Finding fame on the internet

A new website created by Penn undergraduates is hoping to find the next Justin Bieber.

Aspiring models, musicians and photographers have a new platform to market their talents thanks to Famocracy, a website recently launched by Wharton and College sophomore Edward Lando and Wharton and Engineering senior Guillaume Hajek.

Famocracy is a “talent incubator,” Lando explained. He equated it to an online version of “American Idol” or “America’s got Talent.” “It’s an online talent show where people post videos, audio files and images into a specific category, and then that media is voted on by other users on the site.”

There are five categories on the site — music, modeling, photos, design and videos. Talented individuals in any one of those categories can create a profile and upload their photos, videos or audio files. Users then vote people up or down depending on how good they think they are at their talent.

“We want to keep the best of each medium on the top of the pyramid and the worst on the bottom,” Hajek said.

However, the site isn’t just for showing off. It also targets talent agencies and scouts who can use it to contact people they are interested in hiring. “We’re in no way a competition for talent agencies or modeling agencies — we’re a facilitator for them,” Lando said. Hajek and Lando also offer an analysis of rankings for interested recruiters. “So maybe [the person ranked] ‘21’ would match the requirements of a certain agency, even though they’re not at the top of the rankings,” Lando said.

Although a test version of the site was up and running during the summer, the official version of Famocracy was not launched until the beginning of September. There are already 2,200 users­­ signed up — including Penn students like Wharton junior and rapper Ross Rubinchuk, or the “Rossman,” who created a profile to promote his rap music and new mixtape, ‘Champagne Dreams on a Beer Budget.’

“It’s bringing me more fans. The points system is great, puts everyone on the same scale and makes it an exciting competition to see who can get on the front page” Rubinchuk wrote in an email. “I’m on the front page currently!”

Hajek explained that a positive feature of the site is that it offers a “risk-free and fear-free” way for people to market their talents. “We see a lot of people who have talents outside of the classroom, and they often sacrifice or forget about these talents to focus on their professional interest,” Lando said. “People could be really good photographers, actors or musicians but they don’t give it a shot because it’s really risky.”

Wharton sophomore Jake Lasker, an aspiring film director, has also been using Famocracy to promote his work. “I’m in Wharton but my real goal is to be a film director, writer or producer,” Lasker wrote in an email. “Famocracy provides me a great opportunity to show the work I do in my free time away from school.”

Famocracy also hosts various competitions, such as a recent modeling contest in which the winner received a photo shoot, audition and networking opportunity with a modeling agency in New York. “We had a big battle the last two to four days before the competition ended, because both girls really wanted the prize,” Hajek said.

Another aspect of Famocracy is its blog, which features different users and promotes the contests. “It gives us, the founders, a little bit of decision-making in terms of who we recommend,” Lando said. “The rest of the site is democratic, but the blog is who we like.”

“I think people are excited about the idea — it’s fun, it’s entertainment, it’s ideological,” he added. “We’re pushing people to do what they love and it’s pragmatic at the same time.”

Please note All comments are eligible for publication in The Daily Pennsylvanian.