.Who the Hell Made Rebecca Black’s ‘Friday’ Video?

But who the hell is Rebecca Black?

Thank you so much for this. I thought there had to be some sort of corruption behind this deplorable video. Super funny, though, you must admit.

Then: Talent, creativity, intensity.
Now: Rich, well connected parents.
re: answer to the question: “what does it take to be a rock star?”

Any idea what her myspace page is? I have to hear how horrid the rest of her music is! Also, have you always had to register and be approved to access the Arks web site? That’s insane!

Their party was at BUSBY’S? The frat-boy pool hall?!
Sounds like the John Casablancas or Barbizon of the American Idol era. I bet they make parents pay them a fortune for makeup, hair, costumes, and video production that does nothing to get their kid a recording contract or tour dates. Only talent or connections will get you a career. If someone makes you pay, then you don’t have the talent or the connections.

This place is a Hannah Montana Factory!

The most telling video is the launch party one. I feel sorry for those kids–they are not good singers, and no one is telling them that. It’s not wrong of them to want to be famous, or want to make music. It’s whoever is capitalizing on their dreams to make money that’s really at fault here.
Who knows? Maybe deep down they have some talent, and maybe they could have been reformed with guidance. But now I think they’ve been ruined.
I also feel sorry for that announcer, who is clearly running himself ragged trying to get the crowd to be excited.

Yo Douche!!Sounds like you getting Patrice Wilson mixed up with Clarence Jey and got all the information confoosed along the way about Ark Music Factory. Both are 2 of the coolest cats ever.
In anyevent, the song’s catchy no matter how crazy the content is. The song has turned over 400,000 heads in 24 hours, no matter what any one uses.. front seat of back seat.lol

Their voices make Miley Cyrus’s sound wonderful

Seriously?? Do your homework before you post stuff like this. They are a production company and a lable. They do development deals with people then put them in showcases for A&R reps in the industry to try and get them an actual record deal. They niether promise these kids a deal or promise that they will get one with them. That is stated clearly in the contract that they sign. They also either offer a full 360 development deal or a partial 360 development deal, meaning that some may have to pay for the video, but they also give them the option of getting a video done with someone else of their choice and not them if they ony get the partial 360. Other than that they pay for nothing else, not studio time, PR, or the photo shoots they get and typically they get a 3-4 song production deal.
Yes, they do work with people who want to pay them to produce their music. Who wouldn’t when someone offers you $20k? It’s called business. As far as who they have signed to their actual label, it’s few and far between and they are a really talented group of people and not all of them are kids. A majority of them are in their 20’s.
Go to the source before making crap up. Clarence and Patrice are 2 of the most honest and hard working people out there (and are both MARRIED by the way). To make them seem skeevy and creepy because they work with kids is wrong on every level. I guess that would make the people of PBS, Nick, & Disney just as guilty?
All of the comments about this makes me ill. Humanity has sunken to a new level when it making fun of a 13 year old girl becomes entertainment.

All the people getting angry at this review. You know what makes me ill? These videos. The music is shit. The kids are not terrible, but they certainly aren’t talented either. This entire “Ark music factory” thing is a joke. People make fun of it because it’s laughable. Ark music factory is now responsible for the worst music I’ve ever heard in my life. I have a right to track these guys down and demand the last 5 minutes of my life back.

@STFU: You made the reviewers point right there. What you’re saying is parents sign a contract, and some pay money to Ark Music to make a video with their kids. Sometimes up to $20,000?
Whenever people say “It’s just business” that’s usually trying to justify something sleazy because it makes money. Maybe these guys are nice guys but look at what theyre doing. And yes DIsney is sleazy too. Just with more money!

Then all record companies are sleazy then right? Why pinpoint just this one?? Do you realize how the music industry really works?? Look it up. Not one person out there who has made a record hasn’t had to pay a company back for something. Why do you think so many artists can’t afford to live or go bankrupt? Because they can’t pay the royalties back that were paid out in the beginning because they tanked and didn’t allocate their money correctly. These kids just pay it up front (if they have to pay at all). I don’t understand why that is such a a big deal. Not one record label is innocent of this sort of thing. People just don’t understand how the industry works as a whole and I think this was just an easy target. There is a lot of crap music out there and these guys are not the only ones guilty of producing it.

Here’s a good link: http://entertainment.howstuffworks.com/music-royalties6.htm
educate thyselves on the music industry as a whole. Bottom line: no matter who you are, famous or not, you as the artists ALWAYS end up paying for a bulk of the production costs and only see a dime if you can sell out tours and get albums off shelves.

@STFU I’m sure you are in no way affiliated with the Ark Music Factory, right?

Does it matter if I am or not?? Am I not entitled to have a voice too because I think differntly than the rest of these people?

The issue is not how the music industry works. Everyone knows how royalties get paid. The issue is that ALL THESE SONGS SUCK, and Ark takes preadolescent young girls dreams and their parent’s money “up front” and makes “crap music” like this out of it! (your words)!

That’s your opinion then that the music sucks. Most of their stuff is marketed to a younger generation that likes it (think Justin Bieber fans). Does everyone like Gaga, or Ke$ha, or Britney??? NO! I think some of their music is crap along with many others. This comes down to a matter of opinion and everyone is entitled to it. It’s just sad to me that people are so damn cruel about it. If you don’t like it, don’t listen to it. Just don’t stoop to a level of be-littling a 13 year old girl and calling her derogetory names.

Although STFU was a bit brash in her delivery, I somewhat agree with her take. The music industry is doggy dog in every sense of the word. With large corporate America completely running a monopoly on the music industry, it makes it very difficult for a new start up company with limited funds to get going. In a sense, it would appear that Ark is providing a service that is in very high demand that people are willing to pay for. If the individual goes no further than a music video and recording, nothing gained, nothing lost. They paid for a service (as cheezy as it is)a service none the less.

Thank you John! Finally someone that gets it!! That is EXACTLY what it is, they pay to get produced, if they get picked up, awesome, if not, well then they knew what they were getting into when they signed the deal. Advice for future aspiring artists: Always research what you are getting into and have a lawyer.

Completely agree with STFU… It’s an industry. These are two very talented guys who with the talent they have discovered are somehow making headway… Has anyone listened to J-Los new song “On the Floor”. It goes like this:
If you go hard you gotta get on the floor
If you’re a party freak then step on the floor
If your an animal then tear up the floor
Break a sweat on the floor
Yeah we work on the floor
Don’t stop keep it moving
Put your drinks up
Pick your body up and drop it on the floor
Let the rhythm change your world on the floor
You know we’re running sh*t tonight on the floor
Brazil Morocco
London to Ibiza
Straight to LA, New York
Vegas to Africa
Now….
J-Lo is talking about “Floor” and then decided to turn find a map of the world and work out there are direct flights from Vegas to Africa..
Well.. Atleast you know it probably will be on a “Friday” ….!!!!
This article has no idea about what is going on and has all incorrect information about ARK and the ARK Family. You could be a comedian but you should learn to use somewhat that little brain of yours to get basic facts right before going so low and calling people names.

I think someone here is suffering from SBMS….
misleading facts, not in touch with reality and plain lies = short bald man syndrome?

FRIED EGG!! FRIED EGG!! FRIED EGG!! FRIED EGG!! FRIED EGG!! FRIED EGG!! FRIED EGG!! FRIED EGG!! FRIED EGG!! FRIED EGG!! FRIED EGG!! FRIED EGG!! FRIED EGG!! FRIED EGG!! FRIED EGG!! FRIED EGG!! FRIED EGG!! FRIED EGG!! FRIED EGG!! FRIED EGG!! FRIED EGG!! FRIED EGG!! FRIED EGG!! FRIED EGG!! FRIED EGG!! FRIED EGG!! FRIED EGG!! FRIED EGG!! FRIED EGG!! FRIED EGG!! FRIED EGG!! FRIED EGG!! FRIED EGG!! FRIED EGG!! FRIED EGG!! FRIED EGG!! FRIED EGG!! FRIED EGG!! FRIED EGG!! FRIED EGG!! FRIED EGG!! FRIED EGG!! FRIED EGG!! FRIED EGG!! FRIED EGG!! FRIED EGG!! FRIED EGG!! FRIED EGG!! FRIED EGG!! FRIED EGG!! FRIED EGG!! FRIED EGG!! FRIED EGG!! FRIED EGG!! FRIED EGG!! FRIED EGG!! FRIED EGG!! FRIED EGG!! FRIED EGG!! FRIED EGG!! FRIED EGG!! FRIED EGG!! FRIED EGG!! FRIED EGG!! FRIED EGG!! FRIED EGG!! FRIED EGG!! FRIED EGG!! FRIED EGG!!

I could agree with the Ark rep on here somewhat in regards to business, but the claims of misinformation is your fault guys. This is a simple web publications trying to bring some light on this horrendous music because there is NO solid info out there on Ark. Your website is locked up like Fort Knox and you have to be approved to get access. That just seems pretty shady doesn’t it?
The writer of this article is probably just making assumptions, but they sound pretty accurate to me. It’s in fact what I was thinking before I read this. If you want people to think otherwise of your company, you should probably actually put some information out there.
I mean, know what you guys are doing with the private site and everything…makes people feel special when they are given access right? Although, minus trolls, I would say you approve 99% of those who register? lulz indeed.
oh yeah…fun fun fun fun fun fun

The site wasn’t locked until this went viral for all the wrong reasons. Do you blame them for trying to control some of the fire?? Could you imagine what their site would look like if they allowed a free for all? They have enough on their hands right now with the media frenzy that has ensued because of this.
They are brand new so of course a lot of info isn’t out there about them. Not sure what you people expect but give them a few days to get their barings. I’m sure you will hear more about this and them in the coming days. Put yourself in their shoes. Could you imagine trying to get a label off the ground and within a month of going public having something like this happen?? For newcomers to the industry that’s a lot to deal with.
Some might argue then they shouldn’t have produced the music, but honestly, what else are 13 year olds supposed to sing about? At least they are not pushing these kids to talk about sex, drugs and alcohol. It could be a lot worse than a kid singing about the days of the week no? They are trying to put a positive spin on the music they put out there with a positive image and people are wanting to burn them at the stake for it.
Goodness, was Britney’s “Baby One More Time” really that much better? Not really. She just added sex appeal and it sold. If this chick was in a crop top or short skirt dancing suggestively would it have been seen differently? I think so.

The thing with Baby One More Time is Britney actually had talent, and was picked up by people who thought they could sell her, not by people who thought they could get a pay check from her parents. Stop trying to pretend what you’re doing isn’t completely scummy. This went viral because it is clear to ANYONE who watches it that it is a complete joke. Anyone except the brainwashed families who are paying your rent, obviously.
I’m sure you guys don’t help to inflate these poor kid’s egos either. I’m sure you don’t dangle promises of fame and fortune in front of starry eyed parents while they sign the bank accounts over to you. No, in fact, you guys are doing a very charitable and kind act. Thank you Ark Music Factory! (Interesting you put factory in your name, since that’s exactly what you are)
I think one of the most interesting aspects of this entire sham is the clown who kicks a verse on every song. Do you intentionally not rhyme ANY lines? It seems like you go out of your way to make your bars incomprehensible and clumsy. They make zero sense and contain zero flow. Your cameos in each video just craaaack me up. Is this entire thing — the music videos, the record company, etc. just your elaborate plan to get to rap and be in music video after music video? Keep it up man. You have talent.
At the end of the day, I feel bad for the kids and parents that are duped into this. I can’t help but assume that these young teens are going to be absolutely mortified in ten years when they look back and realize what they spent their college tuitions on. That Ark Music launch party show is going to be a MUCH crueler reminder of awkward puberty years than a middle school yearbook could ever hope to be.
But hey, all publicity is good publicity, right? You got the attention you wanted, albeit not in the manner you desired. Seriously, do your best to cash in on it. I’m not going to say you earned it, but by all means, take advantage of it.
Hope you enjoyed my essay. I was honestly so distraught by the entire Ark Music ensemble that I feel completely justified in spending five minutes to write this. I sincerely hope you read what I wrote, and maybe even find the time to respond to this. I’m sure you are busy consoling an extremely upset Rebecca Black who does not understand the hate being poured on her expensive music video. Hope to see you on MTV one day!
We we we so exciiiiited.

