Can India have its own Justin Bieber?

When Justin Bieber’s mother uploaded his videos online, she had no idea that her son would go on to become a world famous pop star some day. Pattie Mallette had uploaded the videos to share them with her family members.

But Scooter Braun, Justin’s current manager, accidentally came across them and tracked Justin down. Today, the result is for the world to see.

Apart from being one of the top-selling artistes in the world today, Justin’s also got the opportunity to perform before US President Obama and the First Lady.

Imagine something similar happening to you! This is perhaps the easiest way of showcasing one’s talent but whether online video streaming can work as miraculously for Indians as well is yet to be proven — considering that only a limited population of the country has access to the Internet.

And to top that, it’s rather hard to make an impact in our country unless there’s a link to Bollywood. However, apart from young and upcoming talents, video streaming is also a great medium for existing musicians, dancers and even stand-up comedians to share their work with the world. After all, it’s a much simpler and cheaper way than recording a CD!

Singer and actor Sophie Choudry has her own channel on a very popular video streaming website and she claims to be the first Indian celebrity to do so.

“It is the best thing that I did, it helps me stay in direct contact with fans and people from all over the world and they get to see different facets of my personality — be it behind-the-scenes at a shoot or while celebrating Diwali at home. It was also an amazing way for me to promote my album, considering that television channels and radio hardly play non-film music any more. I think it’s an incredible medium to promote movies and music. Whether we can find a pop star like Bieber is questionable since there is hardly a pop industry in India, but I don’t see why it can’t be a legitimate way to look for new talent. In fact, I plan to launch a fun talent competition soon via my channel,” says Sophie, whose uploads have crossed 2 million hits.

In fact, what she enjoys most is editing her videos herself.

While at editing videos, actor Jennifer Kotwal loves staying occupied with the same. This self-confessed Internet junkie confesses to have even received endorsement offers, thanks to video streaming.

“Once I had uploaded some childish video of mine biting into an apple at Switzerland. The next thing I remember is getting a call from McDonald’s to do one of their ads,” says the vibrant actor.