Casey Cooper (COOP3RDRUMM3R)

Hi Casey,

Thanks for joining in, it's always best to get info from the horse's mouth and I'm glad to learn you're not just a YouTube Drummer. I will stand corrected on my gig comments.

You need to understand that the term "YouTube Drummer" doesn't necessarily carry a lot of credibility, thanks to some unfortunate exploitation by certain well-known folks. Also, the original post in this thread really set you up as something extra special, which is a lot for any drummer to live up to.

I won't backpeddle on my comments however, you do need to work on locking-in with tracks. But at 22, you've got a lot of musical growth ahead. In fact, the learning process never really ends, there are certainly things I could stand to improve (perhaps not just musically!)

Also, my being a moderator doesn't mean that my opinions necessarily reflect those of the other moderators or the majority of the membership. I watch what I say for other reasons, but not because I'm a mod.

Anyway, welcome, and please feel free to contribute on a regular basis. I think you'll find everyone is pretty nice, when they're not jumping down your throat! :)

Bermuda
 
Casey, you're a huge inspiration to me and others. The first cover I watched was your remix "My Songs Know What You Did in the Dark" and it blew me away. I prefer to listen to your Get Lucky remix compared to the original song because it sounds way better. I think its cool that you stood up to to these guys bashing on your videos. You said so yourself that you didn't take lessons. You see a bunch of guys on YouTube playing on References that their parents bought with the A Customs they bought them. You play on Exports with cymbals you earned and sound wayyyyy better than them and have more exposure than them.
Thanks
 
Hey Bermuda...
It's funny, right after I hopped in the car tonight after re-reading your post that Casey had referred to guess what was on the radio?

Weird Al!

I chuckled right away, of course!
 
In Casey's post, he asked if anyone here plays with Bruno Mars...

Probably not, but Bermuda, correct me if I'm wrong but wasn't Bruno on Weird Al's recent album, Apocolypse?

("Check out this rad Boba Fett, he's playing clarinet!")

:)
 
A very eloquent answer I thought Mr Cooper.

Set a few things straight, but best of all agreed that you, like the rest of us, are always open to legit criticism in order to get better.
 
Casey,

I thought you handled this very well. It's tough not to get over defensive and bite back. You kept it professional I thought. As a drummer in his 30s who is getting back into it, I envy your age and skill level, even if there is room for improvement as some have mentioned. There is good advice here that was given so make the best of it. Keep it up.
 
there are videos on youtube of guys falling off of bicycles that have thousands of views, doesn't mean much. this is a drum forum, if your drumming isn't as good as its claimed to be, your going to hear it.
 
there are videos on youtube of guys falling off of bicycles that have thousands of views, doesn't mean much. this is a drum forum, if your drumming isn't as good as its claimed to be, your going to hear it.

Yeah pretty much this. When a youtube drummer gets this much praise, people want to see if they deserve it. We've seen average drummers rise to youtube fame, wherever that gets them in real life I don't know but I think it's reasonable for us to find it annoying if someone is cutting the queue, I mean that annoys us in any other area of life. Imagine you have a job and some new recruit comes along and gets promoted ahead of you when you're actually better at the job, that's annoying! Or your gf leaves you for a total douche bag but everyone else thinks he's great. But life isn't fair so most of us just let it be (I do).

I watched your most recent one, your drumming is really good, looks very rehearsed. I probably look a bit anti-social when I make a video but I would rather that than your plastic smile, but hey they probably encourage you to do that stuff. Are you over-rated? Yes, but I'm sure that kind of criticism will motivate you to want to live up to your hype.
 
"I appreciate you reading this, if you did. "

I did. I read the entire thread, as well. Personally, I think the OP set you up. The original vid set you up. Then I watched three or four of the vids on your channel, maybe 60 seconds each. Then I read more of the thread and saw the link for the live clip. Watched a minute or so of that. Finally got to here.

Someone, I think it was Bermuda, mentioned Travis Barker. That was my initial thought. Not a style that moves me very much, nor the music it's associated with. So, that makes me biased, I guess.

You do have a lot of energy. In the vids I watched I didn't hear any timing issues, per se. If you are going to play in a busy style like that, physically, it's to be expected you'll probably push or drag things now and then.

I, too, as others, was surprised at your presence on yt, or rather the response, all things considered. YT is a phenomenon of our age. It has started careers, finished careers, and continues to draw millions of people daily to be entertained, instructed, enlightened, and taken down every conceivable path of the information highway. Kudos to you for carving out a place at your age. God has blessed you with talent and a good attitude. I wish you well.
 
Yeah pretty much this. When a youtube drummer gets this much praise, people want to see if they deserve it. We've seen average drummers rise to youtube fame, wherever that gets them in real life I don't know but I think it's reasonable for us to find it annoying if someone is cutting the queue, I mean that annoys us in any other area of life. Imagine you have a job and some new recruit comes along and gets promoted ahead of you when you're actually better at the job, that's annoying! Or your gf leaves you for a total douche bag but everyone else thinks he's great. But life isn't fair so most of us just let it be (I do).