@John – “The music industry is doggy dog in every sense of the word.”
Riiiiiiight. The assumptions made in the article above are quite reasonable in my estimation, considering that the majority of videos from ARK seem to uniformly depict pre-teens in affluent society. To my mind it seems rather exploitative to be authoring this rubbish on behalf of youngsters eager to emulate the success they see on mtv and the like. No wonder the defense from those involved seems to be that the industry is inherently exploitative.
So please ARK reps, just be happy that one of your acts has “made it” (by that I mean garnered massive amounts of attention).

again, it’s all a matter of opinion on talent. Once everyone saw Rebecca’s video they already had a pre-concieved notion of what to expect from Ark and were ready to pounce on anything and everything. They don’t even want to give them a chance to prove themselves. One bad prodcution = failure right? I assume everyone in the music industry has always produced winners right off the bat? Everything they put out was loved by everyone and they didn’t have one dud?
As for the content that is put out, it clearly stats in their contract that if they are not happy with what is produced, Ark will reproduce it until they are happy with the end result. It’s on the artist if what is produced isn’t well recieved because in the end it is what THEY want because THEY paid for it. Maybe the parents should be held a bit responsible and not just Ark if you feel that this is so diturbing? Stage parents are the worst. I’ve been there when thees guys had parents blowing up their phone right and left about their kids. Parents will go to great lengths to live vicariosly through them. Have you seen the TLC show Toddlers and Tiara’s? I assume TLC is just as guilty in exploitation right?
Ark is doing nothing that no other person in the industry is doing. Like I said before, this was just an easy target and people are going to hate. That’s fine, that’s your opinion.
And yes, this press is making them happy because in the end whether you like it or not, Rebecca isn’t going anywhere thanks to the attention that everyone has given her. She’ll have another 15 minutes because I guarantee that TV shows will want to talk with her and capitalize on her as well. Oh wait, that would make them exploitative as well huh? Crap.
Wake up people, it’s the entertainment industry, learn how it works. This goes with the territory and Ark knows it.

Oh and I’m not a rep for Ark either. Just thought I’d throw that out there. I just know these guys personally and know how the industry works because I’ve been screwed by it personally and ripped off for thousands of dollars when I was younger and had no idea what I was getting into. And now that I know the ins and outs of it all, I can say that these guys are not those people who dangle fame as you say in front of anyone and take them for all they are worth and offer nothing in return. They do what they say in that they produce them, and put them out there for A&R reps to hear in showcases and produce a video to try and get a buzz going for them because as any independant artist knows, you have to have a built in fan base to get any notice from a label these days. On that note, I’m off this thread because no matter what I say people are not going to listen and will form their own opinions regardless.

I don’t think there’s anything wrong with this malarky. Girls playing at being popstars – most teens do that, just not with so much money…

> “Some might argue then they shouldn’t have produced the music, but honestly, what else are 13 year olds supposed to sing about? At least they are not pushing these kids to talk about sex, drugs and alcohol. It could be a lot worse than a kid singing about the days of the week no? They are trying to put a positive spin on the music they put out there with a positive image and people are wanting to burn them at the stake for it.”
Well to be honest, Rebecca’s song is about “partying”. Which frankly is just about as lame, brainless topic as any older popstar. A party is always a byword for wantonness whether you’re old enough to include the sex, drugs and alcohol or not.

So… I like music videos more than most… I often watch music videos just cause they’re music videos… I don’t always make it through them but i do it for cultural experience & curiosity with the hopes of finding something new… that being said… i don’t think anyone’s going to be jamming to this song without thinking “Hey, this is funny.” which I’ve seen girls do… for novelty I suppose…
granted, fine, this Ark company offers assistance in being discovered but they shouldn’t fill these little girls heads with crap about being rich & famous when it takes a lot of practice, training or natural talent… I honestly feel sad for that CJ girl… this is poor representation… Auto-tune won’t give you an instant career! Having a video camera doesn’t make you a director! Sticking a hopeful child in a studio with whack lyrics for 20k is bs! You’re not producers! You’re con-artists banking on dreams that your poking holes in before they’re ready to present themselves respectably…
This is on the parents for being foolish with their money & thinking they can buy a shot a fame instead of actually trying! Maybe these guys are what you consider nice but i think they should’ve had a sining coach work with these kids before letting them potentially ruin their chances of what they obviously desire…
That’s effin’ sheisty

Great article, gives me a bit more clarity about the background of this interesting song, and interesting comments from STFU.
I agree, i also dont think its morally questionable, if the young “musicians” or their parents want to pay for these productions than i say let them have their fun. And because “Friday” is going viral, at least one of the girls might actually experience a type of success.
I just dont get why anyone who wants to really be taken seriously as a musicians would write such lyrics… i mean im aware that pop songs are rarely works of great poetry, but i do hope this wont set the trend for the favourite music of 10-13 year olds!

I actually think Rebecca Black’s song FRIDAY touches on some powerful ideas:
Metaphysics:
“LOOKING FORWARD TO THE WEEKEND” – Our perception of time is limited, we can only have knowledge of the past, not the future. However even though we can have no knowledge of the future, we can “look forward” in a joyous desire for frivolity yet to happen.
Clever.
History:
“YESTERDAY WAS THURSDAY, TODAY IS FRIDAY” – measured human evolution. We are progressing at a constant rate of 24 hours per day. You simply cannot deny it. So true.
Environment:
“FUN, FUN, FUN, FUN” – Human excess. Not merely content for a single dose of fun, many people demand more. Is this desire for ‘fun’ sustainable for our planet? We need to think about this.
Economics:
“I SEE MY FRIENDS KICKING IN THE FRONT SEAT, KICKING IN THE BACKSEAT”
In the wake of the GFC Major motor companies are cutting corners to squeeze dollars out of consumers, is lack of leg room the latest rort?
Individual Freedom:
“GOT TO GO DOWNSTAIRS, GOT TO HAVE A BOWL OF CEREAL..”
– Do we really ‘got’ to do these menial tasks? Must we conform with social expectations of daily progress? Can we not think outside the typical urban (or suburban) paradigm of rote living? What The Beatles expressed in “Piggies” is clearly also a concern of Miss Rebecca Black.

WTF THIS IS CRAZY. There must be a subcategory in SUDOMACH FOR THIS.

“Humanity has sunken to a new level when it making fun of a 13 year old girl becomes entertainment.”
Thank you, STFU. I love this quote! Even though I no he deacon understand it they.

so, it’s basically karaoke for rich kids? why is this interesting?

The best part of this article isn’t the accuracy of the information and the truth posted by the author, but rather those in the comments jumping to defend Ark. ALL of your acts suck. ALL OF THEM. Music is a business, yes, and it is a cut throat competitive one at that. But supporting a not so talented girl and her delusional rich parents on their quest to stardom and popularity, and calling yourself a ‘record company’ while doing so is laughable. Legitimate record companies would have told 100% of these girls that they have no hope. Because it is true. As crappy as music is these days, these artists and songs make radio pop look like Mahler and Tchaikovsky. Stop trying to convince yourselves that Ark is a legitimate record company and admit to what it really is – a novelty. Its simple supply and demand – rich people with needy kids demanding that their ‘talented’ child get the fame they want. Ark just supplies the false hope of achieving it. I don’t fault Ark here – this is by no means a new concept. Unfortunately for them, their execution of such a plan failed due to the production quality of a single song. A single, horrible, abomination of music. Maybe they should have spent more time producing quality songs and less time putting on a facade of legitimacy, because now their business is doomed in the long run. They have been exposed for what they are.
Also as a side note… some of you people must have spent a lot of money with Ark because you are defending it to the death. lmao. Remember, arguing on the internet is a lot like the special olympics – even if you win, you are still retarded. I wish you all the best of luck.

The real star here is the guitarist in the website launch party video. Why isn’t he getting any attention? WHO IS HE? WHAT IS HIS NAME?

AJ, I love your evaluation of the deeper meaning of the song “Friday” by Rebecca Black!!
If this site had a “Like” or “Thumbs Up” button, believe me it would be clicked many many times!

I actually prefer this song to much of Ke$ha’s stuff

so this ARK music *factory* is just a place for kids with rich parents get a music video.
also…
STFU said, “That’s your opinion then that the music sucks. Most of their stuff is marketed to a younger generation that likes it (think Justin Bieber fans).”
I think what STFU doesn’t realize is that it’s exactly that market that brought this to light and is making the most jokes about it. When that market, that is so easily attainable, is making jokes about a song/video/artist, you KNOW it’s crap.

Commentary:
I’m sorry if some of you don’t agree, but are you all overlooking that Rebecca Black’s song is very catchy? Yes the lyrics are a bit simple, but it’s very mainstream and I can see why she and her parents were satisfied with this song. The quality of her singing voice and the obvious autotune are pretty close to the industry standard today. KESHA anyone?
I think many of you are overlooking the amount of talent the ARK music factory possesses. They deliver. That’s a fact.
I think that many people on here are outraged that someone with a little less talent than most “famous singers” has a decent quality video of their very own. It’s as if you all are saying: “WHAT?!! NOW ANYONE (with enough cash) CAN MAKE AN ALMOST PROFESSIONAL QUALITY MUSIC VIDEO? THIS IS BLASPHEMY TO THE ROCK GODS!!! MUST BE DESTROYED.”
But instead of saying just that, you also scream (s)exploitation. But the ARK company sold a video service and Beck’s parents were probably satisfied with it, given it’s posted to their YouTube account. They don’t need y’all to be defending them and they don’t seem to be looking to get their money back. Does anyone have an update on that saying otherwise?
So I recommend y’all just chill.
Personally, I morally oppose such indulgent spending of money and the fulfillment of children’s whims, but I also morally oppose anyone trying to stop those who wish to do so; from having the freedom to. It’s their life. And hey, it’s legal.
I believe what these kid videos should warrant is objective, helpful criticism, and specifically from talent scouts and music lovers.
Sinking to such lows as alluding the kids are talentless victims of scammers is instead insulting them and seems to be going against the grain of supposed good intentions.
GABE MELINE: Do some serious and responsible investigating if you really want to find out the truth. Don’t go making conjectures and swaying the thoughts of the masses to match with your own, perhaps in attempts to help you fulfill your own devious pleasures of hurting young humans. (Notice I say, perhaps? How does it feel to have someone allude you are into pedo-sadism?)
This article is a serious crime against objective journalism, yet it seems to me the readers are not getting that. For some reason, they probably think this article is above personal and obscure-blog-worthiness.
I don’t think it is.

Lovey said:
“This article is a serious crime against objective journalism”
I like how you innocently believe that there is such a thing as pure objective journalism. Let’s just all go to your fantasy world and pretend men like William Randolph Hearst never existed. Also, what would you characterize as being “objective” journalism in this instance? A good review of Rebecca Black’s video?

So basically, if my parents or myself can conjure up $20,000, I can be mercilessly desparaged online and in front of my friends, under the guise of possible superstardom that in reality will probably never happen?
Sweeeeet. Sign me up.
I wonder if they’ll produce a video for my death metal band. I’m thinking zombies, and maybe dragons.
I wouldn’t mind a rap verse either, if it’ll make me famous.

Well Dizmo, you can’t make an omelet without breaking a few eggs, and your dignity is one great big fuckin’ egg.

Its very simple there is only 2 main real facts in this whole ordeal…
1.ARK MUSIC FACTORY = Have absolutely no talents and are saturating the market yet with more bad music and videos..
2.STFU & LOVEY = Work for ARK MUSIC FACTORY..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=agoapiToLAM
And here is ARK Media making fun of the song themselves.

You all are funny.
I’m gonna go back to listening to SNSD now.

