The Journey of Luca & Claudette: 107,000 Views in September 2025. Ten Months Later, 493 Radio Stations in 99 Countries and ready to break 40 Million Views.
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SEDONA, ARIZONA — July 30, 2026 — In September 2025, Gianluca Zanna and Claudette Lyons — the independent EDM duo Luca and Claudette — were named finalists in America’s Next Top Hitmaker and flown to New York City for a photo shoot with Rolling Stone. That month, their YouTube channel drew 107,000 views. It was the first time their music had been seen by anyone outside their own circle.
The following month it drew 4.56 million — a 42-fold increase in thirty days. The channel has not dropped below three million views a month since.
Ten months on, Zanna Records has built a footprint most well-funded acts never reach: verified radio airplay across 499 stations in 99 countries and territories on six continents, national television segments in New York, San Diego, Palm Springs and Las Vegas, features in Rolling Stone US and Rolling Stone UK, Forbes, Billboard Italia, Music Connection and Entrepreneur UK, a Times Square billboard, and a catalog playing in retail locations around the world.
All of it was built from a home studio in the Arizona desert, with no major-label backing, no outside investors, and a very small marketing budget.
The Month Everything Changed
The New York trip was the ignition point, and the data is unambiguous. Independent vidIQ analytics show the Gianluca Zanna Music channel moving from 107,000 monthly views in September 2025 to 4.56 million in October 2025, then holding between three and five million views every month since, peaking at 5.14 million in May 2026 — and today ready to break the first 40 Million views.
October 2025 delivered more than views. On October 31, 2025, “You Are My Destiny (Future Remix)” was placed on Top Hits U.S.A. compilation T1865, the broadcast service distributed to radio programmers by RPM since 1970 — sequenced on the Hot/AC and Top 40 disc alongside Taylor Swift, Khalid, Tate McRae and Little Simz. The same record reached #3 on Amazon’s Dance & Electronic Best Sellers chart, positioned between *NSYNC at #2 and Pitbull at #4.
The Television Run
What began with a single Rolling Stone feature became a sustained broadcast run. Luca and Claudette have been featured on PIX11 News in New York, FOX 5 San Diego / KUSI News, NBC Palm Springs, and on the “Top Leaders” segment of The Morning Blend on KTNV Channel 13 in Las Vegas, which aired July 27, 2026.
Zanna’s work has also reached Italian national audiences through RAI — closing a circle for an artist who left Italy in 1998 and arrived in the United States with no contacts in the American music industry.
By the Numbers
499 radio stations in 99 countries and territories across six continents — independently verified by WARM and Songstats
#1 on the North American College & Community Radio Chart; #3 on Amazon Dance & Electronic; Billboard Spotify playlist placement; Top Hits U.S.A. broadcast compilation placement
38+ million-plus lifetime views and 32,000+ subscribers on the Gianluca Zanna Music YouTube channel (vidIQ certified), plus 1.36 million monthly YouTube Music listeners
20 million-plus views on TikTok, driven by more than 100,000 creator videos using “Wake Up America,” which was licensed by This American Life
15 Zanna Records titles in worldwide in-store retail rotation through Mood Media (approximately 500,000 locations across 150 countries), with additional B2B distribution via M-Cube S.p.A. in Italy (400+ brands, 45,000+ installations, 106 countries) and Trend Music in the Netherlands
Largest single-station audience to date: NDR 1 Niedersachsen in Hannover, Germany, at approximately 6.9 million listeners
A catalog of more than 150 original compositions across EDM, rock, classical and operatic styles
A Billboard in Times Square
In July 2026, Luca and Claudette stood in Times Square beneath their own Spectacolor billboard for “You Are My Destiny” — an image that has become the shorthand for the whole story: two independent artists, on the most expensive screen in the world, paid for by nobody but themselves.
Three Records, One Year
The New York trip also produced a relationship that became a record. Luca and Claudette met three-time Grammy-nominated keyboardist Joseph Wooten of the Steve Miller Band and the Wooten Brothers, and on June 21, 2026 Zanna Records released a dual version of “You Are My Destiny” in collaboration with Wooten — an instrumental soul remake issued as both a Zanna Records Remix and a Danny Saber Remix. The music video, filmed at Wooten’s estate in Franklin, Tennessee, passed 1 Million views within weeks.
In May 2026 the label released the rock single “Live with No Regrets — Analog Rebellion,” bringing together Kevin Martin of Candlebox on vocals, Rudy Sarzo on bass, Robert Sarzo on guitar and Robin Diaz on drums, produced by Danny Saber, Claudette Lyons as back up vocals and Marco Zanna original guitar riff.
