YouTube Virtuosos (Old Man Rant)

[bass12]

Believe it or not, a lot of people play instruments because they think it will help get them attention. For those people the internet is the perfect tool. I have a friend who hosted a jazz jam session for ten years. I attended a number of these jams and it always surprised me that, with several universities in the city offering jazz programs, there weren't more students attending the jams. I asked my friend about this recently and he told me that the students he knew in McGill University's jazz program were generally not interested in playing with others and that they just wanted to post videos of themselves playing solo on Youtube. A bit of an exaggeration, perhaps, but I'm sure there's some truth to his statement. I have zero interest in Youtube bedroom videos. At this point I'm bass soloed out and, aside from being able to appreciate the work involved, I'm just left cold. For me it has hit the point of super-saturation and I'm not interested anymore.

 

[rocu]

Lindsey Stirling grossed 2.5 million from youtube last year.

 

[BeardedFrog]

Lots of YouTube musicians make very comfortable livings doing what they do and they have complete creative control over their content, so I can certainly see the appeal. Also, there are definitely YouTube musicians who get discovered and make it big: hate him or hate him, that's how Justin Bieber started his career.

True, it isn't the same as playing with a group of people, and you lose out on the energy and artistic interplay between other band members and the audience that you get in a live performance. That said, the freedom to do what you want how you want and make money doing it is nothing to scoff at. The ways people listen to music are changing, and YouTube musicians are just taking advantage of a new opportunity that was never previously available.

 

[Smooth_bass88]

Dirty Loops got to where they are (not megastars, but have a career playing original music) buy having millions of views on youtube. Not everyone's gonna achieve this kind of notoriety, but the numbers do matter.

 

[Coolhandjjl]

Maybe they're not wearing pants.....

 

[aaronious]

You're missing something. YouTube is all about ad revenue. Some of these cats GET PAID! If you don't suck and you have something to offer, people watch, ads get posted, you get paid. Musical instruction is limited in my area, exactly none for bass. If I wanna learn something, off to youtube I go. I'm one of millions who do this. Add it up.

 

[Lowness]

I'm old enough to remember when being "a musician" meant getting together with some friends and jamming, or joining a band that left a flyer up at the guitar store. I'm also young enough to have been using computers most of my life and understand how to use social media.
All that said, I don't understand the phenomenon of what appear to be brilliant musicians just doing YouTube stuff. There are some multi-instrumentalists with full blown studios taking up their entire houses out there, spending a massive amount of time producing videos of themselves. If this was a way to promote yourself to get in with a big name band, it would make sense to me. However, it seems like these people are content with just doing that.
My question is why? I make the occasional gear demo, post live performances fans shot, share clips of things that won't work with a band on SoundCloud for giggles; but that is all secondary to my work as a performing musician. That doesn't seem to be these peoples' goal. This is their career. But isn't that an awful lot of work for nothing? I've never heard of a YouTube musician getting discovered and joining a band. I've seen one of these guys play a solo gig at a club once and it was boring AF.
Am I missing something here?
Are these people just anti-social?
Can they only play covers really well and not create marketable music?
Can whatever pocket change YouTube throws at them possibly make up for the giant expense of producing these videos?
I'm not knocking it, I just really don't understand it. 'Splain it to me.

You don't understand it because you are looking for something these people (players and listeners) don't care about.

A band is a very hard way to make money:
- hard way to access a market
- hard way to get a song together - logistics, personalities etc.
.........a massive investment before you get anywhere.

Solo musicians on YouTube helps bypass all of this.


Thanks to YouTube, I now know this guy and I love his music. He will tour one day, and I will go and see him: we all end up at the same place, just in an easier manner.

 

[socialleper]

You're missing something. YouTube is all about ad revenue. Some of these cats GET PAID! If you don't suck and you have something to offer, people watch, ads get posted, you get paid. Musical instruction is limited in my area, exactly none for bass. If I wanna learn something, off to youtube I go. I'm one of millions who do this. Add it up.

People keep saying that, but I still haven't seen numbers posted. What is the breakdown? What sort of numbers are we talking about?

 

[aaronious]

Hell if I know. I'm broke as a joke. But I know of one guy who did it in fitness world. His name's Elliot Hulse, he didn't say much but you can tell he went from ashy to classy if you have seen his videos for a while. I heard he was making about 700k a year on YouTube but I have no proof.

 

[TheBassWizard1]

I can't speak for everyone else who makes YouTube videos, but I personally do both. I tour with a lot of pop artists, have an awesome career as a touring musician in LA (Just played to 10,000 people on NYE with a Disney Star in Hershey, PA) and also make YouTube videos when I am in town (and sometimes on the road).

YouTube allows me to express myself in ways that I can't on my usual gigs (like playing solo bass arrangements), and it allows me to connect with and help many bass players around the world.

