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Tag: violin

  • Lindsey Stirling Is One of YouTube’s Top Earners

    Lindsey Stirling Is One of YouTube’s Top Earners

    Lindsey Stirling plans a mean violin. And it’s catapulted her to the rank of the top earners on YouTube.

    According to a Forbes list, Stirling made $6 million in the last year, ending in June.

    Taking steps towards the unknown.

    A photo posted by Lindsey Stirling (@lindseystirling) on

    She couldn’t top PewDiePie, however. The video game-playing Swede, real named Felix Kjellberg, apparently rakes in $12 a year.

    A pair of comedy YouTubers tied for second place. Smosh, best friends from California and the Fine Brothers, who got famous with their react and autotune the news videos, both pulled in $8.5 million.

    Says Forbes:

    She plays the violin. She dances. Then she does them at the same time, and it’s kind of amazing. Stirling began posting her videos of herself performing in 2007 after failing to be signed by a major record label. Now they are begging to sign her, but too late—she doesn’t need them anymore. Explains Stirling: “It’s a very loyal fan base that wants you to succeed because they found you. It wasn’t some big radio station or record label that shoved art down someone’s throat.”

    Stirling, who combines violin with dancing and other performance art, burst on the scene in 2007. She plays originals, covers, and responses to other popular songs.

    Her YouTube channel has over 7.1 million subscribers and more than a billion views.

  • Lindsey Stirling, YouTube Sensation, Signs New Deal

    In 2010, Lindsey Stirling was a quarterfinalist for NBC’s hit show, America’s Got Talent. At the time, her act was described as a “hip hop violinist”. Unfortunately, Stirling would be voted off the show during the quarterfinal round. While the news was devastating, it was anything but the end for Stirling: “After I got voted off the show, I was absolutely heartbroken. But I just knew I could do it in my heart. I knew that that was only the beginning.”

    Following her departure from the show, Stirling started to reinvent her YouTube channel entitled LindseyStomp. Partnering with people who knew what’s what when it comes to producing internet videos, Stirling began to heavily promote her talents through her YouTube account. The response was overwhelming, to say the least.

    Today, Stirling has over five million subscribers and viewers have watched her videos over 500 million times. It was this success which led Stirling to sign a deal with Maker Studios, a YouTube multichannel network (MCN), owned by Disney, which works with performers to help them produce and monetize their online content.

    “Lindsey is the ultimate independent music talent — setting the bar for other artists to aspire. Her talent and success is undeniable and we could not be more thrilled to welcome her into the Maker community and work together on new projects,” stated Chris M. Williams, chief audience officer at Maker Studios.

    Maker Studios was not the only party excited about the new deal. Stirling expressed exactly how this move put her career in a much more desirable position:

    Maker is extremely proactive and creative with their talent. They seem to have mastered the difficult task of giving attention to their smaller, growing channels while still being able to add value to their larger established channels and plus, with this partnership, I am one step closer to becoming a Disney princess!

    Partnering with Maker Studios will almost certainly bring enough attention to Stirling’s talents to make her even more of a household name. The studio has partnered with such artists as will.i.am, Snoop Dogg, Kelis, and even EpicLLOYD’s Epic Rap Battles of History. Maker Studios has a subscriber base of 450 million viewers and accumulates an average of 6.5 billion views per month.

  • Stradivarius Thieves Arrested, $6M Violin Recovered

    A rare Stradivarius violin stolen on Jan. 27 has been recovered in Milwaukee. The instrument, crafted by Antonio Stradivari in 1715, is valued at $6 million dollars.

    Three individuals, described only as a 36 year old man, a 41 year old man, and a 32 year old woman were arrested Monday. They had stolen the violin from Frank Almond, concertmaster of the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, when Almond was walking to his car after performing at Luther College. According to Almond’s statement, an assailant approached him, tased him, took the instrument, and then jumped into a maroon Chrysler van.

    After the arrests, the violin remained missing for a further two days until it was located in a suitcase in the attic of a Milwaukee residence. A reward of $100,000 had been offered for information leading to the instrument’s return.

    One of the accused is reported to have an art theft conviction. “It appears we had a local criminal who had an interest in art theft and was smart enough to develop a plan for a robbery,” Police Chief Edward Flynn said. “Beyond that, we don’t know what his motive was.”

    Flynn has also noted that, while the violin was worth a lot of money, it might have been tough for the thieves to convert it to cash: “Clearly . . . this is not something that can easily be disposed of at some future date. It’ll never be valuable for a thief. It’s only valuable for a collector. It’s only valuable to a collector if it can be played, and it can’t be played if it’s known to be stolen,” the chief said.

    Stradivari (1644-1737) was an Italian luthier who produced over 1,100 instruments in his career, of which approximately 650 survive. He is best known in popular culture for his violins. This particular violin is known as the “Lipinski Stradivarius” for having been once owned by Polish violinist Karol Lipinski. It had originally been commissioned by Giuseppe Tartini, who wanted an instrument worthy of his “Devil’s Trill” sonata. The Lipinski has changed hands several times, including a sale in 1962 for $19,000. It is currently owned by an anonymous individual, but has been on loan to the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra since 2008.

    Image via Wikimedia Commons

  • Titanic Violin Sells for Record $1.5 Million

    The violin played by band leader Wallace Hartley as the RMS Titanic sank was sold for $1.46 million at auction on Saturday, the highest price ever paid for a relic from the ill-fated ocean liner.

    Hartley and his band played “Nearer, My God, To Thee,” as passengers scrambled for lifeboats during Titanic’s doomed maiden voyage in 1912. The band sank with the ship, along with about 1,500 others.

    Renowned scientist Weird Al Yankovic imagines on YouTube the mournful moments Titanic passengers faced, as their ship sank. A simulacrum of the violin just sold is featured in the clip:

    Apparently, the violin was found in a leather case strapped to Hartley’s body, after it was recovered 10 days after the ship went down. A silver plate on the German-made instrument is engraved “For WALLACE on the occasion of our ENGAGEMENT, from MARIA.” It was auctioned by Henry Aldridge and Son, with a guide price of roughly $485,000.

    The violin was returned to Hartley’s fiancée Maria Robinson in England, and was eventually donated to the Salvation Army after Robinson passed away in 1939. The violin in turn ended up in the hands of the owner at the time of the auction, who hasn’t been identified.

    Chrissie Aldridge, called the sale a record, and identified the buyer as “A British collector.” The violin was rediscovered in 2006, and it took experts a while to authentic it. About 300,000 people viewed it during its exhibition in the U.S.

    Below is a less accurate rendering of violin in use as the Titanic sank, as seen in James Cameron’s 1997 box-office flop, “Titanic,” which can now be seen on Netflix.

    Before the auction of the violin, the highest price paid for a piece of Titanic memorabilia was $355,500 in 2011, for a plan of the ship used in a 1912 inquiry into the sinking.

    Image via YouTube.