Alex Murdoch, Entertainment Reporter
27 Apr 06

	GOOGLE hit ... Brisbane's Ben Petro who has created his own popular lip-syncing website, Google Idol. Picture: Peter Wallis

HE'S a cult hero in Europe, has one of the Internet's fastest growing websites and is in talks with record label SonyBMG, but in his home town of Brisbane almost no one knows who he is.

Ben Petro, 27, is the creator of Google Idol, a website which harnesses the energy of lip-syncing wannabes around the world.

In its first week the site – which invites competitors to submit videos of themselves hamming it up to their favourite music – scored 93,000 hits. Now, almost two months later, that figure is closer to two million – with Google Idol now featuring pop, rock and kids' categories.

"We're currently calling for auditions for two new categories, Original and Gay," Petro said.

He said the original category was designed for those who wanted to lip sync to their own original pre-recorded music.

Petro said Google Idol also had just hosted a competition in which people from throughout the world were invited to create a music video for UK Indie band the Motorettes.

He said the band now planned to splice the four finalists' contributions together to create their latest music video, which would be played on MTV in the UK and Europe. Petro said SonyBMG had liked the idea so much they were now considering doing something similar with rocker Pink.

He said the idea also had caught the attention of Germany's Spiegel Magazine – the equivalent of Woman's Day – which ran an article on the site.

"I'm now getting all these emails from Germany and I can't understand a word of them," he said.

Petro said the Netherlands also had taken Google Idol to heart after two Dutch girls made the first-ever lip syncing finals in the audience-voted competition.

Source: The Courier Mail