by Marianne Meyer
When politicians appear on “The Colbert Report,” Stephen Colbert claims that they do better in polls thanks to his “Colbert Bump.” In the music world, the equivalent would be the “Bieber Bounce,” as all things connected to the teen idol bring in thousands of new listeners/viewers.
Take, for example, Los Angeles-based singer-songwriter Ernie Halter, an independent artist who has a solid touring base but could hardly be considered a household name. After Bieber covered Halter’s song “Come Home To Me” (co-written with Lisa Goe) at a concert in Hong Kong last week (you can hear it here), and tweeted about Halter and the song, the L.A. songwriter saw his Twitter account grow by 30 thousand followers in one hour’s time.
As a thank you, Halter posted his own gentle acoustic cover of a Bieber song, “Baby” (watch it here) and, in just a few days, the clip got over 40 thousand views. And then things really got busy on May 19, when Bieber, accompanied by girlfriend Selena Gomez, flew 11 hours to surprise Halter at his show at La Cave in Costa Mesa, CA. Not only that, Bieber joined Halter on stage to perform “Come Home To Me” (here's the duet). The track appears on Halter’s most recent album, “Franklin & Vermont,” released last summer on Rock Ridge Music and available for download on iTunes.
Bieber expressed his appreciation after the show, tweeting: “@erniehalter thanks for the night. Glad we could surprise u. U r the real deal. Congrats to u and the wife” (the couple are expecting twins). Halter tweeted back a series: "@justinbieber great meeting u & @selenagomez tonight. Def a night to remember. Thank you for the encouragement & for singing with me. Now get some rest. I still can't believe you flew 11 hrs and drove an hour to surprise me. Wow. So honored.”
In a press release, Halter stated, “I can’t imagine a bigger opportunity for people to hear my music. I can't think of any musician who has more reach and more influence. He basically ‘Oprah-ed’ me. I couldn’t believe how genuine, humble and encouraging he is for such a young age – Justin has a great head on his shoulders. I was a fan before this, and I truly believe he’s the future of pop music and he will be for as long as he keeps doing what he’s doing.”
A master of social media and Internet exposure, Halter launched a series of original interpretations of established songs on YouTube several years ago and has more than 450,000 followers on Twitter. He was one of the first artists to use MySpace early on, where he incorporated such features on his page as a live “tour van cam” and nightly webcasts of his concerts across the United States. Halter also broadcast his recording sessions for his album, “Starting Over” in real time online.
With all the new Beliebers on his side, Halter’s online presence is no doubt going to grow. All hail the Bieber Bounce.
www.facebook.com/erniehaltermusic
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Beliebers, are you now a fan of Ernie Halter's? Tell us about it in the comments section, below.
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