I love playing live and would never give that up. After all, that's what got me into music. However, YouTube provides an equally rewarding experience and I've gotten emails from people telling me how my videos got them excited about picking up their bass again, or how it inspired them to start playing bass in the first place. This is highly rewarding and motivating to me, and knowing that there are people out there getting value out of my videos pushes me to keep making them and sharing my knowledge with this vast and awesome bass playing community

 

[LowDownHawkeye]

For the bedroom rockers with a webcam, this seems likely. There are some other guys that are really putting A LOT into their videos, AND they are really good musicians. They aren't just wankers. In a world so short of truly talented players, we need these people in bands writing music. Just d!cking around on the web seems like a waste of potential to me. That's why I'm wondering if there is something else I'm missing.

I can completely understand why some people might do this. For me, music is a hobby and I'm thrilled to get to play almost every week in church, but I've got a wife and two kids and keeping engaged in their lives plus my full time job means it isn't easy to carve out the time to rehearse for that weekly church gig. A person with musical talent and sufficient demands on their time might appreciate the flexibility they have if they stick to recording in a home studio.

 

[zontar]

I'm sure there are a ton of reasons people have--but I'm sure some just do it for fun.

 

[callofcthulhu]

People keep saying that, but I still haven't seen numbers posted. What is the breakdown? What sort of numbers are we talking about?

Here, knock yourself out.

Invalid Link Removed

Pick your favorite "virtuoso" and amend /user/[their username] to the URL, e.g. http://socialblade.com/youtube/user/RobScallon

As already mentioned, this estimates revenue from ad traffic only - endorsements, merch, album sales, sponsorships, patreon, paypal donations, kickstarters etc. are all on top of this.

 

[Oldschool94]

Millennials are the Me generation. They actually care a lot about likes on FB, IG and YT, and all that stuff really matters to them. If you grew up as a Gen X or Gen Y, you will remember when computers were for nerds and it was not cool to care about such things. Essentially that has all changed and kids get a lot of their affirmation online instead of in person. They have grown up glued to their tablets and phones. IMO I do not think it is a good thing and there will be a sea change once everyone gets sick of being isolated.

It's super easy to get validated online. Somewhere, no matter how insane your video is or how stupid the comment you posted is, someone will like it. That simply was not the case before the internet.

You can imagine the musician who never clicked in a band setting would find a lot of satisfaction in getting youtube views.

Believe it or not, a lot of people play instruments because they think it will help get them attention. For those people the internet is the perfect tool. I have a friend who hosted a jazz jam session for ten years. I attended a number of these jams and it always surprised me that, with several universities in the city offering jazz programs, there weren't more students attending the jams. I asked my friend about this recently and he told me that the students he knew in McGill University's jazz program were generally not interested in playing with others and that they just wanted to post videos of themselves playing solo on Youtube. A bit of an exaggeration, perhaps, but I'm sure there's some truth to his statement. I have zero interest in Youtube bedroom videos. At this point I'm bass soloed out and, aside from being able to appreciate the work involved, I'm just left cold. For me it has hit the point of super-saturation and I'm not interested anymore.

I really don't think either of these capture the type of people OP posted about. I think I know a few, none of whom are super famous or make a living from it, but do put a lot of work into it. I also have attempted making some youtube videos just for the heck of it. Some of the people I know are incredibly humble and definitely not self-absorbed. I think the youtube thing gives them artistic control, the ability to work at their own pace, a relatively low cost (they already own most of the equipment) and it's so much fun learning. Honestly, making the youtube video is almost just an extreme version of practicing for them. I think it's really quite an efficient way to learn, because your practice materials get tested. There is something awesome about making something out of your time that will last. A lot of these people would probably have become producers/studio musicians back in the day, but can't now due to the extreme competition. Many of these musicians I know are not very self absorbed, but they often do lack good people skills. They are not popular picks with bandleaders who often care more about the hang and less about perfection (I can't blame them either). Honestly, it's hard to learn how to book gigs, plan a tour, handle all that money. It's much easier for my generation to run a social media account and produce a video. Especially when modern life demands you do so much homework/college/school/work/multitask. It's just a lot more flexible. All the ones I know would love to play out more, but don't really know how.

 

[DavC]

so you get to define what " this is a career " means to everyone who's got some talent ... cool

 

[ShredderMaximus]

The whole "rockstar dream" in the classic sense, is sorta dying. You can play out for years putting your heart and soul into every note and still be lucky to scrape out a living.

Where audiences really are en mass are on youtube. Who here hasn't spent countless hours wasting time on youtube? I know I sure as hell have, and with much of that time spent watching musicians doing their thing. It is incredibly convenient, from the kid wanting to show their family what they've been working on over the past few months, to people from around the world coming together to collaborate on a project, to the big timers that were able to turn online success into irl success. Youtube can be an incredibly powerful tool to get heard.

