• TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
    Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
    Join free Log in
    Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.

YouTube Virtuosos (Old Man Rant)

#101
And another point on some here mischaracterizing a yt audience:

You can be an instructor or a band, and have very low yt numbers and transform your business immensely with a loyal audience.

It's not always about like counts, massive eyeball counts and ad revenue.

In all channels big and small though it's about engaged audience. If you don't see that, you're not using yt the way we do. And BTW this is NOT generational. I am 47 and many of the hosts i follow are the same generation. My kids follow younger hosts but not exclusively. Will Wheaton comes to mind.

How this is an either or situation is entirely incorrect. All of the yt'rs i follow that are musician related mention their real world bands from time to time.

As far as the bed room kid hammering out a cover, that's there but so what? YT isn't replacing a band situation necessarily.

All this discussion about what makes yt work/or not is discussing yt viability for real channels. Yet opposing examoles are assuming that all of yt is bed riom kids olaying covers. It's not. And evrn then see Constantine and MaxProud. They defy your stereotype completely.
 
#103
Michael B said:
But that is a superficial view of it.

At one level comments are garbage yes but not entirely. I am a big yt follower and communicate directly with the host through comments often. The hosts of the luthier and performance related channels are there talking back and forth and it influences future videos. It's very much like a forum.
I also mentioned lots of other ways viewers connect. To generalize that comments are all noise and that all commenters are trolls is just not true all the time. There are idiots, as there are here but that doesn't have a big of an impact as you think.

If you talk to (or actually watch) any youtuber you will see their genuine thanks for the audience interaction and the overt influence it has on the channel. If you are not following any specifics channel by skipping around randomly, or just going on what you hear from others about yt, you are completely missing out.

- One guy builds guitars based entirely on user feedback
- countless amazing teachers give free performance tips to boost their private (online) lessons - see bass wizard in this thread
- my kids follow gamers and then get excited when they play with them in multi player servers by chance - they choose what to film based on user suggestions
- bands connect to audiences thru theur channels
- luthiers and tool makers expand and change their offerings soley based on yt viewership - see gelvin guitars, crimson guitars and many more
- some guys share a cover or do gear reviws - driven by user comments, see Constantine or MaxProud
- studio engineers share real tips for the home user for recording bass and everything else. see pensado, warren huart

All of these examples could not and would not exist without commenters. Replace that word with audiebce and I am sure you will see this in a completely new light.
Click to expand...

I work in internet technologies for my profession. I have been involved with the internet in some form or another going on 20 years now, since I was a pre-teen. I hit college just as "social networking" became a thing. Believe me, I do not have a superficial grasp of the internet and its varied social outlets. I live it daily.

The original point was that the internet is not "anti social" and while true in a general sense, if you are comparing it to actual, in-person, human interaction, broadly-speaking, it *can be* far more than you seem to admit. Yes, YT communication *can be* as interactive as playing a show. Problem is, it can also give the *appearance* of being that, without actually being it. "The internet is anti-social" is a false statement if your bar is set at 100% truthiness. It is not a 100% truthful statement, no, but it does have a lot of truth to it. Many of the people I grew up with who placed a lot of weight on their internet-only relationships were people with some pretty deep social issues. The internet allowed them to get a reasonable facsimile of social interaction, with the ability to walk away at any point and simply make a new username or profile, and thus escape any actual social risk beyond what they wished. The internet IS anti-social in that way. It provides an easy way to get "good enough" social interaction. This is why Japan invented an entire name for people who were socially disconnected shut-ins who lived their social lives entirely online.

Imagine an alcoholic. They are addicted to the escape from reality that alcohol affords them. They are addicted to the way it makes them feel, and often rely on it in social situations to become the person people want to hang out with. We know and recognize this as a disorder. It makes sense. The internet can often have the same effect though. It can convince people they are getting what they need, when in fact they are getting a poor imitation of it. Like high-fructose corn syrup or reality TV :)
 
  • Like
Reactions: howlin
#104
socialleper said:
You're still missing the point.
The YouTube stats page is interesting, but shows a BROAD sweep. It shows a channel making hundreds to thousands. Those aren't very good statistics because they are so broad.
What's more, as I stated, what I'm hearing is "I know a guy that says....". I'm looking for real detailed information from people that are doing it themselves. If those people are hard to come by, I think that tells you what you need to know about the viability of YouTube videos.
And yes, I could just Google it, but I'm trying to engage people in a dialogue. You know....communication.
Click to expand...
It's hard to find out how much YouTuber's really make, because the vast majority of them aren't open about it. Understandably so, I think. It's generally bad form to engage in conversations about how much you make at your job...and it's no different for people making a living off YouTube.
 
