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YouTube - holy cow! - I can do my career at my own pace. I didn't have anybody to tell me I wasn't ready, and I learned how to self-market and how to strategize. 'Spontaneous Me' had already been up on iTunes, but besides my mom and grandma, no one bought it. Once it was up on YouTube, it went crazy.

Before YouTube, I was playing in restaurants and doing open mics - every once in a while, I'd throw an original in there. And then YouTube kind of just opened doors for me, so once I felt like I had an audience to share music with, I began to share my original music.

I still like to go to record stores, I like to just wander around and I'll buy whatever catches my attention.

The best companies in the world have all had predecessors. 'YouTube' was a dating site. You always have to evolve into something else.

I think YouTube used to have a negative connotation, like it was the place where the rejects went and made careers, but I'm proud to be YouTuber. I wanted to be in that first generation of YouTube stars who transitioned into the 'real world.' It was a really good way to build my business.

YouTube provides a unique opportunity for all musicians to market and promote their music and directly engage their fans.

The strange thing was, when I was starting on YouTube, even the paradigm of YouTube and Internet sensation - or whatever - that didn't really exist. So I didn't even know that that was a thing.

YouTube was really good for building a kind of core, loyal fanbase. I didn't want to be a YouTube artist as such. I mean, there are people who are able to release albums and live off YouTube, but I felt - and not in an arrogant way - that I could be commercial and credible if I really put my mind to it.

I hate YouTube sometimes because people put up things of mine that were never meant for consumption and also because of some of the comments people write about my videos.

When my YouTube videos started to get really big, I was like, 'Man, this is pretty sweet.' It started as my hobby, and then I started traveling and learning how to play different instruments, and then it just kind of became my life.