Quan Nguyen

Alfred Matthew Yankovic, as known as Weird Al, is an American

singer, songwriter, music video director, and parodist. Weird Al is well
known for his parody songs. He is on track to have his first No.1 album
on Billboard. His successful career is a result of changes he has made
since his first parody song debut. There are three major decisions he
has made: using MTV as a publicity and distribution channel from 1983
to the begin 2000s, switching to the YouTube platform, and producing
songs based on his own lyrics.
First of all, Yankovic, a.k.a Weird Al, decided to use MTV as a
distribution channel for his very first albums. After the MTV had
broadcasted some first music videos on its TV program in August 1981,
music video became the new trend in musical industry. Weird Al
realized the opportunity to attract audiences attention by making
shot-by-shot music videos and had them broadcasted on the MTV. At
that time, the teenager, who was Weird Als target audience, perceived
the MTV as a religious. It made the MTV became the first and most
effective choice for Weird Al to distribute his songs. With the method of
making parody music videos that play off the audiences obsessive
familiarity of the famous songs and distributed them on the MTV
channel, Weird Al quickly attracted audiences attention. For example,
a shot-for-shot parody of Jackson's "Beat It" music video, which was

distributed on still-young MTV, peaked at number 12 on the Billboard

Hot 100 on April 14, 1984.
In the 2000s, Yankovic decided to use the internet-based video
sharing website YouTube. His decision based on the fact that the
people were not interesting in watching music video on TV anymore.
This trend led to the decreasing in number of audience; it made the
MTV no longer the best distribution channel. YouTube has millions of
users and tremendous number of view. Furthermore, the change in
information technology gives people an opportunity to access YouTube
quickly and easily. These factors made YouTube became the new and
effective medium for Weird Al introducing his songs. To embrace the
new platform, he released the twelfth studio album Straight Outta
Lynwood in 2006. He made a video for every parody song in the
album and shared these videos on YouTube. As a result, Weird Al
distributed his albums faster and easier to a larger number of
audiences.
To achieve higher success, Weird Al has made a big change since
he started his career. He decided to write songs based on his own
lyrics. Weird Al expects his songs have stronger impact and receive
more audiences attention. By using his own lyrics, Weird Al has wider
variety of topic to write songs about. His songs are no longer identical
to the original songs. For example, the song White and Nerdy has
nothing in similar to the original song Ridin. He realized that people

played the original songs many times on YouTube therefore the

differences in lyrics and the sense of humor contained in those songs
will be very attractive to audience.
In conclusion, the Weird Als successful career is the result of his
vision that supports his decision making process. His three major
decisions are utilize the MTV as a distribution channel in the late
1980s, switch to YouTube in beginning of 2000s, and write songs on his
own lyrics. Those three decisions are the important factors led to his
success. They set the foundation for his first No.1 albums and future
achievements.