It’s very catchy? Are you fucking kidding me?! The only thing I caught was a headache. From what I understand, the kids don’t write the lyrics to the songs?
From an Ark casting call ad:
–“if you are a great singer without any material…”
I was ready to say, “hey it’s not that bad, they’re children after all…,” but the children aren’t writing these fucking awful songs, the two adults that make up Ark are responsible for the music. They take these suckers, take their money, and give them a “hit” song. If it’s not illegal it should be.
And the nerve of you STFU, comparing Ark to the actual music industry. The music industry takes a chance on musicians who are already known, have a following, and are LIKELY to get a return on their (the label’s) investment into that artist. That’s why it works in the first place. Taking someone you know has no chance in hell of turning heads and garnering sales, accepting $20,000 from them, and sending them to slaughter is just sick. If someone with no talent, way too young, came to me and said they’d give me $20,000 to make them a star, I wouldn’t take their fucking money. Do you understand why? Because it’s unFUCKINGethical!
You Ark people make me sick to my stomach.

it’s kind of ironic that a man working with young women would be called “john bennett ramsey”

@STFU and the other arkies:
Hello
Most teens and pre-teens I know have a huge appetite for quality music regardless of style. I personally listened to Pink Floyd, Blondie, David Bowie, Aretha Franklin and Prince at the age of ten, and many of the kids in my life enjoy Michael Jackson, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Nirvana and creative electronica alongside their Lady Gaga and various rappers.
To target this “crap” to pre-teens is to underestimate their intelligence and their ability to appreciate music. I find ark’s mission (“business”) and outlook to be deeply jaded.
There’s nothing wrong with good creative marketing, but it should be clear to ark that a lot of people will not stand for corporate-friendly, formulaic products brought about by greed and and lazy thinking.
ark had to lock down their website due to the public’s wrath toward their horrendous products. They might want to ask themselves: how many other music companies have had to go to such an extreme measure? Isn’t this a big hint to ark?
Keela
p.s. read the youtube comments and the majority of these comments here, and then do the math. There’s the business for you.

i love how everyone is taking this so seriously…the whole thing isn’t a joke? i mean, is the joke on me? because when i see the ark music factory party, it really looks like a bunch of satirical acting going on…they’re just making fun of what the music industry has become.

SS BEAT DEATH CRASH REMIX
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_CiBVpD1ToI

Why has no one picked up on the fact it’s not even original music? Friday is a Bob Dylan song.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9FISHEO3gsM&feature=player_embedded

Ya know, come to think of it who the hell let The Clash get away with this whole days of the week thing in “Police on My Back”?
“Monday, Tuesday Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday… What have I done?”
Well for starters you’ve hacked out a cheap knockoff of “Fridays” and are getting away with it only because it was mysteriously written “before” this song.
The only thing worse is seeing song-writers who somehow lifted the whole album concept based on Rebecca’s Party ethos she developed over like 12 or 13 years. I’m not gonna mention names like Andrew WK… oh, I guess I did mention names.

ARK MUSIC CAN BURN
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ScjEvmmcBYU

If parents want to pay to give their child this chance, what is the big deal? Their money, their choice. I am sure that the parents are absolutely aware that this is the “vanity publishing” equivalent of the music world.
Some parents pay huge bucks to enter their kids in beauty pageants so they can be stars. Some parents pay big bucks for their kids to go to film school so they can be movie directors. Some pay really big bucks for their kids to go to an overseas medical school because they couldn’t get into one in the US, with the eventual hope that their kid will secure a residency in the US.
The point is, participants in the above have very little chance of reaching their goal, but no one’s raking their parents over the coals, are they?
As well, no one should mock the young performers. They are very young. If they were in their 20’s, it would be fair game to mock them, but they are not, and they are still kids, so leave them alone.

Now I know how Kesha got a video made.

A part of my soul died while wasting my time watching those videos.
I sincerely hope the parents of these children realise that their children are being exploited as young prostitutes.

Wow, this article has been really interesting and even more so the comments have been quite a read! I thought I’d throw in my two cents. I can see the both sides of the coin here from both Ark’s perspective as well as those hating on what they’re doing. I’ve been working in the music industry a little over ten years now and mostly see things through the eyes of an artist/songwriter. I understand Ark’s perspective on doing business/making money. That is typical of any label, not just them. They never claimed to be saviors of the music business, just another label doing business in the music industry. And most artists know you need to make an investment in your career and sacrifice in MANY ways when starting out in terms of finances, time, creativity, etc. I’m an artist myself. While I do write my own material I do not have my own studio and I do not produce my own music. I hire producers to help with creating tracks and I pay in the studio time. When I made my first music video I paid the production company that put that together. When I needed a photoshoot I paid the photographer, etc. etc. It’s no different than any other business investing in it’s product.
However! There’s a right and wrong way to put together your product. My personal opinion is from the poor quality of the talent Ark is NOT interested in making quality stars, but cashing in. Ark is suddenly being noticed right now because most people are pointing the finger at them saying they’re a joke. They weren’t being noticed before because people were saying “hey look at that amazing singer!” They were being noticed because a bunch of people started laughing at the Rebecca Black video. They’re not being taken seriously. I’m just saying that from different opinions I’ve heard and comments I’ve read. If I were a business I’d be embarrassed by that and rather be recognized for the quality I put forth, not cheap quantity. I worry for those kids because they are so young and easily influenced. Right now their egos are being pumped up to make them think they’re super stars. But once the training wheels of Ark is off and they’re taking on more adventures in the music business they will be crushed. I understand pumping up their egos may not be Ark’s intent, but I’m just reading this off what I’m getting. It’s probably because I’m an artist myself, but I worry more for the artist naturally than the label. But unfortunately they both need each other. These kids really could have some great talent hidden down there. I just don’t feel Ark is taking the time to actually fully develop it. Instead they are doing just that, cranking them out like a factory. I would personally have more respect for them if they took the time and did.
In the end I don’t think it matters what side you take, Ark’s, or the opposing, the music business is a business of opinions. There are technically no wrong or right answers. It’s preference. I realize many of these kids are aimed at a Justin Bieber market, but Justin Bieber also appeals to adults as well as kids. I know many adults who enjoy his music, myself included. However I didn’t enjoy Ark’s artists. I don’t think many of these kids have that same kind of reach as he does. But once again, that’s my opinion. It’s all shades of grey.

As long as we have stupid/idiotic rich parents, companies like this will always be present. That’s how it is.

only difference between these guys and the well known companies is that they obviously arent going for a reputation and a serious business. dont get me wrong, prob. lots of money to be earned but i don’t think it will last long.

@STFU, if you want people to take you seriously and have a rational conversation, having a user name that’s also an attack at them doesn’t help.

“Some parents pay huge bucks to enter their kids in beauty pageants so they can be stars. Some parents pay big bucks for their kids to go to film school so they can be movie directors. Some pay really big bucks for their kids to go to an overseas medical school because they couldn’t get into one in the US, with the eventual hope that their kid will secure a residency in the US.”
Some problems with trying to make those sound the same.
1) Students that go to film school walk out with a degree that, even if they don’t become directors, can help them get a job in the film industry or someplace else. A degree is considered by society as important thing to have, regardless of the subject matter.
2) Overseas medical school – also get a degree from it. Maybe not a job in the US, but they could probably get a job in that country working as a doctor.
Those last two can get people jobs and maybe even careers. Beauty pageants, even if they can offer jobs, don’t give degrees which correlate with earning more money and being more successful.

I think everyone is forgetting that there is a little girls feelings involved here. No matter what you think Ark Music Factory has accomplished something that even the Majors can’t do right now … get an artist noticed. I don’t have any involvement with ARK, but I am familiar with the difficulty of promoting artists. A lot of the “music intellectuals” on here like to talk about their definition of good music but most of them download every song they listen to for FREE and have not supported any artist since music became a free commodity. Most of the public are hypocrites and don’t even support the artist who they claim are the “good artists.” I give Ark Music Factory props for doing their damn thing and making it happen. Rebecca Black I also give you props for having the guts to do what many millions of people would never attempt to do. Pursue your dreams.

Most of these people think that we are attacking Ark prod. for their business practices and that’s just not the case. We don’t hate them for trying to make money or even giving these kids a “chance” to make it big. The problem has to do with the quality of the work they do. All of their songs sound bland and predictable; they all start off with a random guy piping an introduction to Ark productions in the beginning of the song, and then get that guy to rap again near the middle of i while dated, generic, phoned in beats that would have been popular 5 years ago play in the background. I don’t begrudge them the right to their business, so they shouldn’t begrudge me the right to publicly state that I believe that it’s crap.

Interesting how all the “different” people defending Ark on here have the exact same style of writing and phrasing. The Ark representation needs to be a little more subtle if they’re planning on gaining any respect. But that’s stupid, it’s clearly not the aim, it’s about fame and money, so whatever. I love how the sockpuppets keep going on and on about how Rebecca Black has suddenly shot to youtube fame overnight, so it must mean that everyone thinks she’s awesome. Yes, Ark, she has achieved an irritating Rick Astley kind of success, though not even as much, at that. Well done.
And at least pretend to have an ounce of creativity. Having her repeat ten words over and over and over again, in a hilarious monotone, laid over a crappy, dull beat in the hope that the song will get stuck in everyone’s heads and annoy the fuck out of them is really sad. Not that it won’t work, but it’s just so pathetic that people are willing to lose any sense of grace if it’ll get them fifteen minutes. It’s all the fault of Tila Tequila and Flava Flav. I don’t like Kesha or Bieber one bit, but even though their songs are shit, at least they aren’t so transparently whoring themselves out for any small scraps of attention someone might toss them due to sheer schadenfreude.
And about the age thing? What, so just because somebody is younger people are not supposed to say that their music causes blood to gush out of one’s ears? You have to be pretty thick-skinned to do this kind of thing, especially if you’re planning on doing it the most undignified way possible. Might as well get her used it!

kmf has the right idea, regardless of how you feel about their business, one cannot deny the overall quality of this production is bland, unimaginative, and doesn’t even embody the “fun” that it tries to present in its lyrics. Thinking that just because it’s aimed towards preteens means it’s okay to push out painfully generic and soulless feeling music is really the reason so many say that culture as a whole has been dumbed down.

LOL @ the person defending these CREEPY exploiter using various names, we know it’s still you!

They’re all so bad! And the host of the launch party performances, who is he? Just awful. Rich people suck.

STFU, the reason you single out a company such as this is that by doing so, you show ALL music companies that you disagree with their sleezy ways and want it to change. The same thing happened a while ago with baby formula. A bunch of mothers got angry that the formula was cheap, attacked Gerber specifically, and when Gerber listened to their appeals, the other companies followed suit so as to not get the same treatment.

Okay – this is definitely the ugly side of our desire for fame! In spite of this, however – there are kids out there making their own videos and singing their own songs – just to be heard.

To STFU and all the other “anonymous supporters”, i.e., ARK Family members, employees or those poor deluded parents wanting to buy so celebrity status… I love the explanation that the access to the site was limited due to people coming to it “for the wrong reasons”. Do you mean the thousands of people who made honest and valid negative comments about the quality of the songs, and “talent”, vs. the few who actually enjoyed them?
I agree that the music industry is just a pimp machine but most pimps don’t want ugly ho’s that need to pay for themselves to stand on the corner.

Yeah – check out a real 14 year old with an obviously self made video. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oJcjTlyIv3c

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHheheheheheheheheheheheheheheheheheh Ahem…….
cough cough…..
Ark Productions is a Fucking Joke.
Losers.

First of all, I don’t believe that Clarence and Patrice are the money behind this venture. Someone should look into this… I smell rich white, right wing predators all over this “venture”.
Secondly, you stole Butterflies from Alex Lambert:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0xHfRUW99aI (Alana Lee)
http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=alex+lambert+butterflies&aq=f (Alex Lambert)
Thirdly, “Seein’ everything, the time is goin’” is literally the worst sentence ever written.
Fourthly, Ark Music Factory can only be a scam because I can buy a Canon HF100, Sony Vegas, Beatmaker 2, and come up with a better music video.
Finally, Rebecca Black was scammed by a phony “label” who stole all her money and now has ruined the rest of her life.
You literally made the worst song in the history of music.
P.S. Learn how to use auto-tune.

Just wanted to clarify that any respected or talented guitar player knows who Richie Kotzen is.

Oh, and btw, it’s not about producing one bad track. It’s about writing the most incoherent, inane, scatterbrained, stream-of-consciousness-of-a-toddler, borderline-insane, complete-lack-of-understanding-of-the-english-language song in the history of mankind.
This is how poetry works.
and, by extension, how lyrics
work.
Your version?
This works, poetry.
Extension by lyrics.
How is work by.
Learn the concept of narrative, of plot, of punctuation, of poetry, etc.
Better yet, refund all of the money and go away.
Ke$ha, Bieber, J-Lo are Shakespearen in comparison.

