An obscure wedding dance posted online became an instant Youtube hit. It featured the song “Forever” by Chris Brown which is now sitting at number 3 in the iTunes chart and is set to sell thousands all over again.
This tells us all something and that is that in the current climate, Youtube has more of a direct impact on your bottom line than a radio campaign. The problem is that radio campaigns take around 8-16 weeks and by the time your song gets saturated radio play, it would have been on torrent sites all over the world resulting in lost sales.
A Youtube hit paired with a direct call to action i.e an iTunes link will result in immediate sales and chart success. Independent labels and artist need to concentrate on generating a hit song with a hit video instead of greasing the palms of PR companies and pluggers who have very little chance of achieving the sustained radio play that your record needs in order to break into the charts.
Furthermore, it is time to throw out the release schedules and make your song available on iTunes prior to any marketing.