One Year Since New York: 50 Million Views Later - 518 radio stations in 99 countries - Rolling Stone, Forbes, National Television, Times Square and 600,000 stores
How Zanna Records, an independent Label operating from an off grid Arizona Ranch in the desert took Luca & Claudette from barely 107,000 views to 518 radio stations in 99 countries, 50 million YouTube views, Rolling Stone, Forbes, national television, Times Square and 600,000 stores — with no Major label, no investors and no one opening doors.
SEDONA, ARIZONA — September 25, 2026 — One year ago today, Gianluca Zanna and Claudette Lyons were two independent artists with a home studio, a catalog of songs and a YouTube channel that drew 107,000 views that month. Then an email arrived: they had been named finalists in America’s Next Top Hitmaker and were invited to New York City for a photo shoot with Rolling Stone Magazine.
They flew from the Arizona desert to Manhattan, stood in front of the Rolling Stone backdrop, and in the same room met three-time Grammy-nominated keyboardist Joseph Wooten of the Steve Miller Band — a meeting that would become a record nine months later.
What followed was the busiest year of their lives. Radio stations on six continents.
Magazine features in the United States, the United Kingdom and Italy. Television in New York, San Diego, Palm Springs and Las Vegas. A billboard in Times Square. Songs playing in stores, hotels, gyms and cinemas around the world. All of it done by two people, from an off-grid ranch, with no major-label backing and no outside money. This is the full account of that year.
THE MONTH EVERYTHING CHANGED
The finalist announcement — America’s Next Top Hitmaker
The numbers tell the story before anyone does. Independent vidIQ analytics show the Gianluca Zanna Music YouTube channel going from 107,000 views in September 2025 to 4.56 million views in October 2025 — a 42-fold jump in thirty days. The channel has not dropped below three million views a month since, peaking at 5.14 million in May 2026 and hitting a vidIQ-certified 5.18 million in the period ending August 2, 2026.
October 2025 brought more than views. On October 31, “You Are My Destiny (Future Remix)” was placed on the Top Hits U.S.A. radio compilation T1865 — the broadcast service RPM (Radio Programming and Management) has sent to radio programmers since 1970 — sequenced on the Hot/AC–Top 40 disc alongside Taylor Swift, Khalid, Tate McRae and Little Simz.
ONE YEAR BY THE NUMBERS
518 radio stations in 99 countries and territories across six inhabited continents — independently verified through WARM and Songstats
#1 on the North American College & Community Radio Chart with “You Are My Destiny”
#3 on Amazon’s Dance & Electronic Best Sellers chart with “You Are My Destiny (Druumix Remix Future)” — between *NSYNC at #2 and Pitbull at #4
Billboard Spotify playlist placement
50 million+ lifetime YouTube views and 100,000+ subscribers on the Gianluca Zanna Music channel, plus an average monthly audience of 1.87 million on YouTube Music
20 million+ TikTok views for “Wake Up America,” driven by more than 100,000 creator videos — and the song was licensed to public radio’s This American Life
16 official music videos, with “You Are My Destiny (Future Remix)” leading at 5.2 million views
600,000+ commercial locations playing the catalog through B2B partners Mood Media, M-Cube and Trend Music
132 sync-library catalog placements across 54 tracks
200+ original compositions across EDM, rock, pop and classical — all master-owned by the label
RADIO: 518 STATIONS FROM AN OFF-GRID RANCH
No radio promotion firm on retainer. Station by station, email by email, the Zanna Records catalog has reached 518 radio stations in 99 countries and territories. The top markets are the United States, Italy and Brazil, with rotation across Europe, the Americas, Africa, Asia and Oceania.
The largest single-station audience to date is NDR 1 Niedersachsen in Hannover, Germany, at roughly 6.9 million listeners.
Italy’s national network Radio 105 played “You Are My Destiny” on January 6, 2026, to an audience of about 4.4 million.
The UK came on board with 18 stations — none of them pitched.
Brazil added more than 20 FM stations. And in July 2026, Ireland’s national Irish-language broadcaster, RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta, put the music into repeat rotation unsolicited — a moment with special meaning for Claudette and her Irish roots.
Some of the most powerful moments were not about audience size at all. On April 16, 2026, stations in Russia, Belarus and Ukraine all aired Zanna Records music on the same calendar day. And as Vents Magazine reported, “You Are My Destiny” reached listeners in Antarctica — perhaps the most remote audience on Earth.
Topping it all, “You Are My Destiny” climbed to #1 on the North American College & Community Radio Chart.
