The advancements in cellphone technologies are making a big difference in everyone’s life, and bands are starting to seriously feel the hype. The story behind Los Pikadientes‘ success is nothing short of amazing. Before their song ‘La Cambia Del Rio’ got recorded by a cellphone and became wildly viral, the band had no aspirations of becoming one of 2008′s biggest Mexican acts. Once the song got shared between a couple of friends, it “quickly went viral, and its grass-roots popularity led to heavy rotation on radio stations across Sonora; before long, cellphone videos of people dancing to the song were flooding YouTube”. Sony Music invested in the famous track and catapulted the single and the band at #1 on Billboard’s Regional Mexican chart, leading the song’s ringtone to sell more than 150,000 copies in the US alone.
Such an achievement is due to many factors colliding harmoniously – not every band can hope getting this popular just by performing in front of their swimming pool, but still, as Francisco Gonzalez of Los Pikadientes notes:
We have to be honest – we wouldn’t exist without cellphones and ring tones
Mruff.
Different, funny, quirky and viral. Nice for a launching pad; but will it pay the bills for 50 years? Can they parlay this into a committed fan base?
Or perhaps, they don’t have any bills in which case they can just travel the country, play and be happy.
Hard to say actually.
I guess it all depends on how passionate they really are about music on the long term, and if they’ll be able to manage the money they’re making now effectively.