These guys need to work under a real hit producer and then try this out, going this way they are throwing gasoline on a large fire that will take away everything they have.
however the guy at the end did sound promising,
these are the facts,
it costs millions to blow up an artist, and real professionals with legit recent hit track records are hired to make sure that money is well spent, you have to have the hits and a hot artist, no one legit will take a chance on a joke, no matter what the money is,
your a&r guy picks the hit, you hope the marketing guy loves it, you pay the promo guys $$$ to get it on the 10,000 pop stations, start off with light rotation then ramp it up into heavy rotation within a month, and you hope the song gets played thousands of times so you can recoup from BMI, ASCAP then you do the video and get it on youtube,
if you have a hit then you have to spend another 1MM for the tours for the next 2-3 years and hope that your more hits will get you back 10 times that amount, if your artist gets millions of hits on youtube then you can get endorsement deals for them from att, mc donalds, nike and so on. The odds are 1 in 5 artists break even, 1 in 10 artists make a little more to stay around and 1 in 20 hot artists hit big, and that 1 artist supports 1000 for the next 5 years, it has happened time and time again.
so now all you need is 6MM to get started, so who is ready ? who has the money to spend and not lose sleep over it ?

7 million hits on youtube for rebecca black ???? sounds like telemarketing to me,
to bad she was not played that many times on the radio, Ark could have been instant multi millionaires,

this has been happening for a long, long time.
http://www.songpoemmusic.com/
http://blog.wfmu.org/freeform/2009/02/songpoem-archived-music-volume-1.html
etc…

It’s nice to see some intelligent debate here, even if there is disagreement on Ark’s credibility.
I think there’s actually a market for awesomely bad entertainment. Wasn’t there a TV show dedicated to awesomely bad stuff? And doesn’t American Idol feature the ridiculous performers sometimes? Remember William Hung?
I hope Rebecca Black capitalizes on this (if that’s what she wants). Besides the comedy of the song-lyrics and vocal synthesis, Rebecca is very cute and sincere. She has the potential to roll with this do more projects. She definitely has an audience now.
As for ARk, you guys produce well but what is the deal with those song lyrics? Friiiiday was written for a 6 year old to sing. I’m not saying Rebecca needs to sing about sex. Maybe she could go with a beach-vibe, like a Jason Mraz style.

$20,000 grand?
All you need is a webcam, an instrument, TALENT, and a computer. A recent example is that cute filipino kid covering that Lady Gaga song. She hit 7mm+ on YouTube last week.

I am still astounded at how they got Rebecca 7MM hits,
and someone said she just got a deal with interscope ?
😕

if musicians are going to be produced by the size of the parent’s pockets the what is the point of a music major? Hell what is the point of me teaching music, if they are all going to call their mommies and daddies and some Auto-Tune computer guy make their music. then my future of Teaching music and having a Show choir are gone…
guess I’ll go back to taping ankles at Shasta College

Out of 86 comments no “gets it”. The music industry is almost like “Wall Street”. It is cut throat. This new generation of tech savvy tenns are ready to bust it out. This Ark Music company is just symbolic of being able to produce your own videos and music, no matter who it sounds or looks. These kids don’t care! Finally. To 4567 with the big music corps. Make your own music for fun. That is what it is all about. This Ark music factory will fade but the enormous reaction to the video and “song” is symbolic of a new age in music. No more bangin’ and blingin’ with M&M’s and puff Daddy, who put music at its’ lowest point. This is just the beginning of a new age of “art”. Like Andy Warhol’s “Campbell’s Soup Can”….this is a wave of anti-big business that is going to continue , because these teenagers are getting smarter by the day. The rich getting richer and poor getting poorer, wait till these teenagers reach 30 years old. Then we’ll see what kind of “music” they produce…..it will be more like “IO want nothing to do with this celebrity BS, or Music company’s.

this is just an aggrandized version of going to six flags and getting your music video shot with some friends while you are singing a cover song for 12 dollars. rich parents shell out 20k for their kid to feel famous for a moment. it’s a service. no one is getting ripped off, i think the kids and the parents know they are not going to become famous or they would be working with a real record label. these guys seem more like a novelty service. it’s not creepy, it’s just a clever business idea. calm down.

this song really sucks

I completely agree with everything STFU said above. Rolling Stone did a profile on Clive Davis, and they paraphrased him as stating his philosophy on hit songs: “A song is not a hit because it’s beautiful — a song is beautiful because it’s a hit”. By any standard –even if never makes a dime in royalties — “Friday” is a hit. This of course is unacceptable to many people, who will scream that it’s “crap'”music, etc. But the fact is, there are hundreds of thousands of songs that many would consider to be “good” music that will never see the light of day. They might even be really good, or even great songs. But a “Hit” song is the result of a confluence of many factors that just happen to ‘click’ for the writers and artist. Money and marketing alone can’t even accomplish this. There is ALOT of luck and just plain weird chance involved. It’s a kind of happy magic: why be jealous of and angry at the people who that magic happens for, even if you hate the song? You’re wasting your energy railing against it: it’s already a hit, and you can’t change that fact!

I agree with Ben. Besides, the actual music business is crap anyway. As a “producer”, I wouldn’t want to get involved in any of it.
BUT, truth be told, All these fools involved with Ark music don’t actually give a crap about music. They want the $$$$$$! Cause if they did, they wouldn’t have ever put this stuff out.

I SWEAR Quincy Jones called them “Untalented people” in his call in the “Party” video. It may have been YOUNG talented people, but I heard what I wanted to. He sounded drunk anyway.

Here to sum it all up. These kids sing, write, produce and even designed thier website. http://www.illfletch.com
All this with speakers from the Goodwill, Mic in the closet (next to some T-shirts) and a Mac.
O-ya and NO money spent. Talented??

Ark Music Factory is the new Glamour Shots, that’s all.

“Ark Music Factory” is a good name.
When I hear their music, I feel like I just opened the ark of the covenant and my face melted off.

Regarding STFU: Based on this thread, this person is either “just a friend” as they claim or one of the WORST publicists that I have ever encountered. #PR disaster.

just so you know STFU, Hollywood is a cruel place! To put out these singers and make these videos that are so full of crap and sound horrible, WHAT DID YOU THINK THE PUBLIC WAS GOING TO DO! YOU PUT IT ON THE WEB! FOR GOD SAKES! and you think no one is going to pick fun at it!!!! hellloooo!!! they are poorly written songs! CRAPPYYY! and badly directed videos! yes MOST of these girls have a voice! BUT ITS UP TO THE RECORD LABEL TO WRITE MUSIC AND DIRECT A FANTASTIC VIDEO SO THEY GET THE CREDIT FOR HAVING A GOOD VOICE! this record label is mediocre! YOU CANT HALF ASS KIDS DREAMS!! shame on you! AND YOU WILL BE GETTING CRITICIZED FOR A LONG TIME! and when those kids ask why there music is being made fun of? YOU BETTER KNOW ITS THE COMPANIES FAULT! NOT THEIRS! any hollywood record label can tell you the same, i have been working in this town for years! sorry ARK but we are all laughing at you, NOT THE KIDS! they deserve better! YOU DESERVE TO GO TO JAIL! THIS IS A GREAT ARTICLE! AND I WILL PASS IT AROUND!!

@ mrgreenjeanz re “Why has no one picked up on the fact it’s not even original music? Friday is a Bob Dylan song.”
Hahahaha! Whether you are serious or joking, I love that people like you exist.

I have a question
how many of you on here have bought real recording studios ie protools, tape machines, mixers, sound booths ect, late model cars, paid your rent, helped out friends that needed your financial help, and paid your taxes all from solely music income and not have a day job ? music income would have to have come from bmi ascap or performing at large events.
🙂

Well a friend at a major label just told me that they are all in a bidding war for her,
ten million views on youtube, articles in time magazine and other major media are very hard to come by, they are going to sign her, put her with top 10 producers and make her a star, just watch, and then all of you will say go figure …… duh !!

What the Hell was this? Is it a Joke? This sounded like lil’ douchebag wayne had a downs syndrome child with Justin Bieber then it was beaten until near death and allowed to sing and produce a song.

ark music factory is a joke and their “talent” all sucks nothing but daddy bought me this song/video to show how better i am then you garbage. nice to see ark music reps have nothing better to do then to get in pissing contest on the internet with people instead of finding REAL talent. by why do that getting rich daddy money from never will be singers is easier.

How come Disney can get away with it? The difference between Disney and ARK is that ARK actually takes real, wholesome girls yea with maybe well off parents but can afford an education, not ones that come from trailer parks and shave their heads and walk around in public bathrooms barefoot. ARK picks girls who know how to read and understand the star spangle banner and don’t forget it in front of the whole country, or girls like Lohan who tried every possible drug and is in and out of jail. ARK associates themselves with good kids who sing about the everyday things that kids actually think about. Every kid thinks about the weekend and their friends and their clothes. How many girls has Disney produces that ended up being a humongous embarrassment. What’s wrong with producing wholesome, nice girls or should we all look up to Lindsey Lohan and Miley Cyrus?

I must say I’m totally confused. How does an amateur video get famous for being bad? What do you expect from something a 13 year old posts on the Internet? If this was a Justin Bieber video or something the music industry put their weight behind I could understand. But otherwise this is like picking out some random teenager’s Myspace page page and marveling at how bad the web design is. Seriously, this is what passes for entertainment these days?

Well deadmau5 a dj artist who is world famous and who plays for millions around the world, he did a remix for friday and well let me put it this way,
http://soundcloud.com/fuckmylife/friday-deadmau5-remix
within a year this will be the premier horror story of what not to do.

This, to me, just seems that they were not really ready to try and get this business off the ground. And hey, if these kids can’t handle some negative feedback, then they can’t handle the fame, especially if most of them haven’t even hit puberty yet.

How is their exploitation any different from Justin Bieber or Nickelodeon and Disney?

Come on guys. I’m 71 and this song sounds like every other song on the pop 100 list. Why are you picking on this 13 year-old kid? I’ve learned two things about the younger generation. 1) They are the meanest, most cynical generation ever born and 2) They haven’t a clue about music.

http://video.adultswim.com/tim-and-eric-awesome-show-great-job/a-horse-and-buggy-ride.html
Reminds me of this.

You make no argument. She has no future.
Even if we acknowledge that the house of fame is more like a trailer. If the trailer is more mud hut, and the hut has no security. There is no back door, or side window. Why do you keep approaching the walls that would be the back door, the side window? You’re running into mud.
There is supposed to be a record deal in place already. Why are you now claiming there is a record deal?
I don’t blame the “producers”. Although their “talent” is clearly more ignorance amplified financially to the nth degree. I blame someone who looks like that idiot hype man on your launch party video.
How are they different than Disney and JB? Talent, for one. An idea, for two. A rudimentary sense of art, for three.
Exploitation makes for good TV, radio. But, you know you’ve driven the car off a cliff when the same idiots who make a lobotmized song like Fireflies a number one hit turn on you.
If you can’t impress middle america with homegrown “talents”, buy a case of promise rings, make your artists wear crosses and lapel pins, and jettison whatever ethnic elements you’ve duped.
Anyway, you’re ignorant and you’re attempt to keep the conversation going by claiming that 100 million ignorant people laughing at your ignorance is a positive sign is entertaining. Until you go away, which is soon.
Release the children and let them f up their own lives.
PS, no one that I know is picking on the kids. we are trying to run the fat cats behind the scenes out of town. So, yeah, that argument is hitting that mud wall, as well.
bye.

There’s a fine line between something being ironically bad and something being awesome and this video is awesome.
“See you Again” by Miley Cyrus is just about as vapid and I have no doubt that Rebecca could be coaxed into creating a song like that with enough production/song-writing help. I can’t wait till she becomes famous, Ark become millionaires and all the haters on this board have to listen to wave after wave of these albums on the radio.
What they are doing is no different than how the actual record industry works, the only difference is they are independent and Internet savvy.

