WHO: Bry
WHAT: Irish YouTuber turned musician
WHY: 500,000 subscribers can't be wrong, can they?
HOW: Bry, or BriBry Really O'Reilly, to use his legal name, or Brian O'Reilly to use his old name, is one half of vlogging married couple Bry and Candice. Like many of their peers, they've earned themselves a large following on YouTube for sitting around chatting, which is either unfathomable or perfectly reasonable depending on your age.
Seizing the opportunity, budding musician Bry has his own channel where he used to upload covers of popular songs, but now uses as a platform for his very own music career.
It's a peculiarly 21st-century way of doing things, but isn't really that different to X Factor or even talent show Opportunity Knocks; he's merely using a popular platform to launch a career.
His story goes that Snow Patrol's drummer Jonny Quinn heard about Bry's YouTube channel, checked out the songs and decided to sign him to Polar Patrol, the publishing company he founded with Snow Patrol bandmates Gary Lightbody and Nathan Connolly. From there, things went from strength to strength, and we arrive at the point Bry prepares his debut album, which will be released later this year.
It will feature Don't Go Alone, his current single, which sounds made for the radio, not a million miles from Two Door Cinema Club, with shades of fellow Dub Damien Dempsey.
His existing following means he stands a good chance of crossing over to even more mainstream success.
WHERE: YouTube of course! Visit www.youtube.com/user/BriBryontour for his music, there are plenty of videos there, from the covers to informal chats to new singles. He's also on Twitter at www.twitter.com/bryontour and Facebook, www.facebook.com/bryontour and you can buy his music from iTunes. He's also on tour around Britain and Ireland this month.
:: Bry plays the Oh Yeah Music Centre in Belfast on April 22 (Tickets £14.50, over-14s show, ticketmaster.ie).