MAGAZINES & PRESS
In twelve months, Luca & Claudette and the story of Zanna Records have been featured in:
PRESS & BROADCAST
Rolling Stone US — Feature
Rolling Stone UK — Feature
Forbes — Feature
Billboard Italia — Feature
Music Connection — Feature
Entrepreneur UK — Feature
Vents Magazine — Feature — airplay reaching Antarctica
As Seen on
For Gianluca, who once founded Contatto Discografico — Italy’s leading music trade magazine — being on the other side of the interview, in the pages of Billboard Italia and Rolling Stone, closed a circle that began at MIDEM Cannes in 1995.
TELEVISION
What began with a single magazine feature turned into a sustained broadcast run:
PIX11 New York — TV segment
Fox 5 San Diego — TV segment
NBC Palm Springs — TV segment
ABC13 Las Vegas — TV segment
Vizi Capitale — Digital Channel 13, Italy
And on September 18, 2026, Rai 2 aired the documentary “Cronaca di un Crimine”, with original 6 music composed by Gianluca Zanna and six Zanna Records songs in the score — placed by Gianluca himself, without an Italian music publisher.
A BILLBOARD IN TIMES SQUARE
In September 26 2025, Luca and Claudette stood in Times Square beneath their own Clear Channel Spectacolor billboard for “You Are My Destiny,” celebrating the song’s international radio success.
It has become the image that sums up the whole year: two independent artists on the most famous screen in the world, paid for by no one but themselves.
MUSIC VIDEOS
Sixteen official music videos now carry the Luca & Claudette story. The leaders as of September 2026: “You Are My Destiny (Future Remix)” at 5.2 million views,
the original “You Are My Destiny” at 3.1 million, the JMP Remix at 3.0 million, “We Are Our Thoughts” at 2.7 million, “Looking For You (Silent Era)” at 2.3 million, “Just Let It Go (Las Vegas)” at 2.1 million, and “I Am Destiny” and the Danny Saber Remix featuring Joseph Wooten at 2.0 million each.
View counts as of September 2026.
You Are My Destiny — Future Remix — 5.2M views
You Are My Destiny — 3.1M views
You Are My Destiny — JMP Remix — 3.0M views
We Are Our Thoughts — 2.7M views
Looking For You — Silent Era — 2.3M views
Just Let It Go — Las Vegas — 2.1M views
I Am Destiny — 2.0M views
You Are My Destiny — Danny Saber Remix (feat. Joseph Wooten) — 2.0M views
You Are My Destiny — Irish Version — 1.7M views
State of Mind — Matrix — 1.6M views
Love in Sedona — Future Is Now — 1.4M views
You Are My Destiny — Rave Remix — 831K views
Just Feel It — 812K views
Memories — Je T’aime — 621K views
Live With No Regrets — Danny Saber Remix — 423K views
We Are Our Thoughts — Live on Stage — 100K views
The most remarkable may be the smallest production of all. On August 19, 2026, Luca and Claudette climbed a Sedona red-rock mountain in 100-degree heat and shot “You Are My Destiny (Rave Remix)” in about an hour on an iPhone — no crew, no budget. It passed one million views in four weeks.
EIGHT TRIPS FROM THE DESERT
Every one of those videos and records meant packing up the ranch and hitting the road — no tour bus, no crew, just the two of them. In one year, Luca and Claudette made eight trips from the Arizona desert:
New York, September 2025 — the America’s Next Top Hitmaker finalist shoot with Rolling Stone, and on September 27 the music video for “We Are Our Thoughts”
New York, January 2026 — the music videos for “I Am Destiny” and “Looking For You (Silent Era)”
Las Vegas, first trip — the music video for “Just Let It Go (Las Vegas Remix)”
Las Vegas, second trip — the music video for “State of Mind (Matrix)”
Los Angeles, second trip — recording “Live with No Regrets — Analog Rebellion” live to analog tape at Clear Lake Studios
Los Angeles, third trip — recording “Cuba Libre” with Rudy and Robert Sarzo, Jizzy Pearl, Robin Diaz and Danny Saber
Los Angeles, first trip — the music video for “You Are My Destiny (Irish Love),” filmed in Beverly Hills
Nashville — the music videos for “You Are My Destiny” with Joseph Wooten, filmed at his estate in Franklin, Tennessee, and “Memories (Je T’aime)”
Add the Rave Remix shot on a Sedona mountaintop, and the map of this one year stretches from the red rocks of Arizona to Manhattan, the Las Vegas Strip, Beverly Hills and Music City.
THREE RECORDS, ONE YEAR
The meeting in New York became music. On June 21, 2026, Zanna Records released a dual version of “You Are My Destiny” with Joseph Wooten — an instrumental soul remake issued as both a Zanna Records Remix and a Danny Saber Remix. The video, filmed at Wooten’s estate in Franklin, Tennessee, passed one million views within weeks.
In May 2026 came the rock single “Live with No Regrets — Analog Rebellion,” with Kevin Martin of Candlebox on vocals, Rudy Sarzo on bass, Robert Sarzo on guitar, Robin Diaz on drums, Claudette Lyons on backing vocals, produced by Danny Saber.