With regard to “former pop producer now trance dj artist’s” post, you’re operating under the old paradigm. What Ark Music Factory has done, albeit inadvertently, is provide a blueprint for profitably making music in the digital, post-record-label age. Further – unlike so many others before them — they have proved that it can actually work.
They didn’t need to spend millions to promote Rebecca Black. They didn’t need radio to break her. They didn’t need MTV (which isn’t relevant to the music industry anymore anyway) or even physical distribution. All they needed was YouTube (free), iTunes (free) and social networking (free).
Labels are dead. CDs are an outmoded. Radio (thanks to Payola) is far too expensive, regional (versus the internet, which is international) and gleans too little return on investment. What did Ark spend on Rebecca Black? Between the low budget but serviceable studio production, video production and web graphics, I can’t imagine Friday cost more than $10,000 (minus whatever “producer fees” are built into their vanity deals). I can only venture a guess, but I’d wager that between iTunes sales, YouTube profit sharing, and ringtone downloads they’ve made that back times ten, at least. In a week. Major labels can’t do that. Most indies can’t do that.
Granted, no one could’ve predicted that Rebecca Black would be thrust into the zeitgeist so quickly. And her fame is irony-dependent. But does that really matter? Yes the song sucks, but sucking is what got it noticed. Do you think Tay Zonday cared that inexplicable success of Chocolate Rain was due to whims of internet irony? Dude was doing Doctor Pepper commercials a month later.
By every measure — except artistic quality — everything about this venture was a massive success.

Ronnie Pudding
so you say all they spent was 10k in promotion ? including perez ?
perez has already promoted them at least 5 times, he is not cheap let me assure you, and he is not free, not by a longshot.
that video alone was very pro and expensive compared to the song
now if you are right and all they spent was 10k to get her 10 million hits, ARK would be on the front cover of billboard, time, news week as the label that can save the music business in the 20th century.
Ronnie Pudding have you done anything in this business, ie provided jobs for hundreds of others from your talent ?
🙂

and how many sales did they get from itunes and ringtones ? does you tube pay for hits ? probally not.
my guess is that this is a social experiment, ie; can a great video featuring a pretty young artist with a very bad song blow up overnight if you have 500k to spend. and the answer is yes. and no I do not think they will make their money back from this one, radio is the only way to get paid back and radio will not play her now matter the amount of money, but youtube will play anybody GET IT ?
then again they could have easily have gone to vegas, hit the craps table and gotten the same results……

don’t get me wrong what they did is a major feat of strength, 10MM hits, that is superstar status, I just don’t understand why they did not make sure the song was
A. A great song, great hook, production, ect if they had gone to any major publisher and said we are going to get 10MM hits on this song and blow it up I am sure they would have had thousands of unreleased hits to choose from
B. Hired a great vocal producer,
the video is great, and I am sure that cost at least 50k to make,
this is interesting, bad song, okay production, bad singer, pretty young girl, GREAT VIDEO + 500k = WINNING !!!

the video is pro, I am sure it cost a lot to make or they bought all the right gear to do it and hired pros to oversea the process.

In what sense is the video great? It’s terrible. It makes Hit Me Baby One More Time look like Jean-Luc Godard.
– park three cars in a triangle w/ headlights on
– sit 5 teenagers in a convertible
– shoot in a random backyard
– shoot in random house
– collect the worst choreography ever produced in two minutes
– apply cheap video effects (oversaturate, brighten, find edges, etc.)
Seriously? I understand the need to salvage something from this burning village, but you should probably look to Rebecca Black. And only because she is still a complete unknown. Can she sing? Who knows when you apply auto-tune all over her whispering range. Is she mildly attractive? I guess, but her gaze is dead-behind-the-eyes frightening. Which, let’s face it, can reaonably be blamed on the director who clearly has not a single clue about directing.
There is no winning. 99% of these “viral stars” disappear as quickly as they appear. And when you are viral because you run a company that exploits stupid rich people are their brainwashed children, not only do you disappear but lawsuits will most likely soon follow.
Ark is only that cat that pops its head out of that jacket. When that cat becomes Lil Wayne, Justin Bieber let me know. This will amount to nothing positive for everyone involved. You can’t salvage anything, except your homes. So, lawyer up.

all she needs is one of the major labels to sign her, she already has 10MM youtube hits, perez, time mag, so I am sure someone will snatch her up pretty quick, kick ark to the curb and put her into their system.

I agree.
She needs to talk to a lawyer, to be safe– because if I were her, I’d want Ark to suffer. And then take her infamy and try to make something out of it apart from Ark.
There is no telling how talented she is, since her “producers” wrote an incoherent nonsense song and apparently shut out all the lights in the studio and randomly pressed buttons.

What’s the big deal here I don’t get it? Am I somehow supposed to be shocked by this? lol, there are worse songs on the radio already? Listen to S&M by Rhianna, listen to BLAH BLAH BLAH by Ke$ha, those two songs alone should be considered the “worst songs on the planet” just listen to what they are promoting? Being a shameless slut, and yet, I don’t see anyone throwing a fit over them? Or going on about how the lyrics are complete abominations to music. I don’t get it, I really don’t can someone explain?
People are throwing a fit over a 13 year old singing about Friday? What the fuck…isn’t that what they all do? LOL. So she used autotune, don’t all artists now a days? So her lyrics suck…don’t most mainstream artists lyrics suck nowadays? It’s either degrading women, getting drunk, or wanting to fuck in the back seat of a car (ala Ke$ha), maybe I’m missing the point here…

Marissa the song is not creative or clever not by a long shot, lets now see if they can get this song on the radio and played thousands of times a day or better yet the song wins a grammy,
:{}

she was born this way

Do what’s in your heart, find joy in what you do, find happiness. Ignore the cynical haters, they are lost and do not understand. Good for her.

Friday – 14 Million Views 1 week
London Calling – 2 million sales 30 years
Popularity will never equate quality.

People really shouldn’t attack Rebecca Black. She seems pretty nice.

I want to remind everyone that this is a kid. I feel horrible for her, that could of been me. I am shocked that ARK is profiting off of people ridiculing a kid. Please do not pay to get that song! Once this all blows over I wonder if Rebecca’s parents know that their daughter’s career will cease to exist. She will forever be teased and ridiculed. Why are they not putting a stop to this. I know they can as Ark gives you full rights to your music and video.
My parents almost fell prey to this and saw the light when they read the cheesy song and the cheesy script they wrote for me! . And when they insisted that we had to let them choreograph my video, I was instantly terrified. I had seen their other works and was like “mom NO!”. I liked the video quality but nothing else. We had this cool creator ready to write and choreograph my video to my music and they were like no! If these guys were legit they would allow us to choose who directs our videos. Oh, and they wanted me to dress in these slutty outfit! I don’t want some men staring me down! Like eeeeeeewwwwwwwwwww
Anyways, thank god my dad is a lawyer! We got out of it and our money back.
Oh, oh also, my grandparents were listening to my song and my granddad realized that my song (Ark supposedly wrote for me) was a copy righted song from the 60’s. We contacted the company who owned the rights and they had no idea ARK was using the song! For the girls parents that were at the audition with me, please take a stand? Don’t let them do to you what they did to Rebecca!
Beware these guys are not music artists, they are scam artists. They steal intellectual property and sell it to parents for thousands!

I remember growing up in 80’s era Phoenix, and at Metrocenter Mall there was a place that would let you record a song and a video with your friends. I think it cost about 10 or 20 bucks, there was no Autotune, we all sounded awful and it was hilarious fun. That video would pop up at random parties all the way through college to embarrass us at random.
Just because it’s 2011 and you paid more to do it, doesn’t make it any less of a silly mall novelty.
This has already been pointed out, however, I disagree that the kids and parents know it’s just for fun. Last time I checked, no Glamour Shots/Hot Hits studio ever had a launch party for its paying customers. Ark isn’t selling them a fun time, they’re selling them the idea that actual, bankable fame will happen because of this.
I do feel sorry for Rebecca Black. She’s 13 years old, I don’t expect her to have the best judgment. However, I certainly expect the adults around her who she trusted, to have better judgment and at some point, whether or it was the parents or the producers, someone needed to say “No, absolutely not, this is not going to happen,” to her — not assist in making her the Internet’s current biggest laughingstock.
Finally, Ark supporters/scam victims commenting here: Give it up already. If you had anything better to do right now, you’d be doing it. You’re as much on a fast track to fame and fortune as I am.

Allegations of pedophilia are pretty over the top. That’s a bizarre conclusion to arrive at with no evidence. The fact is there are more young wanna-be girl singers than anything else. It’s clear the producers at Ark are no talent hacks, but were nevertheless hoping a genuine star would accidentally walk through their doors one day. All they need is one girl to make it for them to be set. Ironically, they finally got that girl. Sadly, she can’t sing for sh*t.

This seems like a high school talent show.

I just talked to some friends, major label heads are yelling / firing their promo guys and video guys everyone is at a loss on how this can happen, I mean 2k and you get 20MM hits on youtube and top 20 on itunes on an unknown artist, Ark and Rebecca are WINNING, just watch in the coming weeks ARK will either merge with a real major label or the real truth will come out, ie how much was really spent on the video, promotion and marketing, I still think a billionaire is playing a very cruel and sick joke on the music biz, then again this may be the new business model, Tween artist + Twitter + Facebook + Youtube = cheap and = WINNING !!

Yeah. I’d totally let my kid make a retarded video with a retarded song to humiliate them and make them the laughing stock of America if I had the money. Yeah I could donate that money to help dying children or something, but naaah, I’ll waste it on my kid and pay these douche bags to make her look like an idiot. I mean, I just don’t think being really wealthy and being able to give my child everything they want is enough, you know? I’d be a good parent for sure.

thanks for posting this! that launch party video is ridiculous. i could NOT stop cringing.

I wonder how much it costs to have one video produced. All those child actors and the cameras and everything…any idea how much it costs the parents of the wannabe pop stars?

well aren’t we all the fools, including myself, #17 on itunes which is now the new billboard,
🙂

and commenter #112 Ronnie Pudding
you are 100% right, my apologies for my rudeness
🙂

Alright, listen here. As someone who has spent quite a bit of time working at a LEGITIMATE record label and has a ton of experience in many other aspects of the entertainment industry, trolls like you and this joke of a company really piss me off. I’m sure there’s a ton of fine print that maps out exactly what these kids are signing up for, but let me make something perfectly clear to you: record labels operate on quality of talent, not money by rich parents. To claim that this company is a record label just makes me laugh.
Do YOU want a lesson on the way the music industry works? Here you go:
Record labels, especially these days, work kind of like banks. They scout REAL talent that they as a company are willing to financially back up, and then invest in them. The artist is essentially given a loan for recording costs, production costs, etc. When the artists starts making money, royalties start getting paid back, and once they are paid back the artist can start to profit. Since music has gone digital, and its easier to get without paying for it (and is cheaper than it used to be), a lot of money is made in touring and merchandise, and promotion for new artists is becoming cheaper (because YouTube and Facebook are freaking FREE), music videos aren’t necessarily required anymore, and ticket prices to shows are so inflated that it is becoming easier for labels to recoup their costs on new talent should they flop. At NO point do REAL labels take any money up front, and instead of signing bonuses that used to be common place, that money is often invested into the artists which they don’t have to pay back, lowering their royalty costs as the music industry evolves.
That being said, your “label” is nothing more than what Barbizon is: a way to get star-hungry kids and their parents to pay for things they don’t really need. You get them excited with these videos and parties, provide them with the “tools” they need and put them in “showcases”, but are completely covered by your contract that says that you never promised their 20Gs would get them anything other than a produced music video, some songs, and something to talk about. Just like those “modeling and acting schools” charge out the wahzoo to anyone who will pay for head shots and screen tests, but make no promises. After spending severals years working with legitimate agencies, a friend of mine signed up for one of those schools despite my warnings not to, and I went with her one night. The “casting directors” just sat their with their mouths open while I called them out on all their BS while they looked over my head shots and resume (that were professionally done by a respected photographer for CHEAPER than the “school” was charging).
My point is, LEGITIMATE agencies and labels never require anything up front, and if they do, are nothing more than a scam. Respected agencies and labels invest in their talent, which is why it IS difficult to get a record deal or to become a successful model or actor. It takes TIME and TALENT, not money, and the money that does need to be invested to break into the entertainment industry (head shots, demos, etc) should be paid to reputable companies and never to these one-stop-shop places (and shouldn’t cost that much). These “companies” will take any decently looking kid whose parents can pay, doesn’t matter if they actually have the talent to make money and be successful in the business. Sure, every blue moon someone on the roster may get a lucky break, which only perpetuates the shit show that these companies operate under.
End rant.

