Tay Zonday

Fact: Tay likes to do original music.

Fact: Tay is very serious about not infringing on copyrights.

Fact: Tay can do most anything. So do not try to typecast him. Go Tay!

Fact: Tay is part of the new revolution of talent rising from the internet.

 

Interviews:

http://www.hhnlive.com/features/more/322

http://www.thedeets.com/2007/12/19/tay-zonday-on-current-tv/

http://daily.mahalo.com/2008/01/03/md030-tay-zonday-interview/

 

Appearances:

2007

Numerous televison appearances.

Played clubs in Minnesota.

Demonstrated video editing at a CES convention in Las Vegas.

Played the Europa in NY.

Performed in a Firefox video

“Cherry Chocolate Rain” commercial

Last Laugh 07 for Comedy Central

In 2008

Maury Povich Show

Lily Allen Show in London, England

Appearance for web-streamed weddings from the Hard Rock Hotel in Las Vegas

 

 

Awards:

Awarded a YouTube Award for “Chocolate Rain”

Awarded a Webby Award for “Chocolate Rain” 

 

 Tay Zonday was a true enigma. In interviews you find that he preferred to use

www.creativecommons.org for his song rights, gave away his music for FREE, apparently naturally talented, was exposed to only classical music, and is a home-grown keyboardist/songwriter/vocalist. While not having radio and MTV exposure early on, Tay discovered Napster as a teen, and got to choose his music. This seems to have helped develop his ability to create originally and not be influenced by other music styles.

The “Cherry Chocolate Rain” video rained vitriol. I kept reading comments like sell-out, talentless, weird. Now this was interesting. Apparently some in the online community aren’t about, friendship, fans, and musical collaboration. Some seem to be extremely jealous when someone in the “community” does well.Question? How could Tay be a “sellout” if he wasn’t considered a real artist by some anyway? He was unsigned and never expressed a disdain for money. The whole “starving artist” thing went out ages ago. Talentless- Ha. He sings, writes, plays keyboard, does his own audio and video, maintains his various web sites, and built his own little studio. Who knows, it may even be in the Smithsonian one day. Weird - Well, for some, they can’t seem to be able to listen to his music unless they can typecast him. So he looks younger than he is. Tay is not your average interview subject either. He seems to be sharp and focused. Some of his songs have layers to them, others are just fun. He seems to aptly move through the worlds of academia, music, social commentary, online lingo and still have fun. This can be seen in “The Can’t Dance” and “Too Big for You” videos. You can also see glimpses of a 20 something guy having a great time in his vlog on his You Tube visit. His poise at public speaking shows experience gained from his other life in academia.