Jordan Maron

Jordan Maron
Personal information
Born	(1992-02-10) February 10, 1992 Los Angeles, California[1]
Nationality	American
Residence	Los Angeles, California
Occupation	YouTuber Video game developer Music producer
Website	jordanmaron.com
YouTube information
Pseudonym	CaptainSparklez
Channel	CaptainSparklez
Years active	2010–present
Genre	Let's Play Comedy Vlog
Subscribers	10+ million (CaptainSparklez) 372,000+ (CaptainSparklez 2) 148,000+ (Maron Music) 123,000+ (Jordan Maron) 35,000+ (ProsDONTtalkSHIT)
Total views	2.9+ billion (CaptainSparklez) 26+ million (CaptainSparklez 2) 7+ million (Maron Music) 2+ million (ProsDONTtalkSHIT) 1+ million (Jordan Maron)
Network	Polaris (Maker Studios)
Associated acts	PewDiePie, VanossGaming, Markiplier, FBE, Jacksepticeye, DanTDM, TheSyndicateProject, Gavin Free, Joseph Garrett, Rosanna Pansino, The Game Theorists, RocketJump, Yogscast, Smosh Games, SeaNanners, iJustine, TheOdd1sOut, Nadeshot, Steven Suptic, Tay Zonday, Modestep
Play buttons 100,000 subscribers 2011 1,000,000 subscribers 2012 10,000,000 subscribers 2017
Subscriber and view counts updated as of July 29, 2017.

Jordan Maron (born February 10, 1992), better known by his online pseudonym CaptainSparklez, is an American YouTube personality whose channel primarily consists of videos of Minecraft let's plays, animations and mod/command block reviews, and gameplay of other video games, most prominently Trials. With over 10 million subscribers, his main channel is currently the 91st most subscribed channel on YouTube,^[2] not counting auto-generated channels.

In May 2015, Maron started a second channel called "CaptainSparklez 2" where he primarily uploaded videos of his Twitch live streams. In March 2016, he started a music channel called "Maron Music" where he uploads his own music and showcases music of other artists. In February 2017, he started a vlog channel called "Jordan Maron".

Early life

Maron was born in Los Angeles, California, United States. When he was 4 years old, he and his mother moved to Santa Barbara. He attended Santa Barbara High School beginning in 9th grade. Maron then went to the University of California, Santa Barbara as a chemical engineering major. He decided to switch his major to computer science midway through his freshman year based on his interest in video games. After the first quarter of his sophomore year, he decided to drop out. In December 2011, he finally made YouTube his full-time job.^[1]

Career

Maron began producing videos on YouTube in February 2010 on a channel called ProsDONTtalkSHIT, focusing primarily on the game Call of Duty.^[3] In July 2010, he stopped uploading to the channel, and created a new channel named CaptainSparklez, where he ended up transitioning content revolving around the popular game Minecraft. He was featured in the 2016 Forbes 30 Under 30 list.^[4] He started a channel called Maron Music in March 2016 where he releases electronic music to promote music producers, as well as his own tracks.^[5]

In June 2016, he made an appearance in the sixth episode of Minecraft: Story Mode.^[6][7]

XREAL

Maron started a mobile gaming company called XREAL with Howard Marks, cofounder and former CEO of Activision and cofounder of Acclaim Games and StartEngine. XREAL released their game Fortress Fury in May 2015, which received over 1.5 million downloads within its first month of launch.^[8] Fortress Fury was originally titled Fortress Fallout, however, Bethesda Softworks' —known for the Fallout series— parent company ZeniMax Media sent a cease-and-desist letter that requested that XREAL "immediately expressly abandon the application for Fortress Fallout and cease any and all current or proposed use of any mark incorporating the term Fallout."^[9][10] The main reason Bethesda took legal action was that they did not want any competition in the mobile game market for their game Fallout Shelter, which had been in development. Maron and the XREAL's legal team were not informed of this,^[11] because Bethesda had been keeping Shelter under very close secrecy at the time and did not reveal its existence until its release on June 14, 2015.

Discography

Minecraft music videos

Maron is best known for his many Minecraft-themed music videos. He began with parodies to popular songs in pop culture, but has more recently produced original music videos as well.^[12][13]

"TNT"

On February 26, 2011, he released his first Minecraft music video, "TNT", originally a parody of Taio Cruz's "Dynamite". However, in late 2015, the video, after being privated, has been replaced with new and original music.^[14] The video currently is the fourth-most-viewed video on Maron's channel and has over 97 million views.

"Revenge"

On August 19, 2011, he released his second Minecraft music video titled "Revenge", that was originally a Minecraft parody of Usher's "DJ Got Us Falling In Love Again". However, in late 2015, the video, after being privated, has been replaced with new and original music.^[14] The video, with replaced audio, has kept its original view count and currently is the most viewed video on Maron's channel at over 168 million views.

"Minecraft Style"

Maron created a parody video called "Minecraft Style", based on "Gangnam Style" by South Korean entertainer PSY, that used animated Minecraft models.^[15] He published it on YouTube under the username CaptainSparklez. According to MSN, within a few days, it had been viewed more than a million times.^[16] The video was referenced in technology and gaming articles published by NBC,^[17] The Daily Telegraph,^[18] Mashable^[19] and the Huffington Post.^[15] By December 2012, his video, Minecraft Style, had amassed more than 37 million views.^[20] The video currently has over 16 million views.^[21]

"Fallen Kingdom" tetralogy

Maron is also known for his "Fallen Kingdom" series of four Minecraft music videos. The first installment of the series, "Fallen Kingdom", was released on April 1, 2012.^[22] The video's music is a parody of the Coldplay song "Viva la Vida," with lyrics changed to fit elements of Minecraft as well as to tie into the narrative of the video, which shows a king wandering through a ruined town he once ruled interspersed with flashbacks revealing what happened to the town. The video currently is the third-most-viewed video on Maron's channel, with over 108 million views. The song in the video was performed by singer TryHardNinja, whose YouTube channel has over 1 million subscribers.^[23]

The second video in the series, "Take Back The Night", was released on August 31, 2013.^[24] The video, at over 115 million views, is the second-most-viewed video on Maron's channel, after "Revenge." The video contains the titular track, an original song by TryHardNinja, and tells the story of what happened to the son of the king from "Fallen Kingdom."

The third video in the series, "Find The Pieces", was released on April 25, 2015.^[25] The video currently has over 28 million views and is the fifth-most-viewed video on Maron's channel. The video contains another original song by TryHardNinja, called "Pieces", and is a continuation of the story of the king's son, who is reunited with his father at the music video's end.

The fourth and final video in the series, "Dragonhearted," was released on November 19, 2016.^[26] The video currently has over 13 million views. The video contains yet another original TryHardNinja song, for which the video is named, and brings the tale of the king and his son to completion.

Music released as Jordan Maron

Singles

Remixes

Maron Music

Featured tracks

Exclusive Maron Music premieres

Awards

• YouTube Golden Play Button^[36]
• Nominated in Shorty Awards^[37]

References

External links

• JordanMaron.com, his official website
• CaptainSparklez, his main channel
• Jordan Maron, his vlog channel
• CaptainSparklez 2, his channel for archiving streams
• Fortress Fury's official channel
• Maron Music, his music channel
• Maron's SoundCloud