And in the summer of 2026, the label began re-recording “Cuba Libre,” the 2005 anthem Gianluca wrote for original singer Ruben Martinez, which had resurfaced on its own among Cuban activists on TikTok. Havana-born Rudy and Robert Sarzo play bass and guitar, Love/Hate frontman Jizzy Pearl sings, Robin Diaz drums and Danny Saber produces.
Behind these records stands a roster most independent labels never assemble: producer Danny Saber (Rolling Stones, U2, Ozzy Osbourne, Madonna), mix engineer Brian Reeves (Giorgio Moroder, Donna Summer, Elton John), and A&R mentor Claes Cornelius, former Executive of Mega Records, the label that discovered Ace of Base.
IN STORES AROUND THE WORLD
While radio carried the music to listeners, B2B distribution carried it into daily life. Through Mood Media, the global standard in in-store media — 15 Zanna Records titles play across 500,000+ retail, hotel and fitness locations in about 150 countries.
In Milan, M-Cube, Europe’s in-store technology leader, adds 45,000+ installations across 106 countries serving 400+ international brands. In the Netherlands, Trend Music carries the catalog across its retail and hospitality network, including the in-store system for every Vue cinema in the country. Together: more than 600,000 commercial locations.
In September 2026 the catalog also reached 132 non-exclusive sync-library placements across 54 tracks — every submitted track now accepted in at least one library — including Air China’s in-flight entertainment and fitness chains in China.
FROM THE STUDIO TO THE STAGE
On July 24, 2026, Zanna Records announced a booking collaboration with Velocita Music Entertainment & Marketing Agency, led by Bruce Gambino, for live performances across the United States and Canada.
In September 2026 the reach went global. Zanna Records announced an official collaboration with Rocky Point Express LLC, led by President and Founder Michael A. Contés II, to represent the label and its full roster — including Luca & Claudette — for live performance opportunities worldwide: concerts, festivals, corporate events and private engagements across international markets.
Contés is an Arizona-based entrepreneur with a long background in aviation and air transportation, and he brings a wide network of industry relationships to the partnership. He is also an accomplished saxophone player, which gives him a musician’s understanding of the artists he now represents. The collaboration took effect immediately, with live opportunities already being developed across multiple markets.
It is also producing music: a new chill remix, “You Are My Destiny (Rocky Point Remix),” is on the way.
With Velocita covering the United States and Canada and Rocky Point Express representing the roster worldwide, a catalog that already plays on six continents is now a touring proposition.
BEYOND THE MUSIC
In the same twelve months, Luca and Claudette co-authored “You Are My Destiny: A True Love Story” (Action Takers Publishing), Gianluca wrote “From the Arizona Desert to the World,” about building global radio airplay independently, and the two released the anti-trafficking comic series “The Adventures of Mr. Zanna & Zayin.”
IN THEIR WORDS
“One year ago today we flew to New York not knowing if anyone outside our circle would ever hear our music. Today it plays on 518 radio stations in 99 countries, in stores all over the world, and on television on both sides of the ocean. We did it as two people in the desert — no label, no investors, no one opening doors. Just the work, every single day. If we can do it from an off-grid ranch in Arizona, nobody needs permission to be heard.”
— Gianluca Zanna, founder and CEO, Zanna Records
WHAT COMES NEXT
Year two starts with live representation in place on two fronts — Velocita in North America and Rocky Point Express worldwide — the coming “You Are My Destiny (Rocky Point Remix),” new releases in production including “Cuba Libre,” an expanding in-store and sync footprint, and a YouTube channel that has just passed 50 million views and 100,000 subscribers. The proof of concept is finished. The question now is how far an artist-owned label can scale with partners, sponsors and distribution behind it.
From 107,000 views to the world — in one year.
ABOUT ZANNA RECORDS
Zanna Records is an independent record label based in Sedona, Arizona, and run from an off-grid ranch in the Arizona wilderness. Founded in December 2022 by Rome-born songwriter and producer Gianluca Zanna — who created Contatto Discografico, Italy’s leading music trade magazine, before emigrating to the United States in 1998 — the label owns a catalog of more than 200 original compositions across EDM, rock, pop and classical, without major-label backing. Its flagship act is Luca & Claudette: Gianluca “Luca” Zanna and singer Claudette Lyons.
MEDIA CONTACT
Zanna Records · Sedona, Arizona · music@zannarecords.com
Live booking (US & Canada): Velocita Music Entertainment bookings@velocitamusicentertainment.com
Worldwide live representation: Rocky Point Express LLC · Michael A. Contés II, President & Founder mcontes78@gmail.com
Radio data: WARM and Songstats · Channel data: vidIQ · Figures as of September 2026
Comments