After more than 20 years of development, YouTube has turned the trend of the global music industry. From releasing CDs and physical albums, singers have begun to invest billions of dong to produce MVs (abbreviated as Music Video).
Now, the music industry not only convinces audiences with melodies, but also attracts both audio and visual appeal.
Looking back at that remarkable leap, 20 years ago, Google's $1.65 billion YouTube acquisition deal was a reckless decision.
In 2015, when answering an interview, Ms. Susan Wojcicki - CEO of Google Video shared the story: Google decided to spend 1.65 billion USD to buy YouTube, originating from the fact that she loved the lip-syncing videos of 2 Chinese students.
The video features 2 students of the Sculpture Department of the Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts, China, Vy Vy Vy and Huang Nghe Hinh. They sat in a dormitory and lip-synced to the song "As long as you love me" by Backstreet Boys.
Perhaps the two students themselves could not have expected that a video of them lip-syncing would change the world.
According to data measurement platform Statista, YouTube's global advertising revenue is about 31.51 billion USD.
Variety commented that YouTube continues to dominate views compared to other streaming services. YouTube's scale is also huge. Worldwide, users watch an average of more than 1 billion hours of YouTube content on TV per day. More than 500 hours of videos are uploaded to YouTube per minute.
In Vietnam, the trend of audience enjoying music products is also constantly fluctuating. From the music video, the audience enjoyed the experience of watching live performances, then returned to the "view race" to support their idols.
In early 2025, Vietnamese music witnessed fierce competition for a series of heavily invested MVs. On YouTube, a music "phenomenon" appears at the top of the music category every few weeks.
Many outstanding MVs such as "Bac Bling" by Hoa Minzy, "Sui chong" by Phao, " Nuoc mat cua" by HIEUTHUHAI, "Cham em mot doi" by Duc Phuc", "Du cho a di" by Erik, "Dancing in the dark" by Soobin...
Sharing with Lao Dong reporter, musician Giang Son said that the launch of YouTube Music and YouTube's music portfolio shows that this platform can compete with music charts such as Spotify, iTunes, Apple Music...
"When I first started pursuing art, I found my generation very carefree and innocent, whoever had the strength would stick with the profession. As for the current generation, singers have many ways to become famous. Sometimes, whether a singer has a voice or not is not necessarily a famous person. Without money to promote and communicate, it is difficult for singers to become famous at the present time.
There are many music competitions, but they also require singers to have a strong supporting crew. Therefore, young singers must be more versatile and comprehensive," musician Giang Son shared.
The author of the song "Mid-Autumn dream" commented that thanks to the development of visual products, a person without a very good voice can still become famous thanks to his dancing ability, performance, and beautiful appearance.
From 2024 to now, the success of music entertainment programs such as Anh trai say hi, Call Me by Fire has also created a boost for the Vietnamese music industry.
At the time of broadcast, a series of songs in the show Anh trai say hi climbed the YouTube music chart, surpassing even the "digital music monsters" of Vietnamese showbiz such as Vu, LowG, tlinh.
The YouTube coronation takes place every day, changing every hour and becoming one of the important indicators of the spread of a music product.