I also want to state that, albeit I don’t agree with this, as some have stated on here, Rebecca Black is getting the attention she paid for… but for the wrong reasons. The point is whether or not SHE cares that millions of people are making fun of her, and that any kind of outside attention she gets from this will be because she is terrible, not because she is talented. And THAT is what I am saying with my above statement before anyone jumps on my case.
Like any other viral star, they aren’t getting attention because they are good in a lot of cases, and many of them have no problem with it. If you write a terrible original song, shoot a crapy video, and upload it on YouTube yourself and end up getting a ton of attention from it and you don’t really care why or how, good for you! But people are telling these girls they are talented and will be successful. My guess is that Rebecca Black will get asked to be one talk shows, and she may even book some commercials, but it won’t be because she’s a good singer. And that is sad, because companies like Ark build her up, take her money, and in this case got lucky (again, for the wrong reasons). I don’t know what her Ark contract says, but my guess is she doesn’t see any of the money her terrible song is making on iTunes (and people are downloading it for giggles, not because its good). Now, some of the kids on Arks roster aren’t terrible, but like this article stated, the ones that were ok had 7 YouTube subscribers.
I just hate that a company would try to pass themselves off as a label, when they aren’t operating like one AT ALL, and now will no doubt try to profit from the fact that this poor little girl is so bad. Sure, you can argue all day that Ark did their job. But because they don’t discriminate against the kind of talent they produce they are getting all kinds of bad press. But you know what they say, no press is bad press, I guess.

PTFO@STFU
labels pay for everything ……….
Are you kidding me ???
you need to get your facts straight my friend, labels are not like they used to be, I wish they were but with all of the illegal downloading and itunes, youtube, facebook, myspace, they killed the record biz and laid of 90% of the workforce.
I had a record out on a indie / major last year and we had to provide /pay for the studio, music, production, mixing, mastering, all of it, they did not even provide promotion or tour support, all they did was press up the cds, put us on itunes, all of the major label sites and put us in stores, what a waste of time and a deal,
then we started to ask around and it became clear that these days you need an investor/rich parents/rich producers to blow you up, then the label gets behind you and that is where I found out why it really costs to blow up a record 5MM, promo guys, radio airplay, billboard placement ect,
this was before the Ark system proved all of us wrong, people still buy singles not records and in a different way,
now all you need is a hot video, and you can do it on your own, a friend he is signed to a major and they are sitting on his record, just got 10MM youtube hits from the ark system and is selling singles off of his site, he already made 100k, well 50k after taxes, but it does work, for how long ? who knows but it is working,
I am currently trying to get a video together for my next single, making songs is not good enough anymore, you need a video to sell it,

what’s an “indie/major” label? Is it like an apple/orange?

I love this song! It’s catchy and weird and the guiltiest guilty pleasure ever.  The song has some nice hooks, and that’s why people are buying it. The bizarre lyrics and weird-ass video are all gravy.

Well pretty much everything you said was fucking spot on. ha. rich people paying their way into 15 minutes of fame instead of earning it with talent. shame really.

MY EARS !!! OMG MY EARS !

I was initially horrified when I thought Friday was an actual single pumped out by a major label. But it looks like these kids are just having a good time, and learning how to be a performer. It’s hard to find any fault there. I would have had a blast with Ark had it been around when I was 13 (and if my parents could have afforded it).
Fun fun fun!

I agree it stinks that Ark are trying to cash in on the abuse being hurled at a 13 year old, yet act like publicity shy cowards when it comes to fronting up. Some-one should ask Patrice Wilson why he keeps taking his videos about Ark music factory off youtube. And why he allows numerous death threat comments on a 13 year olds video. Since he’s the youtube vid moderator. Just good clean fun eh… He seems to despise his own “star” so much he made his own derogatory spoof of the song. He made sure to leave that up on youtube, but alas Patrice, only 300,000 views compared to Black’s 54 million.

here is a bad move,
ark is now sending out emails trying to blow up other artists that are just as bad with songs and production instead of keeping a focus on rebecca
ark has zero cash in the real world to blow up an artist, again it costs and this is if the promo guys think you have a hit,
they will charge 3MM min to blow up a record nationwide on the radio over a period of 6-12 months, we are not even counting another 300k for prints and advertisments, someone has to pay for posters, media kits,
now 60MM hits on youtube is great but that is only 60k from youtube in income, itunes lets say she sells 500k singles that is still only 200k so 260k is a long long way from 3MM,
hence
major labels are still the only game in town and why they do 360 deals now, 50/50 on everything, why ?
album sales are off by 90% so the only source of income is performance royalities from radio airplay and shows and the performance royalities can outdo the show income by a ratio of 50-1 if the song is a smash and getting heavy heavy rotation on 10,000 T1 stations, internet stations do not count, they pay in pennies whereas T1 stations pay in tens of millions of dollars,

THIS IS NOT MUSIC, ITS COMPUTERS MAKING NOISE & KIDS BUY INTO THE HYPE. ITS SAD

She looks just like her parents. Screech and The Nanny must be so proud.

Parody collection: http://www.rebeccablackfriday.net/parody.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5qZyxb4C120&hd=1
Best Remix Ever!!!!!!

I suppose you would rather watch somthing like Skins on MTV instead.

http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/exclusive-rebecca-black-fighting-ark-music-factory-over-friday-20110401
this will be called the rebecca black syndrome,
13-17 year olds “why can’t you work with me ?”
because of the rebecca black syndrome,
😐

I’m willing to bet STFU is part of Ark Productions…. BWAHAHAHA!!
Youuuu madddd that these dudes got found out! Two shitty human beings spreading shitty music… They’ll get what they have coming.

Too many people are over-thinking this amazing phenomenon.
What Rebecca Black is admired/followed for is that she bravely, boldly put herself OUT there and took her chances on the criticism.
Her parents gave her a present of a sort, and as a 13yo girl she had the chance to work with people who could produce a professional-seeming video which meshed her real life and friends, with the ‘show biz’ fantasy.
At 13, Rebecca Black is basically immune to true criticism from people both old enough and level-headed enough to have street cred. Those who have comprised just about all of the 1 million-plus negative comments on the video are just other, envious kids and immature minds who are seemingly piling-on the 8th grader because opportunity is there. It’s soothing, somehow, to try to bring somebody else down just to help yourself to feel better.
The most basic elements of the whole story are lost on just about everybody who opts to make a snap judgment about the song or the production.
A – Rebecca Black did not write, nor is she in any way responsible for the lyrics of “Friday”
B – The fact that Rebecca and some of her friends happen to be 13 has NO BEARING on the ages of whatever role they play in the video (for god’s sake, nobody complained so much when, at age 29, Gabrielle Carteris was playing a 16yo on “90210”) (translation: someone playing a 16yo ‘character’ in a video, can be seen as legal for driving {in video fantasy land} )
C – Of considerable importance, too, is the fact that this video, in every way, is something viewable and suitable for audiences of all ages {that is SAYING something, for a video in this day and age} (I just read today that a man’s daughters aged 3 and 5 make him play “Friday” all day long for them) (and the C.P.S. will never bat an eyelash at that)
D – The “Ark Music Factory” people provided quite a comprehensive service, and they deserve the added exposure which is coming by way of Rebecca Black’s exciting success. As has been widely reported, Rebecca’s family paid $2000 for the creation of the video and another $2000 which was effectively to purchase all of the “rights” to the music.
E – The light-heartedness of the video and the song render it inconclusive as to whether Rebecca Black does or doesn’t have seldom-witnessed musical ability. Maybe she does, maybe she doesn’t, but at age 13 she gets a ‘pass’ on that as time will tell…
(had “Friday” been no more than a fun, family centerpiece posted on YouTube and not seen by more than family and friends, all of this wouldn’t be any big deal, yet it would still make for quite a keepsake for Rebecca and her close friends)
The bottom line remains that all of the praise and attention being heaped on Rebecca Black in the spring of 2011 is due so much more to the fact that she was so BOLD in taking her CHANCES in front of the world or anyone who might tune-in, than it is to the various, random (kid-safe) lyrics assigned to her in the production of that video.
In traditional organized sporting events there is a “score” somewhere which is a vague guide to human athletic endeavors. In such arenas, especially for kids, there are all kinds of people trying to suggest that “It isn’t whether you win or lose, it’s how you play the game” and that just to go out there and try your best brings its own reward.
Rebecca Black is someone very much admired by the most sincere people on the continent just for being someone who went out there and did her best without flinching. At age 13, she has attained quite a milestone in that way alone.

Hm, let’s see… She sounds like she has a nasal congestion when she “sings” and her song is absolutely ridiculous (I thought it was a spoof at first, but apparently she’s being serious?).
Her voice is auto-tuned and still sounds horrible. If auto-tune can’t save her… it’s pretty shocking!
Her popularity is due to infamy, if anyone has the intelligence to know. Money over reputation? If she’s going for the money, kudos. Unfortunately, she won’t be able to go shopping or to the local porta-potty without mock ridicule.

Two additional points worth mention:
F – When the lyrics were written, it was expected that a traditional school bus would be rented (“Which seat should I taaa-aaake?”), but that would have put the project over budget, so they borrowed Rebecca’s father’s car for the filming.
G – When young people in this day and age listen to music, many of them are wanting to get awaaaaaay from their own seeming lives (often into worlds filled with scantily-clad adult women, big stacks of money, and fast living), and with Rebecca Black’s song, they are effectively seeing their own lives in video format, which does nothing for many of those who have become the “haters” and the sources of the negative comments.
The number of viewings as of 3:13pm eastern time on Monday April 4 is 82,553,000 !!
Rebecca Black is just an earthy and sincere kid, who will turn 14 in June, and who is fortunate enough to have parents who were willing to let her create a bonafide music video which had all of the bells and whistles, and which is fairly seamless in the way it moves through the verses of the song.
Indeed the song itself had to come from SOMEwhere, and it was offered in the package by the company paid to put the whole thing together… so she took it, just as part of the production.
I love that she didn’t have any cause for expecting the song would go completely wild online and in the real world.
Rebecca Black merits grand respect for being somebody who boldly put herself OUT THERE at an age where the rest of us are just thrilled to pass 8th grade.

First, don’t you have anything better to do than tear apart some poor innocent like 12-year old girl’s song? Don’t listen to it if you don’t have anything nice to say at all…
Also, bet if you sang when you were 12, you wouldn’t be much better
and leaving rude and hurtful messages like this are being so immature. SHE’s 12 DUHH! she so doesn’t deserve that. You don’t like her music, totally fine. Don’t keep announcing it, and keep it to yourself.
When she sang on good morning america, her voice was actually REALLY good so listen to that and maybe its not her…it could be someone else at fault just saying. SO take the time to know someone before you tear them down emotionally. Everything you do hurts that girl and its so not fair to her.

I’m a 19 year old music industry student. And I don’t agree with what Ark stands for. Sure, there are artists out there that are annoying and write stupid songs (a la Justin Bieber or Kesha), but the bone that I have to pick with Ark is that every other artist has actually worked to achieve their success. Whereas Ark is trying to take the hard work out of the industry and the hopeful future “stars”. Part of what makes people like the artists as people (at least in my opinion) is that you can see the passion they have for their craft. The majority of artists, Top 40 or otherwise, have spent years trying to get their music out there. And for Ark to produce insta-stars is taking that appeal away.
I have nothing against Rebecca Black herself, I think she’s an okay singer and, save the viral hit, a semi-normal teenaged girl. I just don’t like how Ark music factory is exactly what it is: a factory.

what’s the big deal? it’s another teeny bopper who, all too easily, came into the music business. her parents whores her out, what else is new? i believe talentless shitty artists come up every day. let’s see..let’s try katy perry for starters. if you suck enough dick i’m sure anybody can get a record deal, her being a prime example. “we can dance until we die?” how prolific. how about another genre, such as all this horrible psuedo metal rock type shit coming out now, like avenged sevenfold..bring me the horizon..etc. upper middle class trust fund babies with an imaginary grudge on their shoulders (yes hipsters). how about all of you morons stop bitching and keep secretly watching this girls video tapping your toe but checking behind your back to make sure nobody sees. get a fucking life.

err, if anyone can look back into a little history, from say (at least) the Monkees to Journey to Milli Vanilli and a hundred “boy bands” — they were all manufactured acts with songwriters. They weren’t some sort of mythical band building a following. What Ark is doing is no more horrible than the manufactured junk from American Idol etc. You’re telling me there is true grit & passion from J-Lo and Britney & the American Idol-du-jour etc, but there isn’t in Rebecca Black?

