http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MZT07qVXgRo

Want proof that the world is going to end in 2012?

If that video isn’t enough, consider this: Auto-Tune has been named one of America’s Hottest Brands by AdAge.

Here are their reasons why:

Auto-Tune was, for a long time, a product that barely spoke its own name. Popular singers wanted fans to think they were getting the real deal, making Auto-Tune practically a secret. So Antares Audio Technology, the company behind it, just established and held brand position among the few people who cared — music-production professionals and hobbyists — with regular advertising in trade publications and online ads.”We were not the only pitch-correction software out there,” said Marco Alpert, VP-marketing at Antares. “We worked for 10 years to establish the Auto-Tune brand as synonymous with pitch correction. There had been a concerted effort to establish a brand position. So when the whole idea of this effect came out into the popular music world, immediately we’re who people come to.”

The result is record revenue for Antares this year, according to Mr. Alpert, and a lot of profit, too. “We’re having our best year in history,” he said.

So you can see and hear more of T-Pain and Auto-Tune until 2012.