Karmin: A Couple of YouTube’s Original Cover Artists

Amy Hiedemann and Nick Noonan met while studying at Boston’s Berklee Collegee of Music (the Alma mater of members of such bands like the the Dixie Chicks, Dream Theater, and Aerosmith). The now engaged couple (sorry single boys and girls!) of six years this September first collaborated on school projects in Back Bay in 2008. Stints with other bands didn’t work out after graduation, so the duo decided to try their luck as as a pair.

Karmin (a neologism created by Nick and Amy that means “song,’ with altered spelling to hint ‘karma’”) is the couple’s band’s name, under the banner of which they uploaded their first video to YouTube in August of 2010

. What started off as reengineered renditions of pop songs sung over a six-string and a wooden box, taped live in recording sessions with budget music video interstitials are now reengineered renditions of pop songs shot beautifully from a single camera angle capturing the whole of Amy and Nick’s insane musical abilities.

In nine months, Karmin has racked up 225,000+ YouTube subscribers, putting them in 75th place on the Most Subscribed All Time list for Musicians. Their talent and quick rise to online notoriety (their recent cover of Look at Me Now has been watched over 11 million times) attracted the likes of Ellen, Best Buy, and this guy.

I caught up with Karmin while Nick and Amy were in NYC to play a gig at Best Buy’s Union Square store and meet with a number of labels to decide where they’re going to take their talents. We talked about the band’s beginnings, inspirations, haterz, and what’s in the pipeline.