What's Trending was at the MIP Digital Fronts, a digital media conference in Cannes, France, and sat down with YouTube star and professional song parody maker Bart Baker. We talked about content creation, how to be a star, and how to make fun of those stars.
"I combine the SEO with the comedy with the music videos and I put it all together in a little package," Baker said of his YouTube channel, which has nearly six million subscribers. Baker said he owes his success to his unique take on celebrity parodies.
"There're a lot of channels that do parodies, but they aren't actually parodies," Baker said. In his mind, a proper parody has to be skewering the video, celebrity or song itself. And he believes many people shy away from that sort of content. Even though it has worked out very well for Baker.
"Who doesn't want to see a video of someone ripping Taylor Swift to shreds? Because everyone's thinking it." Baker said. Much of his channel's inspiration comes from the notoriously ruthless YouTube comments section.
If he's worried about offending celebrities, Baker doesn't show it. But he does point out "some artists have thicker skin than others."
When asked for advice for people looking to put out their own video content, Baker starts with the obvious: "YouTube isn't going anywhere."