Video - Meet Austin Mahone – Social Media Genius or the Next Justin Bieber?

Have you ever heard of Austin Mahone?

I bet your kids have. And they either love him or hate him – but they have heard of him.

So, who is Austin Mahone? What’s his bio?

Mahone lives in San Antonia Texas and is a 15-year-old singer and musician known for looking like Justin Bieber and recording cover songs on YouTube.

So what? There are lots of kids uploading videos and singing covers these days right?

But Mahone and his fans are different.

His fans are known as Mahomies - and he has his own Blog, Facebook, YouTube, Dailybooth, Tumblr, Twitter, SoundCloud, Formspring, and Myspace accounts.

He records popular cover songs and posts them to YouTube and interacts with his fans on a daily basis and claims that Justin Bieber is his favorite artist.



And oh yea, Mahone LOOKS like Justin Bieber and his fans love him.

The thing that fascinates us about this young man is his savvy for working the social media to create a name for himself while building his own fan base from the ground up without a record label or marketing rep.

He has learned to do what many adults and big companies have failed to do – create a successful brand.

In addition to uploading covers he has hundreds of thousands of Facebook fans, dedicated fan sites, over 13 million YouTube views, and sells t-shirts, posters, wristbands, Stickers, and Necklaces.

Heck, he's even been know to run around shirtless just to tease his female fans.

This is the kind of interaction that defines social media.

His fans love him but he admits that he also has haters saying,

“Haterz don’t matter to me because they are just jealous and the hateful words that they say are garbage. That’s why I don't listen to hate. I am curious of what haterz have to say sometimes just because I'm a curious person. But their opinions of me don't matter to me, because I’m not trying to please them.

What is important are my fans. I love them so much and everything they do for me. Haterz can't hurt you unless you let them. And I just have one last thing to say.... Haterz gonna hate Mahomies gonna love.”

Austin’s success is a prime example of how social media can springboard you into fame, build a fan base, and possibly launch a music career if you’re good enough.

So how powerful can a homegrown fan base be to a young artist like Mahone?



One day last week his fans decided he should appear on the “Ellen Show” with Ellen DeGeneres, and in one magnificent push of social media network power trended the phrase “#MahoneOnEllen” on twitter for the day as a worldwide trending topic.

His fans also bombarded DeGeneres’s Twitter and Facebook account and called her studio’s switchboard requesting she book Austin as a guest.

Why is this significant?

Because it was Ellen DeGeneres and her “eleveneleven” record label that discovered 14-year-old Greyson Chance.

And with less effort than Austin, Greyson has been propelled into a celebrity status with his first album “Hold on ‘til the Night” due to release next week.

Related: Greyson Chance gives video tour of his home town - Video

That kind of power by your own fans is exactly what made Justin Bieber what he is today.

One thing that helps make Mahone a fan favorite is he covers songs that are popular in today’s young music culture ranging from Cody Simpson, Justin Bieber, Bruno Mars, Ne-yo, Usher, Adele, Chris Brown, and Edwin McCain.



So take note big record labels.

The youth of today have developed the social media skills to find, fall in love, promote, and make famous the musical artists THEY want to see and listen to - not who YOU want them to listen to.

Not that there’s not any place for “big music”, but things are changing these days and kids have grown frustrated with the “business as usual” mentality shown by the music industry.

They say that “necessity is the mother of invention”, and our kids are inventing a new way to communicate and enjoy their favorite artists and musicians.

We hope some of the adults out there are listening because these kids can teach us a thing or two about what makes them tick – and they are showing us what it is they want to listen to and who they want to fall in love with as a fan.

After all, if Justin Bieber's pet cat "Spaz" can get his own @Justins_Cat twitter account - than anything is possible!

Related: Justin Bieber's pet cat Spaz joins Twitter

Time will tell if a shirtless Austin Mahone will become the next big teen idol or music sensation…

But shouldn’t we be listening to what they are trying to tell us?

