when susan boyle becomes the most viewed person on youtube history, he's behind it every step of the i think that when you look at people on television, simon cowell is about as recession-proof as you can get. >> reporter: recession-proof, indeed. in 2005, "american idol" had 30 million viewers. now, they have 20 million, and cowell makes $45 million. now cowell has announced he will be leaving "american idol" to work on a u.s. version of "x factor." he talked to "extra" about his decision. >> i was offered a lot of money to stay on the show. i felt like something doing new. just being an already fabulously wealthy guy is not enough for him. >> i think he wants more. he wants more money. this is a guy who is 50 years old. never been married no kids. money is the love of his life. >> everything has become so huge for him. coming here to america, who would have thought that, you know, none of his artists in the uk crossed over to america, and then the success of the show. he's masterful. he's a teacher on how to parlay and climb that ladder. >> reporter: so, simon cowell, who came to t

but like his fellow scot, susan boyle, is one of the few to turn a flash of fame into, perhaps, a sustainednever had a goal at all to be a profession al. designers want to sponsor me. that might have made me money, but i don't want to end up looking like an idiot. >> reporter: instead, he's appeared in rock videos and tv commercials. like this one for volume kkswav. have you bought an apartment, do you have a car? >> no, no. yeah, not really. i've not been doing anything at all. i just buy myself nicer food. >> reporter: nicer food? anyway, now he's sponsored by an energy drink maker and travels the world. >> unfortunately i've broken my collarbone at the moment and it's my third one in four months. >> reporter: danny's story begins on the remote isle of skye off scotland, age 4, he started. >> i got my bike taking off me -- >> reporter: by the police? >> yeah, by the police. >> reporter: when he left school, he moved to the highlands, and then to edinburgh with a guy named dave. >> in 2008, david fell right in bmx and broke his leg. he offered to do some filming with me. >> reporter: they

and it's very interesting because susan boyle was like a recording phenomenon because these are thiss been embraced by the younger audience as evidenced by the top five itunes downloads, this which are the black eyed peas, lady gaga, not artists that 70-year-old listen to. >> had will is no record store to go to anymore, so these people say, you know, if you can't beat them, join them. so there they are and it really is kind of interesting how demographically the thing has changed so much. does it surprise you 10 billion songs in seven years? >> it's a little surprising. and it's happened very fast. but if you look at technology as a whole, it's transformed our society like that, so quickly. but it's very interesting. like you said, it's like a whole part of our culture has gone. we don't go out to record stores anymore on the weekends and go through records and discover music that way. it's all online. you youtube something to find out if you want to hear it or something. and then you download it, tough it i you have it instantly. on the other hand, this is much easier than ever of