#105
I agree with the general thought of the OP. I don't necessarily have anything against someone who makes these videos or develops some sort of unusual virtuosity on the instrument. It's just that being an individual virtuoso isn't why I ever picked up a bass. Actually, I was asked by a group of friends to learn the bass so that I could be in their band. Playing with other people was always the point. This didn't excuse me from learning how to play well. This also doesn't mean that playing with others isn't frustrating at times. However, there are also the good times when everything comes together just right in a band. It might be for a show, for a few songs, for part of a song, etc., but when that happens, it's really transcendent. You can argue about how good vs. bad you're experiencing in any given situation, but you'll never get the same feeling just showing off by yourself on the internet. At least I know that it wouldn't work for me.
 
#106
mattj1stc said:
you'll never get the same feeling just showing off by yourself on the internet
Click to expand...
You should try it sometime...

My experience is quite the opposite. And the videos I've done don't get many views.

And why not put two and two together? Join an internet band!

Here's a project I helped put together a couple months ago:



I worked with people all over the world to put together a full band cover of a song!
 
  • Like
Reactions: gjohnson441496, kikstand454 and itsalljustaride
#110
socialleper said:
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.
Click to expand...

What's missing isn't a problem with your perception; it's the ability to make a career as a professional musician in today's file-sharing, "everything is free", clicking-away-from-a-video-in-fifteen-seconds-if-it's-not-the-best-thing-ever mentality that is so prevalent. IMHO, YMMV, ETC...

People at the bottom of the music food chain have a harder-than-ever time making it to the next rung up.

BTW, there are a couple of bands I can think of that started as YouTube video projects. Check out Skyharbor and Periphery. In fact, a lot of the djent subgenre started as online demo-swapping and now there are easily half a dozen bands that have "real" record deals and international tours that grew out of that.
 
  • Like
Reactions: wintremute
#113
AngelCrusher said:
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.
Click to expand...
Bang on man. Im waiting for the rebellion against me of this virtual stuff myself. I'm all for incorporating technology, but I question how far this can all go until it just comes down to a few people in a room making music together again, without editing and smoke and mirrors.

By now I imagine there are so many of these kinds of videos out there now anyways, that it's kind of 'pissing in the wind' as far as getting any real traction or lasting notoriety for an emerging artist. Sure some folks break through, but 99% will be overlooked anyways.
 
#114
socialleper said:
I've never heard of a YouTube musician getting discovered and joining a band.
Click to expand...

Off the top of my head, both the lead singer from Journey and the lead singer from Yes both got their gigs from the bands in question seeing them on YouTube. There's a couple of drummers I follow that I'd love to play with.

All just yet one more method of "getting yourself out there".
 
  • Like
Reactions: vegas532
#115
This guy Mononeon was offered some gigs with Prince. YouTube videos in this day & age are the way to go. I agree the Craigslist potential is very lackluster and there is some money to be made via YouTube. You just have to grow and change with the times..



 
  • Like
Reactions: EMoneySC2
#119
T Bassman said:
Bang on man. Im waiting for the rebellion against me of this virtual stuff myself. I'm all for incorporating technology, but I question how far this can all go until it just comes down to a few people in a room making music together again, without editing and smoke and mirrors.

By now I imagine there are so many of these kinds of videos out there now anyways, that it's kind of 'pissing in the wind' as far as getting any real traction or lasting notoriety for an emerging artist. Sure some folks break through, but 99% will be overlooked anyways.
Click to expand...

And some of these people who gain "lasting notoriety" are by today's definition - aside from virtuosos - good looking.
 
  • Like
Reactions: T Bassman

Latest posts

Top Bottom
Back