Ok, well i do agree with many of you. Yet, look. Everyone who signs with Ark signs a contract. Underage and their parents do it. Read the damn paper. Screw what Ark tells you and read the fine print. Black sucks. Her voice is whiny and has the worst expressions ever. Then whoever made the lyrics… Really? Wtf. Who cares which seat you are in? Then like half way through the song she’s in the seat STILL singing about it. I understand that half of everyone who is popular (Justin bieber, J-Lo, etc) use auto-tune. At least they use it well… Somewhat. Why would you pay thousands of dollars for your child to have 15 min. of fame.
Also, there is an article about how the wonder if she’ll be the next Justin Bieber. I mean, i am not a fan of his but she shouldn’t even be compared to him.
Everyone must remember that singing has come to the point where it is all money. Not much talent anymore. Hence Taylor Swift and BEP. They are horrible live.

i hate this friday song so much the girl cant even sing my grandma can sing better!

now this is a $2000 video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7fgPI2EwRkM
rebeccas was more like 50k to make

I agree with faithashley xD

Rebecca Black (born Tom Marvolo Riddle) is the primary antagonist of the Harry Potter series written by British author J. K. Rowling. Rebecca Black first appeared in Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (published as Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone in the United States), which was released in 1997. Voldemort appeared either in person or in flashbacks in each book and film adaptation in the series, except the third, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, where he is only mentioned.
In the series, Rebecca Black is the archenemy of Harry Potter, who according to a prophecy has “the power to vanquish the Dark Lord”. Rebecca Black’s obsession with blood purity signifies his aim to rid the Wizarding world of Muggle (non-magical) heritage and to conquer both worlds, Muggle and Wizarding, to achieve pure-blood dominance. Almost no witch or wizard dares to speak his name, instead referring to him as “You-Know-Who”, “He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named” or “the Dark Lord”. He was born Tom Marvolo Riddle, the last descendant of wizard Salazar Slytherin,[3] one of the four founders of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
According to an interview with Rowling, “Rebecca Black” is pronounced with a silent ‘t’ at the end, as is common in French.[2] This was the pronunciation used by Jim Dale in the first four U.S. audiobooks; however, after the release of the film version of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, in which the characters who dared refer to him by name pronounced it with the “t”, Dale altered his pronunciation to that in the films. The pronunciation has since been used in the other films as well.

Landon, are you really that stupid?
The song was written long before Rebecca Black ever contacted the writers. The song was also written as if the subjects would be on a SCHOOL BUS, thus the concern over which seat to take.

I know what it was intended for. Yet why not take the time to change it a bit? “Cover” or not. Even if it was intended for a bus, it was still a car.

Plus why would i know the history of the song? Cuz i really don’t care. i just thought i’d share my opinion. Sorry for being American

The Chronicles of Rebecca Black is a series of seven fantasy novels for children by C. S. Lewis. It is considered a classic of children’s literature and is the author’s best-known work, having sold over 100 million copies in 47 languages. Written by Lewis between 1949 and 1954, illustrated by Pauline Baynes and originally published in London between October 1950 and March 1956, The Chronicles of Narnia has been adapted several times, complete or in part, for radio, television, the stage, and film.
Set in the fictional realm of Narnia, a place where animals talk, magic is common, and good battles evil, the series narrates the adventures of various children who play central roles in the unfolding history of that world. With the exception of The Horse and His Boy, the protagonists are all children from the real world magically transported to Narnia, where they are called upon by the lion Aslan to protect Narnia from evil and restore the throne to its rightful line. The books cover the entire history of Narnia, from its creation in The Magician’s Nephew, to its eventual destruction in The Last Battle.
Inspiration for the series is taken from multiple sources; in addition to numerous traditional Christian themes, characters and ideas are freely borrowed from Greek, Turkish and Roman mythology, as well as from traditional British and Irish fairy tales. The books have profoundly influenced adult and children’s fantasy literature written since World War II. Lewis’ exploration of themes not usually present in children’s literature, such as religion as well as the book’s perceived treatment of issues including race and gender, have caused some controversy.

wow, factory-manufactured pop stars, reminds me of mr brainwash and pop art.

rebecca black sucks

Rebecca Black is the best artist ever! i’m going to vote for her to win a grammy!

I have nothing wrong with what Ark Music Company is doing.
Everyone needs to chill. The government is killing hundreds of thousands of people over seas, yet I wonder what percentage of people complaining about Ark Music have spent time complaining about the debasement of the dollar, or public ‘education’.
Ark Music a 100% voluntary interaction situation. Can’t say the same about politics.

I think it’s a little off base to portray these guys as criminals or hucksters. They are, however, a perfect example of what has gone wrong with the music industry, and the horrible, horrible cult of celebrity and the need for every individual to “brand” his or her identity. They are far from the only, or the biggest, culprits. This is a bad trend that’s affecting our whole society, and will probably continue to, and Ark has come up with a pretty good business model to exploit it- but it’s not like they’ve created this problem. However, by being such an obvious music factory, and putting out such consistently lousy, Auto-tuned trash, they’re setting themselves up as pretty big targets. I almost feel bad for them, since they’re becoming sacrificial lambs, lambasted by the same Youtube and Twitter obsessed, Auto-tuned pop loving fanbase that created this gaping hole in our culture. But we don’t really need to single them out- it’s all of our fault that it’s come to this. Rich kids with little to no talent have always been able to delude themselves into sinking money into dreamed music careers. And whether Ark can spin this current bad press into gold or are permanently ruined by it, there will be many, many other Arks in years to come, unless somehow miraculously people lose their taste for derivative, overproduced pop music, internet celebrity, and so on.

Rebecca blacks “friday” is a crime. It only perpetuates the very problems we’re facing in mainstream culture. It is insipid garbage and contributes nothing worthy to this world. There is no passion anymore. Kids today are so oblivious to the manipulations of the entertainment and music industry. There needs to be recourse taken on company’s like Ark, parents need to stop being so blind and…pardon me but…dumb. There are REAL musicians with REAL talent that dont get a shot becuase of rubbish like this which infiltrates mainstream culture. How did it get to today with a justin Bieber and a Rebecca Black being so well known. Are we so indifferent about having good art anymore, can we not admit that it is truly all about a popularity contest contrary to the “American integral way”. The reality comes down harsh, while we see imbecilic teens in generic insipid videos smiling and glowing and looking so alluring, behind that veneer lies the reality of hard economic times in a dog eat dog world. I implore the youth of today to wake up.

It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; because there is no effort without error and shortcomings; but who does actually strive to do the deed; who knows the great enthusiasm, the great devotion, who spends himself in a worthy cause, who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement and who at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly. So that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.
Theodore Roosevelt, “Man in the Arena” Speech given April 23, 1910
26th president of US (1858 – 1919)

Yea for real! Gotta rep from west coast and The shit that they do now is not art. Its garbage. Why not spend a little bit of time to find REAL talent then what they do now days? Wtf

Landon, are you really that stupid?
The song was written long before Rebecca Black ever contacted the writers. The song was also written as if the subjects would be on a SCHOOL BUS, thus the concern over which seat to take.

John, dont be hating. Plus you just copy pasted that stupid post from that one chick

Completely agree with STFU… It’s an industry. These are two very talented guys who with the talent they have discovered are somehow making headway… Has anyone listened to J-Los new song “On the Floor”. It goes like this:
If you go hard you gotta get on the floor
If you’re a party freak then step on the floor
If your an animal then tear up the floor
Break a sweat on the floor
Yeah we work on the floor
Don’t stop keep it moving
Put your drinks up
Pick your body up and drop it on the floor
Let the rhythm change your world on the floor
You know we’re running sh*t tonight on the floor
Brazil Morocco
London to Ibiza
Straight to LA, New York
Vegas to Africa
Now….
J-Lo is talking about “Floor” and then decided to turn find a map of the world and work out there are direct flights from Vegas to Africa..
Well.. Atleast you know it probably will be on a “Friday” ….!!!!
This article has no idea about what is going on and has all incorrect information about ARK and the ARK Family. You could be a comedian but you should learn to use somewhat that little brain of yours to get basic facts right before going so low and calling people names.

Boy, i will get you. Your family is going to be in danger if you keep posting that stupid shit.

Too many people are over-thinking this amazing phenomenon.
What Rebecca Black is admired/followed for is that she bravely, boldly put herself OUT there and took her chances on the criticism.
Her parents gave her a present of a sort, and as a 13yo girl she had the chance to work with people who could produce a professional-seeming video which meshed her real life and friends, with the ‘show biz’ fantasy.
At 13, Rebecca Black is basically immune to true criticism from people both old enough and level-headed enough to have street cred. Those who have comprised just about all of the 1 million-plus negative comments on the video are just other, envious kids and immature minds who are seemingly piling-on the 8th grader because opportunity is there. It’s soothing, somehow, to try to bring somebody else down just to help yourself to feel better.
The most basic elements of the whole story are lost on just about everybody who opts to make a snap judgment about the song or the production.
A – Rebecca Black did not write, nor is she in any way responsible for the lyrics of “Friday”
B – The fact that Rebecca and some of her friends happen to be 13 has NO BEARING on the ages of whatever role they play in the video (for god’s sake, nobody complained so much when, at age 29, Gabrielle Carteris was playing a 16yo on “90210″) (translation: someone playing a 16yo ‘character’ in a video, can be seen as legal for driving {in video fantasy land} )
C – Of considerable importance, too, is the fact that this video, in every way, is something viewable and suitable for audiences of all ages {that is SAYING something, for a video in this day and age} (I just read today that a man’s daughters aged 3 and 5 make him play “Friday” all day long for them) (and the C.P.S. will never bat an eyelash at that)
D – The “Ark Music Factory” people provided quite a comprehensive service, and they deserve the added exposure which is coming by way of Rebecca Black’s exciting success. As has been widely reported, Rebecca’s family paid $2000 for the creation of the video and another $2000 which was effectively to purchase all of the “rights” to the music.
E – The light-heartedness of the video and the song render it inconclusive as to whether Rebecca Black does or doesn’t have seldom-witnessed musical ability. Maybe she does, maybe she doesn’t, but at age 13 she gets a ‘pass’ on that as time will tell…
(had “Friday” been no more than a fun, family centerpiece posted on YouTube and not seen by more than family and friends, all of this wouldn’t be any big deal, yet it would still make for quite a keepsake for Rebecca and her close friends)
The bottom line remains that all of the praise and attention being heaped on Rebecca Black in the spring of 2011 is due so much more to the fact that she was so BOLD in taking her CHANCES in front of the world or anyone who might tune-in, than it is to the various, random (kid-safe) lyrics assigned to her in the production of that video.
In traditional organized sporting events there is a “score” somewhere which is a vague guide to human athletic endeavors. In such arenas, especially for kids, there are all kinds of people trying to suggest that “It isn’t whether you win or lose, it’s how you play the game” and that just to go out there and try your best brings its own reward.
Rebecca Black is someone very much admired by the most sincere people on the continent just for being someone who went out there and did her best without flinching. At age 13, she has attained quite a milestone in that way alone.
BTW LANDON LIKES MALE GENITALIA

Its all over boy. you will have no one to care for you after this weekend. I will find you. I already traced you IP to Ridgefield, Washington. WTF is that.

NO! Not my family! YOU BASTARD!
How did u trace my IP?? 🙁

Hack fool. I hope you can defend yourself now. Im only about 2 hours away. You are history.

