Tay Zonday: Or, How to Maintain an Internet Following By Actually Trying

Written by RJ Williams

Question: What's rarer than an internet sensation?

Answer: Managing to eke a career out of it.

That is what Tay Zonday is attempting to do by keeping his unique brand of YouTube-friendly hits coming.

Not content to be merely a one-hit internet wonder, Tay (born Adam Nyerere Bahner) is parlaying his phenomenal viral success with "Chocolate Rain" into a legitimate business. Via his YouTube page, you can be directed to "TayVox," Tay's own vlog, also on YouTube, in addition to Tay's Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, and Ning pages. Oh, and did I mention the t-shirts?

The self-described "musical orphan" (meaning he identifies with no specific musicians or bands as influences) has released his latest single, "Musicolio," an apparent homage to a social-networking site of the same name exclusively for musical artists. It's his first upload since his Christmas covers of "You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch" and "Christmas Star" three months ago.

"Musicolo" already has over 140,000 hits, which is just a drop in the ocean compared to hit total upload views of over 84 million! Clearly, Tay has found a niche that the public responds to.

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