Evolution of Dance 2: Shaking the moneymaker on YouTube

Venture Beat — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 22:02:26 -0800

Evolution of Dance, a toe-tapping journey through the history of dancing styles, is one of the most popular YouTube videos of all time, second only to Avril Lavigne’s “Girlfriend” music video. But how do you make money off your 109 million video views?

Judson Laipply, the motivational speaker/comedian and dynamic dancer behind the original Evolution of Dance, is trying to figure that out with today’s release of Evolution of Dance 2.

Debuting on The Today Show, the new video is an awful lot like the old one, with Laipply dancing in his trademark Orange Crush shirt before a live college audience — just with new, licensed songs (Fergie’s “London Bridge” among them). Laipply couldn’t include advertising in the original video because the songs weren’t licensed, even though they were a part of a motivational speaking routine about life, change and how dance styles evolve through the decades.

The licensing for the new video wasn’t cheap, but it means Laipply can bring on advertisers without attracting the recording industry’s ire. Evolution of Dance 2 (EOD2) has two sponsors: PeopleJam, a self-improvement and advice site, and Saveology, a comparison shopping site that helps consumers find the best values online.

PeopleJam chief executive Matt Edelman snagged the chance to plan and release EOD2 because he believed the video’s mission is in line with the company as a resource for self-improvement. A few weeks ago, the company’s Evolution of You was launched as an interactive application (like OfficeMax’s Elf Yourself), allowing users to upload a picture of their heads or someone else’s to dance along with Laipply. However, there is heavy promotion of PeopleJam and Saveology in the video everywhere, which could be a turn-off to fans of the original. Fortunately the logos have been removed from the official Evolution of Dance 2 video.

There are even promotions tied in with the release of the sequel: an iBeatYou dance-off with a $5,000 prize and a sweepstakes to win a smart car. EOD2 is hosted on a PeopleJam channel, and not on all on Laipply’s, which makes it definitely feel more commercial than the original. While longtime fans of Laipply and the original Evolution of Dance may love the sequel anyway, it’s interesting how these sponsorships and promotions can change the tone of what began as user-generated content in its most glorified form.

Laipply attributes some of the success of the original video to the fact that it wasn’t overly slick and professional, and says that he intentionally chose to cut scenes and replicate a grainier look for the sequel even though it was shot with multiple cameras (one of them in HD). “I think that is really important. Especially from user-generated content, people don’t want overproduced-looking videos,” he said.