And at the end of July 2026, Zanna Records began re-recording “Cuba Libre / Exilio,” the 2005 anthem Zanna wrote for original singer Ruben Martinez, which has resurfaced organically on TikTok among Cuban activists. Rudy and Robert Sarzo — born in Havana and brought to America as children in the 1961 exodus — play bass and guitar on a song about exile, with Love/Hate frontman Jizzy Pearl as senior singer, Robin Diaz on drums, Claudette Lyons on background vocals and Danny Saber producing. Rudy Sarzo’s performance fee is being donated in full to a non-profit organization.
For an independent desert label with no institutional support, assembling that roster three times in one year is not a marketing story. It is a credibility story.
From the Studio to the Stage
On July 24, 2026, Zanna Records announced a booking collaboration with Velocita Music Entertainment & Marketing Agency, LLC, led by Bruce Gambino, opening the door to Luca and Claudette live performances across the United States and Canada. It is another Italian-American migration story a generation apart — Zanna crossed from Rome, Gambino’s father from Sicily — and it turns a catalog that already plays on six continents into a touring proposition.
Quote
“In September of last year we had a hundred thousand views and a dream. We are two people in the desert with a laptop, a microphone and a refusal to quit — no label behind us, no investor writing checks, no publicist opening doors. Every station, every television segment, every article came from doing the work ourselves, one email at a time. If we can reach 99 countries from here, the old excuses about needing permission to be heard simply don’t hold anymore.”
— Gianluca Zanna, founder and CEO, Zanna Records
What Comes Next
The curve is still climbing. Broadcast bookings are moving from regional to national placements.
The B2B in-store footprint is expanding across additional European and international partners.
Live performance representation across North America is now in place.
New releases are in production, alongside the book From the Arizona Desert to the World, the anti-trafficking comic series The Adventures of Mr. Zanna & Zayin, and the coming book "You Are My Destiny" .
The proof of concept is finished. Luca and Claudette have demonstrated that an artist-owned label operating from anywhere can reach a global audience on merit alone. The question in front of Zanna Records is no longer whether the model works. It is how far it scales with partners, sponsors and distribution behind it.
About Zanna Records
Zanna Records is an independent record label based in Sedona, Arizona, founded and operated by Gianluca Zanna — a Rome-born songwriter and producer who founded Contatto Discografico, Italy’s leading music trade magazine, before emigrating to the United States in 1998. The label operates without major-label backing. Its flagship act, Luca and Claudette, pairs Zanna with singer Claudette Lyons. Zanna Records catalog spans more than 150 original compositions across EDM, rock, classical and operatic styles and is broadcast on hundreds of radio stations worldwide.
Verification & Selected Coverage
Rolling Stone (US) — finalists, America’s Next Top Hitmaker:
Rolling Stone (UK): gianlucazanna.com/post/a-dream-come-full-circle-featured-in-rolling-stone-uk
Billboard Italia: gianlucazanna.com/post/gianluca-zanna-from-an-italian-boarding-school-to-an-international-music-career
Music Connection: gianlucazanna.com/post/from-boarding-school-dreams-to-chart-topping-success-gianluca-zanna-featured-in-music-connection-ma
Entrepreneur UK: gianlucazanna.com/post/gianluca-zanna-featured-in-entrepreneur-magazine-for-remarkable-journey-from-boarding-school-dreamer
“Cuba Libre / Exilio” re-recording: gianlucazanna.com/post/cuban-born-rock-legends-rudy-and-robert-sarzo-and-love-hate-frontman-jizzy-pearl-join-the-epic-re-re
“Live with No Regrets — Analog Rebellion”: gianlucazanna.com/post/live-with-no-regrets-analog-rebellion-official-page
“You Are My Destiny” dual release with Joseph Wooten: gianlucazanna.com/post/zanna-records-announces-worldwide-dual-release-you-are-my-destiny-featuring-joseph-wooten-hands
Velocita Music Entertainment collaboration: gianlucazanna.com/post/luca-and-claudette-start-collaboration-with-velocita-music-entertainment-by-bruce-gambino-for-u-s-a
YouTube channel: youtube.com/@GianlucaZannaMusic · Radio data: WARM and Songstats · Channel data: vidIQ
Media Contact
Zanna Records · Sedona, Arizona
Live booking: Velocita Music Entertainment · bookings@velocitamusicentertainment.com
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