 

[gjohnson441496]

"Are these people just anti-social?"
^
I resemble this remark. Compromise is way over-rated. There is no "I" in Team, but there is an "ME". Technological advances has allowed solitary people (loners, hermits, social outcast) like me, to make music without having to put up the opinions, criticisms, mood-swings and/or tantrums of others. This is also why I like social media and especially txt (as opposed to human interaction or talking on the phone). Interaction without physicality... PERFECT!!!... for some of us it works.

Also, the creative process through interacting with machines is fun. It may take me hours to just come up with a drum line or search for just the right sound on my synthesizer, loop it, synch it, play bass lines over it. At the moment I'm teaching myself to play piano, and I realized in the process I'm inadvertently learning chords. So much fun, and I'm doing it on MY TIME.

I just don't like depending on others, and I am a wee bit selfish. Introverted? Yes I am... I'm cool with that. I am not a team player and I don't like team sports. As you can probably guess by now, I don't get along well with others. Friendships generally last about 3 months tops. I have a knack for pissing people off. I don't mean to it just happens naturally.

I go outside whenever I need groceries (and I always use the self check-out).

I hope this clears things up for ya.

 

[EMoneySC2]

Like others have mentioned, the folks putting out cover videos now and then aren't making a living off YouTube. It's a hobby, plain and simple. Lots of people stick to YouTube because they can do it at their own pace, and they get to do what they want to do. I'd bet most people aren't really doing it for attention, because it's really hard to get noticed on YouTube. I'd wager most people do it just because they enjoy doing it.

Then you've got guys like Ryan Bruce, Jared Dines, and Rob Scallon. They are mostly living off their YouTube channels, but they all suppliment their income from other sources. It takes a long time and a lot of effort to get where they are.

Then I see the "too of the mountain" as Rob Chapman. The guy started up his channel way back when, and has been consistently chugging out high quality content for years. Because of his "Internet fame" he's been able to get connections to start his own guitar company, and he's able to use his channel to publicize his band Dorje.

Most YouTube people don't talk much about how much they're really making, understandably so I think. From the bits and pieces I've heard a channels $/view depends on the size of the channel and if the channel is a part of a larger YouTube network.

Even a lot of newer bands these days gain their jumps in noteriety from YouTube. Lots of small bands, like mine, hope to use YouTube as the engine to get things moving. I know some bands that use YouTube as a way to suppliment their income as well, producing all sorts of video content while in the studio or on the road. An extreme case is the band Periphery. I think a big part of their success is how popular Misha "Bulb" Mansoor was on YouTube and Internet forums while he was putting the band together. He was a huge personality in a couple forums, always sharing little sound clips and videos. Once Periphery started off the band got a lot attention because it was "Bulb's band".

Another thing I've seen mentioned here is some people use YouTube as their "portfolio" of sorts. YouTube is a great tool to use to document your progression in learning and getting better. Then when you want to join a band you can point them to your channel, as a part of your audition.

Lastly, I think as a young twenty-something, YouTube just feels like my open space to be creative and to share things on. I remember when I was younger when my parents laughed at me when I told them you could learn how to do x, y, or z thing on YouTube. I grew up with YouTube being a huge outlet of expression and entertainment, so I'm drawn to contribute to it.

 

[Spectrum]

Millennials are the Me generation. They actually care a lot about likes on FB, IG and YT, and all that stuff really matters to them. If you grew up as a Gen X or Gen Y, you will remember when...

All mostly BS. I'm in my 40s. I remember people using the phrase "me generation" when I was a little kid in the 70s. In the 80s was the "Pepsi generation", taken from Pepsi commercials and used derisively. Always the older generations talking about "kids these days", and as soon as we grew up we all talk like that now.

Those damn kids and their rock 'n roll! Get off my lawn!

As for youtubers, some of them are sponsored and make decent money from it. If you get lots of subscribers and put out enough content you can do well. Others do it because they like it, same as you like jamming with people or spending money on gear you don't really need. Some of them are gigging musicians who enjoy passing on knowledge, guys like MarloweDK and Scott Devine.

Lots of reasons. There are plenty of TBr's here who like to play at home and don't care for the hassle of being in a band; for those people youtube is a way to entertain people without having to deal with people.

 

[lowerclef]

I say why not do both? I've personally learned a lot about many players and many other subjects unrelated to music on YouTube. It's great!

I do get tired of the whole "virtuoso" aspect of it. I think it was a lot more impactful back in the day when only 5 or 10 people could do it. Now everyone can, and it's not so special. I know I'm showing my age here, but I personally prefer hearing a fat tone and a simple groove in support of a great song.

But you know what? It's a different world now. Within the context of an imploding industry, it's silly for a young player coming up not to use the available technology to promote themselves.