Follow @InfoStar on Twitter - We follow back!

Video - Justin Bieber Goes “Coning” – Almost Drives His Car into a Wall

What do you do when your worth $100 million dollars and bored?

You go coning!

While taking a break from working on his new album “Believe”, teen pop sensation Justin Bieber almost drove his car into a wall while coning at a local restaurant.

He also bought a Frosty from Burger King and tried to return it to a Wendy’s but was shut down by an astute manager.

And he filmed it all on his flip-cam.

Watch Justin Bieber Coning Video


As we told you last week, it seems that “Owling” is the new “Planking” but it looks like “Coning” may be taking the lead as the new social phenomenon.

The concept is simple.

Buy an ice cream cone at a drive-thru and when you grab it - you grab it upside down with the ice cream in the palm of your hand.

Related: Owling is the new Planking - Photos

But I guess when you work as hard as Bieber has the last three years you are entitled to a little time off and harmless fun.

For his part, Justin has been in the studio working on his new album “Believe” – and the buzz is starting to grow.

Related: Justin Bieber talks new album "Believe" – Video

With a list of top song writers and A-list producers working with him everyone is excited to hear what he is laying down.

Most suspect this new album will be a radical departure from his bubble gum “Baby” days and usher in the new “Justin Timberlake” era of his career.

And keeping in line with his maturing image, Bieber and his dad just released photos of their adventure to the tattoo parlor where they both got inked with matching tats of the Hebrew word for Jesus down their left side.

Related: Justin and Jeremy Bieber get matching Jesus tattoos – Photos

Like father like son.

Ah, they grow up fast these days don’t they?

And while Justin is enjoying some time off, his girlfriend Selena Gomez is back on the road with her band touring and just celebrated her 19th birthday.

As a birthday present, Bieber surprised Gomez on stage during her show to belt out “Cry me a river” as his gift to her.

Follow @InfoStar on Twitter – Coning, Owling, and Planking allowed

Lady Gaga to Release Book of 350 Photos This Fall

Remember in the 1980’s when Madonna released her controversial book of scandalous photos?

The press condemned the move as a blatant attempt to use sex to sell a book of photos, and book stores around the country covered it with black plastic that only increased the desire to see what was on the inside.

Classic Madonna marketing.

Now, true to form, Madonna Lady Gaga is following in her footsteps, which seems to be her mode of operation these days.

Related: Lady Gaga accused of ripping off Madonna – Video

Lady Gaga is partnering with famous fashion photographer Terry Richardson to release a book of photos said to contain almost 350 pictures of Queen Gaga herself – in both color and black and white.

“Terry followed her around for almost a year during her Monster Ball tour and the subsequent recording of her ‘Born This Way’ album. He has collected the best of the best photos and they will be displayed throughout the book with comments from Gaga herself.”

The singer also wrote an extended forward to introduce her little monsters to her book smarts and meat dresses.

If this sounds familiar it is – Madonna already did it.

We can only imagine what kind of photos to expect as Ms. Queen Lady has quite an extensive collection of fashion accessories – think meat dress and plastic eggs.

But we do know that Lady Gaga actually has a softer side to her bizarre public persona that she rarely displays.

In fact, last week as a guest judge on “So You Think You Can Dance” she broke down in tears while on camera.

Related: Lady Gaga Cries on So You Think You Can Dance – Video

Releasing a book only seems fitting for the Platinum recording artist and concert touring Queen.

She is the Queen Bee of social media having amassed over 12 million Twitter followers – behind only teen pop sensation Justin Bieber.

And if these Lady Gaga fan tattoos inked by her devoted fans are any indication, then she has definitely penetrated the world’s popular music culture.

She also knows how to push the edge with controversy.

Earlier this month she performed in a wheelchair and mermaid outfit pulled directly from Bette Midler’s bag of tricks from decades ago indicating she may be running out of Madonna tactics to steal.

Time will tell…

Follow @InfoStar on Twitter – mermaids and eggs allowed