Haters Gonna Hate. Rebecca Black Laughs to the Bank!

It’s easy to hate on success… and no one becomes popular, has a voice, or even finds success without a flood of haters behind them. Without haters, there would be no gossip, trash talking and spreading of what people disagree and talk about. More than anything else, it’s all about how you deal with haters than having them effect your way of life. Rebecca Black knows about haters all too well.

It’s Friday, It’s Friday! Well, it’s not actually Friday, but that simple little phrase has taken Rebecca Black from being unknown, to one of the most viewed videos in YouTube history… and most hated as well.

The Friday video has an amazing 156,218,178 YouTube views… but even more amazing is the 3 million plus DISLIKE votes the video has received. The video went viral and received so much publicity from people hating on it, that it’s now become one of the most success YouTube videos yet! With so many views, there is no doubt that video is serving up advertising and mega impressions. When I checked out the video just now, there was a pre-video for Yahoo Mail, along with a sponsor ad on the top right side as well.

But is Rebecca Black making any real money?

Sure, YouTube can bring you a massive amount of fame and exposure, but how many people have actually made a career and fortune off of it? Not too many.

The quick story behind Rebecca Black and the “Friday” release, is her connection with ArkMusicFactory.com. AMF is a music entertainment business that essentially creates videos and music stars… Rebecca Black being their biggest success yet. For a few thousand dollars, you or your teen sensation can have a video created and uploaded to YouTube.

A Forbes analysis estimated Black’s income from “Friday,” based on YouTube views, iTune downloads, advertising and sales, is around $63,000. For a $2,000 investment from her parents to Ark Music Factory, this is a fairly impressive return.

Rebecca Black has already appeared on “Good Morning America” and is quickly becoming a household name. Other appearances and products such as “What Day of the Week Is It” t-shirts might be generating additional revenues for the teen singer. There is also a Rebecca Black website.

In this case, Rebecca Black can thank the haters, as she probably never would have had the same success if so many people didn’t tell their friends about how “silly” and “horrible” the whole thing is. Riding off the success of her “Friday” release, Black is also launching her own debut album in the coming months.

The success of Rebecca Black isn’t just catching the eye of YouTube users, but also high level celebrity profiles like Lady Gaga, Simon Cowell and Conan O’Brien. O’Brien made a spoof video of his own called “Thursday”, while still giving Rebecca Black world wide recognition through his late night show. That type of exposure is priceless!

What’s Next for Rebecca Black and Her Reaction Towards Haters?

In a statement to inspire budding artists around the world, Black refuses to let “negative Nancies” and “bullies” bring her down in her quest for stardom. “It was really upsetting. These people don’t know me and it really hurt at first. I cried a little bit, I’m only 13. But I call them negative Nancies. They can try to rain on my parade, but as far as I’m concerned they are raining on their own parade. Just face it – it is a catchy song. It gets stuck in my head.” (source)

In addition to all of the current YouTube, iTunes and television success, Black will be releasing her debut album in the coming months. According to The Daily Beast, Black also plans to donate a portion of her profits to “Japan relief organizations and school arts programs.” Overall, quite an amazing amount of success and exposure for the few thousands of dollars that were actually invested into this venture.

Will lightning strike twice for Rebecca Black… or will she fall into the YouTube one hit wonder category?

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49 Comments

    1. Whatever you like really…. don't let haters change your goals. Becoming a youtube sensation is possible but their payouts aren't great. 150 million impressions is worth around $60k…

      1. I've heard widely varying reports on the value of Youtube impressions. If you've got a targeted audience and carefully selected ads, you can get a lot more than that with a lot fewer impressions.
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    2. A few lessons:

      Don't be afraid of failure.

      You can't succeed if you don't take action.

      The ones who fear failure and don't take action are the loudest haters. Pity them.
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  2. This really is one of the most inspiring success stories. It also serves a good lesson, that the highest trees catches the most wind and those who want great success needs to be think skinned enough to deal with Lots of negativity.
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    1. Same here… though it is just YouTube revshare after all… it would to her own site she could make a ton. However that is why YouTube is special.

    2. Supposedly some people make a lot more than that. Some Youtube partners apparently make a very comfortable living off a lot less views than that per year.
      My recent post My Real Life Case Study

  4. I think she has quite a bit of momentum built up. If she releases an album, it will probably be successful simply because people are fascinated by the novelty of it.
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    1. It will be sure to get some attention, though I'm doubtful it will have the same viral success as "Friday". I'm sure Rebecca and her label is having a great time through the process either way.

    2. Remember William Hung? Terrible singer from an American Idol audition who ended up producing three albums and made a healthy sum of money. Also appeared on a bunch of major network TV shows like Letterman.

      If he'd responded with a bad attitude when the first judge told him he was no good, then he probably would have gone nowhere.
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  5. Hey Zac, thanks for bringing this video to my attention. It is a good time to be doing video. If I had $2,000.00 I would shoot mine on the Golden Gate Bridge and invite QUESTLOVE? from another famous band to guest. Respectfully, Nicholas Chase – future Super Affiliate

  6. I have to admit I was dragged by those haters to watch her video. LOL I think there is nothing really that amazing about her talent in singing.

  9. I gave the video a thumbs up. That girl is just 13 years old. She has already learned a valuable lesson from this. She could turn into a great singer as her voice matures, if she keeps putting in the work and doesn't give up.

    There are plenty of people who have become very famous singers without actually having great singing talent. At least one of them that I can think of was a judge on American Idol.
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  15. The guy that made that video should be the one banking from it. "For only $5k I made Ms. Black a super star! I can do the same for your kid!"

  16. The more dislikes her videos have over Youtube means the more views as well. I bet she loves those haters too as they put her into stardom.

  17. Haha this is great!

    I for one love Rebecca. Sure the song is bit meh. However there's no doubt she's living it up right now and has been, since the video hit it's first million views. After reading reports on people sending abusive mails to her, I say good for her, earning them thousand dollar bills.

      1. Fame = Money

        It's hard to be a celebrity and not turn the fame into cash.
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  18. Wow Youtube makes a Zero to hero in no time. This is another case study. Nice article, thanks for the share
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    1. Instant success when things go viral. It's all about how you react and turn it into something beyond just another YouTube video.

  20. This goes back to your post regarding the Osama bin laden t-shirt sales. It is a national craze for about a few months where capitalism takes its toll and then after those few months people forget about it.

    Fads are a get rich quick scheme that if you play your cards right you can bring some money to the bank on. People like Rebecca Black are not going to be a star entering 2012 but instead going to be “Remember that one YouTube girl who sang that Friday song?”

  21. I came back to follow on up the comments and just seeing the name of the song got it stuck in my head again. Somehow the tune is better in my mind than in reality though, haha!
    My recent post My Real Life Case Study

  22. I've been a YouTube partner for a few years now and I've definitely seen that the more successful I get on there, the more haters I get. I get a lot of Dislikes on my videos too, but I figure as long as I keep getting more Likes, I'm doing alright. There's no one in the world that everyone loves… some people think Oprah is an angel and others think she's the Devil. The more successful & popular you get, the more people get jealous and hateful. I think Rebecca Black will do just fine in her career if she can deal with all the negativity.
    My recent post I went to YouTube Copyright School

    1. You are right. Does it really matter how many people hate Oprah? She's one of the most influential persons in the world, like it or not!

  23. Still haven't seen that video. haha
    for $63,000, really nice
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