Why Musicians Should Start a YouTube Channel (EvEn If NoBoDy WaTcHeS (lol))

Yes I just used this video title.

I usually can't stand these because these are geared towards everyone that want's a creative outlet. Sadly, people want to start a YouTube channel but then they don't know what to do with it.

But I made this for musicians, so luckily you already have something to create. Now it's time to put yourself out there.

I started jamming out and writing a little music 20 years ago. I only started putting music on YouTube until 15 years after that (so 5 years ago), and it was like starting from scratch. Before that I was even recording music that would just sit on my hard drive.

To play by yourself for yourself is nice. To be able to play in front of someone, where you're on the spot, takes it up a level.

The problem is that unless you put yourself out there, you have no way to know the quality of what you're doing. It could have a ton of mistakes but you keep running through it. You have no reason to improve.

If you really want to get better as a musician then perform for other people.

No, you don't have to go to college for it and do recitals, you just need to use your phone.

Do it for you

What's the most intense level of playing an instrument?

Playing live.

My very first official cover (on my metal channel) was the Super Mario Brothers theme. (It was actually Dr Wily's Theme on ANOTHER channel I had…I know). It's a simple song. I could play it any time I wanted to already, so this should be a breeze right? Nope. It finally revealed the gaps in my playing. I had to do multiple takes.

Then I'd have to do the video as well, which showed gaps in my production knowledge. I had to make sure I was in the shot, I had to make sure the lighting was good. There was a lot.

What I thought sounded and looked good to me is a different story when you hear or see it played back.

Back to just the music part, playing something live is super intense. What if you have to complete a recital for getting into a college undergrad or masters program? You'll make sure you have the song down. I know there are artists on YouTube who will mime their songs, meaning there's treated/no mistake audio and they'll make a video playing along with it, but I don't know how to do it and would rather take out as many steps as possible so that you can get started. If it's "live" it's harder. Lean into that.

If you build it, they will come

The absolute biggest reason people want to start a YouTube channel is to grow an audience, and for good reason.

• It's high traffic. There are 2.5 billion (with a b) monthly active users on there. Goodness.

• YouTube is searched based. There are people looking up xyz song + xyz instrument. Pretty cool. So if there's a lot of people searching for stuff, then there's plenty of audience for you.

• It's free and simple. You don't have to worry about all the hoops you'd have to go through with Spotify or other streaming services.

• It's eternal as opposed to performing live. Live is really hard because you can't mess up (plus you'd have to ask owners of venues if you can book a gig), and Twitch requires you to be present for an hour or so. A 2 minute video can be viewed for multiple times and can sit there for as long as you wish.

• You build a community. You can get subscribers if you're playing what other people (and you) like. The nice comments keep you coming back and you can even make some friends out of it.

How to start

Pick up your instrument, pick up your phone, hit record and play, then upload it. Shout out to all my acoustic instrument people because that should be easy enough. If you have electronic instruments, this will be harder, but if you can figure out how to play an instrument, you can figure that out too.

I'm going to give you some action steps.

• Pick a song.

• Put out a video within the next 2 weeks. Yep. I don't care how "ready" you think you aren't. You'll never be. This will force your practice sessions to be more focused.

• When you do perform/record, this adds an extra level of intensity. This is what you want.

• Upload it and put it out there.

• This is for the people who say that their videos "get no views": PLEASE PROMOTE YOURSELF. Show your family and friends. Put it on Facebook. Share it on Instagram and/or TikTok. Join music Discord channels and share it there. And the biggest one that's helped me is share it on Reddit. If you're in the same nerd genre as me, there's a subreddit for anything and it even branches into different subreddits. As an example, a Warcraft song could be shared on ClassicWoW, WoWClassic, WoW, Warcraft, etc. (Just make sure you read the self promotion rules or ask the mods so they don't ban you (Sorry /r/starwars)).

• Side note: When it comes to being a musician out on the internet, it's not enough to have "how to play your instrument" be the only skill you know. You're the audio engineer, the video editor, the producer and the marketer. Don't sit and complain about "the algorithm" when you aren't putting in the effort yourself.

• The first one is done, now go forth and iterate, iterate, iterate, iterate. That means you should keep looking for ways to improve while at the same time making sure you're consistent.

Go take action

At the end of the day, you're releasing music in the world not for the fans or sub count, but for the type of musician it will make you.

My past musician self that would rush songs, play parts sloppily or just skip parts completely is a lot different that the current musician self who can't hide.

You're putting yourself out there.

The red light is staring at you.

It's time to perform.

Thanks for reading! Please ask any questions or give feedback.

Go check out my music here.