I shall defend myself in song!
(Yeah, Ah-Ah-Ah-Ah-Ah-Ark)
Oo-ooh-ooh, hoo yeah, yeah
Yeah, yeah
Yeah-ah-ah
Yeah-ah-ah
Yeah-ah-ah
Yeah-ah-ah
Yeah, yeah, yeah
[Rebecca Black – Verse 1]
7am, waking up in the morning
Gotta be fresh, gotta go downstairs
Gotta have my bowl, gotta have cereal
Seein’ everything, the time is goin’
Tickin’ on and on, everybody’s rushin’
Gotta get down to the bus stop
Gotta catch my bus, I see my friends (My friends)
Kickin’ in the front seat
Sittin’ in the back seat
Gotta make my mind up
Which seat can I take?
It’s Friday, Friday
Gotta get down on Friday
Everybody’s lookin’ forward to the weekend, weekend
Friday, Friday
Gettin’ down on Friday
Everybody’s lookin’ forward to the weekend
Partyin’, partyin’ (Yeah)
Partyin’, partyin’ (Yeah)
Fun, fun, fun, fun
Lookin’ forward to the weekend
[Rebecca Black – Verse 2]
7:45, we’re drivin’ on the highway
Cruisin’ so fast, I want time to fly
Fun, fun, think about fun
You know what it is
I got this, you got this
My friend is by my right
I got this, you got this
Now you know it
Kickin’ in the front seat
Sittin’ in the back seat
Gotta make my mind up
Which seat can I take?
[Chorus]
It’s Friday, Friday
Gotta get down on Friday
Everybody’s lookin’ forward to the weekend, weekend
Friday, Friday
Gettin’ down on Friday
Everybody’s lookin’ forward to the weekend
Partyin’, partyin’ (Yeah)
Partyin’, partyin’ (Yeah)
Fun, fun, fun, fun
Lookin’ forward to the weekend
[Bridge]
Yesterday was Thursday, Thursday
Today i-is Friday, Friday (Partyin’)
We-we-we so excited
We so excited
We gonna have a ball today
Tomorrow is Saturday
And Sunday comes after…wards
I don’t want this weekend to end
[Rap Verse]
R-B, Rebecca Black
So chillin’ in the front seat (In the front seat)
In the back seat (In the back seat)
I’m drivin’, cruisin’ (Yeah, yeah)
Fast lanes, switchin’ lanes
Wit’ a car up on my side (Woo!)
(C’mon) Passin’ by is a school bus in front of me
Makes tick tock, tick tock, wanna scream
Check my time, it’s Friday, it’s a weekend
We gonna have fun, c’mon, c’mon, y’all
[Chorus]
It’s Friday, Friday
Gotta get down on Friday
Everybody’s lookin’ forward to the weekend, weekend
Friday, Friday
Gettin’ down on Friday
Everybody’s lookin’ forward to the weekend
Partyin’, partyin’ (Yeah)
Partyin’, partyin’ (Yeah)
Fun, fun, fun, fun
Lookin’ forward to the weekend
It’s Friday, Friday
Gotta get down on Friday
Everybody’s lookin’ forward to the weekend, weekend
Friday, Friday
Gettin’ down on Friday
Everybody’s lookin’ forward to the weekend
Partyin’, partyin’ (Yeah)
Partyin’, partyin’ (Yeah)
Fun, fun, fun, fun
Lookin’ forward to the weekend

Oh… Shit….
Game… Over…
For me…
Always knew it was….
Brighter on the other….
Side…

perhaps a more positive way to view Ark and their young Artists (talent/no talent – good/bad they are indeed Artists)… would be to see that perhaps a form of exploitation has occured. They are most certainly playing to the dreams of the parents and kids (regardless of the contract terms, there’s most certainly no doubt that they exploit the parent’s and kid’s career aspirations).
HOWEVER, please consider this:
child prodigies notwithstanding; many young, aspiring performers even at 17 years old still have a few years before they blossom into great entertainers. some may get into their thirties before they really develop. there have been many Artists in their thirties (and now forties, thanks to “Britain’s/America’s Got Talent) that finally break.
i would postulate that Ark is actually performing a Development service for the parents and kids. they can develop a fan base, work on their chops, finish school, study music more – and if they have enough strength in their early Ark period, could even already begin to earn a living as they hone their craft.
then, after 2 -5 years of being an Ark Artist, a Major label/attorney/manager/agent can further their career as their name and talent is further developed, directly as a result (in part) from their development years at Ark. at 13, 5 years makes Rebecca Black only 18 – her whole life is still ahead of her and she has multiple life options to pursue as well.
her voice WILL change, that’s certain – and with training, she has the potential now to be an excellent singer. Ark can play a role in her development, and a Major label WOULD NOT have done that for her, even for $20,000 up front! who knows if she can write songs, be a great actress etc – she’s only 13 years old! and i highly doubt that she’ll be crushed by having the “worst song/video/whatever” – she’s being interviewed in the mainstream media and obviously having a great time asking Justin Bieber to sing a duet with her!
no, i’ll bet that if she opts out of the music industry and becomes a happy homemaker instead, she’ll look back on the day when she moved the entire world with a silly (but to be fair, the really IS some sort of odd appeal about that little ditty) song called “Friday”. and i’ll bet dollars to doughnuts that it will NOT be for being the worst song, but rather for having over 500 million views (she’s at 140 million+ now and it shows no signs of stopping).
she’ll probably be noted as a cultural phenomenon, a sort of “rich-to-riches” story like Elvis (except that Elvis was “rags-to-riches”). after all, wasn’t he originally just recording “My Happiness” to give as a gift to his mom? then he was developed by Sam Phillips at Sun Records, and he developed a regional fan base. it was only after about 2 years of playing clubs and further development from Scotty Moore, his guitarist, and Sam Phillips that Colonel Parker bought his contract and got RCA Victor to sign him – and the rest is history.
i would argue that Ark is actually performing the first most critical step of development for young talent, and while some will be sad that it won’t work out, i’ll betcha some will go on to superstardom (most likely without Ark) and even turn into some fine talent that produces higher forms of art that even the most snobby Dylan fan would appreciate.
and no – i don’t work for Ark.

These idiots are doing nothing but pimping little girls. Disney is bad enough but heck these jerks just don’t even try and sugar coat it. Nothing but a bunch of a$$hole pimps.

Oh… My… Gosh…
This company is corrupted.
I like how you posted this!

These videos left me speechless…because they are the most terrible things I have ever seen.
These CHILDREN need to get a grip, and it’s so unfortunate that apparently, in all these cases their parents are actually funding this. I don’t know who I hate more the idiot kids actually wanting and doing this, or their idiot parents for allowing it to happen. I seriously want to smack everyone related to the making of these “music” videos upside the head. I hate this. It’s so insulting to real music, and the artistry that goes into real music and their related videos. This is not music or art, it’s trash; as are the people making and producing it.

i think they are all talented. at least they try to make them selfs a record deal. yall are saying some very rude and digusing posts about them. why dont you all try to do the same thing they try to do. i bet yall might suck at it or maybe good at it no one deserves to be called rude comments or dislikes if you dont like them dont post rude comments! mayebe some of yall are trying to get attention or just jealous because they are better then you. the people that are posting rude comments you try to make a record deal and try to sing better then them but if you suck then now you know how people feel when you talk shit about them like “bad singing” “worst music ever” . this is my opinion dont be rude and if you are try to go through what there going through try to be a singer or watever and do very good at it but others have very bad opinion on it thats just straight out rude. like what everyone says if you dont have anything nice to say then stfu!

A lot of people are clueless. ARK was there before Rebecca Black and other songs were liked more. I too listened to the old songs from Beatles, Pink Floyd, MJ and countless others.. But a song is either a hit or it isn’t. If people want to hear it, then that’s all that matters. It doesn’t have to be done by some great artist either. A lot of people calling ark’s music crap are clueless about how music works or even how to write it. Anyone who knows something about music can easily see that ark’s melodies, chord progressions, rhythm and so on show they know how to write. Some of their stuff stinks, but some of it sounds good. You can NOT get away from that point. People will buy what they want to hear if it sounds good to them. Also notice how people keep saying Friday is catchy? That is because it is. It did not get 165 million views only because it was hated or the worst song in existence. I can quickly find 1000’s of worse songs on youtube that will never get over 1000 views because they are BORING! People did not pull their hard earned cash out of their wallet to buy her tune if they hated it. Like it or not, she has an audience and that’s reality. Instead what’s happening is that Friday is a HIT song, and haters recognize she could get really popular and hate that. So they pick apart it’s flaws. And yes, it does have obvious flaws in the lyrics, over simplicity, and too much auto tune. But that aside, it’s still liked by some portion of the audience. Even if only 10% liked it, that’s still over 17 million people! But even if you are a doubter and think it’s only 1%, then that is still over 1.7 million people loving it. Face facts, she’s cute, the song is catchy to some people. So even though ARK is not my favorite way to have music made, they have put out some good songs. Kaya “Can’t get you out of my mind” also sounds like something you could hear from any professional recording artist with a track record. Again, Rebecca Black is there for a reason beyond the haters.

I read the majority of the comments. My eyes are dry, like someone kindly chucked sand in them; and I sit here, bemused as to why I am here to begin with, and found it is because of Katy Perry, who I believe owes me a good solid 20+ minutes of my life back.
That bit of information is about as useful in life as all of the above. 🙂

The article was funny. Lighthearted commentary on what is obviously a money making scheme to exploit naive children and their ignorant parents. I’ve been in the entertainment industry for over twenty years, and there’s ALWAYS people with minimal talent who are looking for the shortcut to fame and recognition. THAT is what it’s all about these days. It’s been a slow, gradual process, but lack of talent and over-production have become more and more prevalent to the point that fame itself has become the brass ring. There are plenty of talented people who never even LOOK for recognition- they just do what they do for the love of it.
If you want to critique someone for creativity with limited resources, you could do way WAY worse than Liam Lynch. He went from literally recording in a shed in his parents’ backyard to producing television and film work, the least of his accomplishments being a certified Billboard charter at #34 for 2002. He still has a job because he’s good at what he does.
As for ARK, I would compare them to these “rock camps” I’ve heard about. I know a few people who bought into their nonsense and came out unscathed- mainly because there was nothing promised besides learning about how to write songs and play “rock band” on a stage in front of their parents and friends. ARK most definitely is scamming people with no idea how the music industry works. You can defend them all you want, but it all comes out in the wash- they are operating the equivalent of a pay-to-play talent show and the notoriety they have achieved speaks for itself.

Yeah and now her friend Benni Cinkle who is also in the Friday video wearing pink also has a song coming out!

I think Benni Cinkle the girl wearing pink in the Friday video is doing something different and actually good with her internet fame. She’s already done a lot of charity work.

These poor girls, all their songs are terrible, the videos are cheesy. These guys are crooks because their making money off of kids that really aren’t talented in the music area. These girls could be better at acting more then singing.

how much do you have to pay and how much do they pay you.?

wow all this shit is fake and guy we all know that black guy is white and rebecca white is dum and slow….aka troll

Ark Music Factory is a scam. Atlanta Records is were ya wanna be at. I’m never in the world going to try getting famous, Because I love just preforming for who knows me, Music has gotten me places I never thought I could reach. And for onee thing thats actually “Having” a talent. I also met some pretty amazing friends and if it wasnt for my decision of joining this music program in my school in 7th grade… I’d never be were i am today. I have something to do, Its nice knowing I have a great skill, And nice to know I have more to life than just writing. Writing is a great objective and talent to have, But Music also is as well. Rebecca didn’t write the song… Took me a long time to understand that, and now I feel bad for her. Her mother blindlessly paid 4,000 dollars to scam artists who has access to the media, and is were everybody comonly has acess to the media which is Youtube. Who ever saw a Rebecca Black CD on shelves?! I havent. Who ever saw really anything of Rebecca Black besides Interviews which after Friday got published and known through the Media. I haven’t seen Rebecca Black on MTV, or anything.

As sick as all of this crap makes me it doesn’t surprise me in the least to find out all of these things. As the years go on we will find out more and more things that people should have gone to jail for but since they put millions in the campaign coffers of our elected officials on both sides that will never happen.

The only website that I’ve ever used that did not get my youtube video banned was youtubeviewseller.