American Idol open auditions in 19 cities kick off on August 17 in Orlando, Florida. But hopefuls can try out now online at this link. The show is also using social media to audition people.
Last week, social media personality Matt Slays announced that he will be hosting LIVE STREAMING auditions beginning TONIGHT August 2 at 4 pm PT on the social media app Musical.ly, which can be downloaded to most smartphones.
The clip begin with Matt driving to American Idol producers, Fremantle’s office for his first day of work. Once there, he gets a tour of the place. An entire room is devoted to merchandise for various Fremantle properties, including American Idol. (Do you remember Edy’s Slow Churned American Idol branded ice cream? I DO I DO!) Warning: He goes off onto a million different tangents, including a bit with some rappers? It’s totally a non-sequitur. And there’s a blond chick, who I assume is his girlfriend? Wife? Best pal? Whatever? I’m lost.
(PS. Oh, According to his YouTube page, she’s his wife, and fellow media personality, Rebecca Zamolo. Matt was on Making the Band and later joined a boy band called Townsend and opened for Jessica Simpson, Dream Street & Aaron Carter on a middle school tour.)
Anyway, the video is an interesting illustration of how ABC is trying to utilize social media in order to reach out to the younguns. Check it out here.
ETA: I peaked into the live stream for a minute, and hoo boy. That was a hot mess. Technical difficulties galore. Auditioners were supposed to appear in the left hand corner in a little window. But at best, the auditioner appeared with no sound or at worst as a black box in the corner.
They gave up and signed off. Apparently they’ll be running live stream auditions once a week. So better luck next time, I guess.
ETA 2: The technical issues were worked out and the live stream was restarted. The stream went past it’s 60 minute time to get in a few more singers. Still a hot mess, though. There weren’t any singers that would get past the cattle call. But the stream is a good way to publicize the open calls and get young fans excited about the reboot.
