In recent years, the rise of the Internet has revolutionized the way in which musicians create, distribute and monetize music, enabling aspiring musicians to establish their brand while bypassing the record label model and breaking the old paradigm of the traditional music industry. Meytal Cohen is a pioneer music entrepreneur that has gathered millions of followers through her unique online journey, establishing herself as one of the most well known drummers in the world through her YouTube drum videos, gaining over 140 million views to date.
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Intro
- As a child, who did you want to become when you grow up?
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Watch
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Glossary
- rigid – not able to be changed or adapted
- give something a shot – try something
- propel – drive or push something forwards
- bystander – a person who is present at an event or incident but does not take part
- rendition – a performance or interpretation, especially of a dramatic role or piece of music
- minute – extremely small
- dig it – like it
- tangible – clear and definite; real
- exponential – becoming more and more rapid
- launch pad – something that serves to launch or initiate
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Think about it
Answer the questions below. For answers, pause at times indicated in brackets.
- What was Meytal’s mother’s attitude towards professional drumming? (1:53)
- What happened soon after Meytal moved to LA? What was her attitude? (1:53)
- What happened after the girls’ rendition of Toxicity by System of a Down was published online? (2:51)
- How did Einstein define genius? What is Meytal’s approach to his definition? How did she put this into practice? (4:01)
- Why was Meytal doing all this? What was her goal? (5:15)
- Why did Meytal decide not to sign a contract with a big record label? (6:38)
- What message does Meytal have for all those waiting to be discovered? (7:33)
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Practice makes perfect
Fill in the blank with the missing words. Use ONE word per blank space.
Cohen was Israeli-born in Ramat Gan, the seventh child of a large family. Her parents ________ born in Iraq. She studied tap dance, and graduated ________ a theater major from Blich High School in Ramat Hen; at ________ age of 18 she started playing drums and for two years served in the Israel Defense Forces, At the age of 20 she moved ________ Los Angeles. She studied at Los Angeles Music Academy, majoring in percussion.
After graduation ________ Los Angeles Music Academy, she played with her band “Metaphor”, which also included Tina Guo ________ cello, Anna Stafford on violin, and Ali Wood on piano, playing concert tours in Australia, the United States, Mexico, South America and Europe in 2007. The all-female Led Zeppelin cover band “Moby Chick” joined their tour in Puerto Rico.
Starting in 2010, Cohen has ________ an online video project, performing “drum covers” of popular rock songs. This has brought her a fan base and recognition: her 2009 cover of System of a Down’s “Toxicity” had approximately 10.9 million views as ________ 2016; her YouTube drum series had over 60 million views as of 2014. Her number of Facebook followers in 2013 was said to be greater than that of any other Israeli woman with 369,000 “likes”, outpacing supermodel Bar Refaeli; ahead of President Shimon Peres but behind Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. She was also featured in an American TV show and two Australian shows.
On 9 July 2013, Cohen started a Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign called “Breaking YouTube” ________ purpose was to raise funds to create original music and move beyond covering songs on YouTube. On 10 August 2013, the Kickstarter campaign raised $144,341 USD with 3,173 “backers”.
In her performances and videos, she uses a DW Performance Series drum kit and Meinl cymbals, and is currently an endorsed artist of both Drum Workshop and Meinl.
From Wikipedia (click here for answers)
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