well worth it. We’ve had many people tell us that they are returning to their piano lessons or have decided to start playing—all because of seeing performances of our artists and the kind of music that they make and share. It’s a good feeling and good for business at the same time.”
For more information on the artists or The Piano Guys visit www.ThePianoGuys.com; www.JarrodRadnich.com; www.JonSchmidt.com and www.StevenSharpNelson.com.
