The power of the Internet … to help a major-label artist

I’ve been waiting for a story like this: Singer Marié Digby, supposedly discovered by the grass roots in the all-empowering wilds of YouTube (“I just turned on my little iMovie, and here I am!”), was actually a major-label signee all along. She gigged in L.A., met a veteran music manager who connected her with a publisher, who connected her with Hollywood Records, which signed her in 2005, and hooked her up with a veteran producer.

Once the album was completed late last year, Ms. Digby and her label began looking for ways to gain visibility. …

That’s when the idea of posting simple videos of cover songs came up. … So she posted covers of hits by Nelly Furtado and Maroon 5, among others, so that users searching for those artists’ songs would stumble on hers instead. Her version of Rihanna’s “Umbrella” proved a nearly instant hit.

As Ms. Digby’s star rose, other media outlets played along. When Los Angeles adult-contemporary station KYSR-FM, which calls itself “Star 98.7,” interviewed Ms. Digby in July, she and the disc jockey discussed her surprising success. “We kind of found her on YouTube,” the DJ, known as Valentine, said. Playing the lucky nobody, Ms. Digby said: “I’m usually the listener calling in, you know, just hoping that I’m going to be the one to get that last ticket to the Star Lounge with [pop star] John Mayer!” The station’s programming executives now acknowledge they had booked Ms. Digby’s appearance through Hollywood Records, and were soon collaborating with the label to sell “Umbrella” as a single on iTunes.