BLOG JUMP

As much as I hate even mentioning this dood, celebrity blogger Perez Hilton is doin his thing. In an article published yesterday by the New York Times, Perez Hilton, aka Mario Lavandeira, is in negotiations with Warner Brothers that would give him his own imprint at the label, and an A&R position with $100k yearly advance.

Although his celebrity gossip has attracted over 2.8 million visitors a month, it was his reviews of rather obscure music talent and the direct correlation it has had with itunes sales and web traffic to band's sites that brokered this deal.

Setting aside my disdain for celebrity gossip, it reveals the widening power and influence that a single person is able to command through digital and online media. This cornball was scribbling jizz on Kate Moss pictures, and now he's repping his own Warner-backed imprint. Not too shabby, eh? Big corporate money is starting to give tangible influence and power to bloggers and other non-traditional culture makers and mavens. If you can't feel the slow, but inevitable flow of power into the hands of our generation, then it's because you are living in the moment. Believe me, we will continue to see more and more deals being brokered like this, this is only the beginning.