We didn't join YouTube until late 2008 because when we first looked at it, honestly, I viewed them as a competitor. But then it grew to the point where if you wanted to be part of the conversation, you had to be on YouTube.
Youtube was the start of my career officially, although since I was 4 I've wanted to be a singer. I've performed here and there before youtube, but youtube push me much further.
It's still possible to make movies. Not so much on YouTube. On YouTube, you wind up with an advertising career. What movie became infamous and a hit because of YouTube? Maybe there is one. I don't know.
To me, YouTube isn't just, 'Watch my videos!' It's, 'Let's have a conversation and get involved in each other's lives.' I want to make [my fans] feel like they have a reason to have a YouTube account because they can comment and have a voice.
If YouTube had existed in 1999, I wouldn't have had a show. And if YouTube had existed in 1999, I wouldn't have wanted to do the show, because I couldn't imagine clips from it following me a decade later.
I'm perfectly happy for my videos to be on YouTube, whether I'm getting paid for them or not. If they're on YouTube, people will see them. If for some reason my videos get taken down from YouTube, well, I apologize. If it was up to me they'd all be up there and they'd all be free.
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.
We're trying to evolve a lot away from YouTube because YouTube is awesome - they have a huge audience, and we started there - but then you're at the mercy of their algorithms a lot, too. They can change anything, and it's really up to them, and you can't say anything about it.
Best thing about doing Youtube as a job - the Youtube friends that I've met all around the world, that I never would have got the chance to meet without Youtube.
I first discovered YouTube while browsing the web, and then I found people just talking into their cameras. I never even knew it was a thing you could do. William Sledd was my first YouTube obsession. He was so unapologetically himself, and just had fun talking to his audience about things that interested him. I thought - if he could do it, why couldn't I?
Before starting my YouTube career, I used to play music at a restaurant. YouTube was never a part of my plan.
I think the Internet has developed at this incredibly rapid pace because of net neutrality, because of the free nature of it, because a YouTube can start the way YouTube started.
I learn things myself. I call it YouTube University; YouTube has taught me more than anything. I learned how to tie a tie, all my pick-up lines come from YouTube reruns of 'Fresh Prince.'
My drag mom is YouTube. I learned everything I wanted to learn. You can learn anything on YouTube.
My partnership with YouTube is one that I really, really treasure and I want to carry through. I mean, I don't just say it because I work with them; I genuinely am a fan of YouTube, so that's where I'd want to see my content.
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.
Now, by and large, people are recording material to put on YouTube. I have a theory that YouTube is, in the end, the #1 media for musicians. Which is strange, because there's a visual associated with it.