I watched your most recent one, your drumming is really good, looks very rehearsed. I probably look a bit anti-social when I make a video but I would rather that than your plastic smile, but hey they probably encourage you to do that stuff. Are you over-rated? Yes, but I'm sure that kind of criticism will motivate you to want to live up to your hype.

Everyone's response to what I said was very respectable and I'm appreciative of everyone who took the time to read about it from my point of view. Almost everyone's words are fair and I really do appreciate the constructive criticism, I know I have a lot of things to improve on and to hear it from those who know more than me is great, but your words really aren't as fair as everyone else's.

You look at me and my "success" as "cutting the queue," when it's the exact opposite of that. I don't believe you give me anywhere near the credit for what I have accomplished and the work I've put in. If a new recruit came into your job, took a similar job to you for WAY less money (if you divided my ad revenue from YouTube by the amount of hours I've worked to build my channel, I would be making about 10 cents an hour), and proceeded to work 16 hours a day almost everyday for a couple of years, would you say he is undeserving of the fruits of his labor just because he is younger or new?
Now I understand you probably have no idea what goes into creating a YouTube channel like mine, but in less than 3 years I have created over 500 videos, almost exclusively by myself (recording, mixing, editing, uploading, responding, etc etc etc) all while over the spring/summer/fall working 80+ hours a week at Turner Field to earn the money to pay for the gear I use in my videos and going to school and performing with Georgia State's marching band and basketball band. That has translated to way too many days where I get to sleep at 5 or 6am and wake back up at 8 or 9am to get started again. I'm not saying I'm, the only person who works their tail end off, but I am saying that if you think I haven't worked for what I've achieved and that I've cheated the system, you're off on that. Getting lucky is the only way to cheat the system. There's no substitute for hard work.

And the whole "plastic smile" is completely missing the point, too. You must not have watched much of my playing because 99.99% of the time I look constipated rather than smiling, but the times I do happen to smile, it's because I genuinely have the time of my life when I play drums and that's what I want others to have too.
 
Casey, if you are a believer (assuming the church video is based on conviction not a gig offer), back away from defending yourself, live your life, and give glory to God.

If you are not a disciple of Christ, spending time defending yourself on every negative point made still doesn't place you in the best light, know what I mean?

Just sayin.'
 
Casey, if you are a believer (assuming the church video is based on conviction not a gig offer), back away from defending yourself, live your life, and give glory to God.

If you are not a disciple of Christ, spending time defending yourself on every negative point made still doesn't place you in the best light, know what I mean?

Just sayin.'

Yes, I totally get you, and 99% of the time people say things that could warrant a rebuttal, they are ignored, but I saw this thread as an opportunity. It's my hope that anyone reading this may take away that hard work does pay off. I feel that's not such a bad thing. Anyway, I wish everyone the best!
 
I'll just try to keep it short.

First off, it's good to hear things straight from the person himself.

I think the lad's been misjudged as having everything handed to him on a sliver platter from the start. And after seeing a lot of his older and newer vids, I think he's improved a lot, which is pretty good.

Keep up the good work, Mr. Cooper.All I could say is best of luck to you in your future endavours.
 
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You look at me and my "success" as "cutting the queue," when it's the exact opposite of that. I don't believe you give me anywhere near the credit for what I have accomplished and the work I've put in. If a new recruit came into your job, took a similar job to you for WAY less money (if you divided my ad revenue from YouTube by the amount of hours I've worked to build my channel, I would be making about 10 cents an hour), and proceeded to work 16 hours a day almost everyday for a couple of years, would you say he is undeserving of the fruits of his labor just because he is younger or new?
Now I understand you probably have no idea what goes into creating a YouTube channel like mine, but in less than 3 years I have created over 500 videos, almost exclusively by myself (recording, mixing, editing, uploading, responding, etc etc etc) all while over the spring/summer/fall working 80+ hours a week at Turner Field to earn the money to pay for the gear I use in my videos and going to school and performing with Georgia State's marching band and basketball band. That has translated to way too many days where I get to sleep at 5 or 6am and wake back up at 8 or 9am to get started again. I'm not saying I'm, the only person who works their tail end off, but I am saying that if you think I haven't worked for what I've achieved and that I've cheated the system, you're off on that. Getting lucky is the only way to cheat the system. There's no substitute for hard work.

Before reading this post I may have agreed with Dre's assertion of Mr Cooper "cutting the queue" but this has changed my mind on the subject.
No, not the best drummer in the world (he admits this) but no one can deny the time and effort he's put into his videos and building his channel (if nothing else, the sheer quantity is staggering IMO).
 
Before reading this post I may have agreed with Dre's assertion of Mr Cooper "cutting the queue" but this has changed my mind on the subject.
No, not the best drummer in the world (he admits this) but no one can deny the time and effort he's put into his videos and building his channel (if nothing else, the sheer quantity is staggering IMO).

+1

Interestingly enough, a non-drummer non-musician friend of mine linked me to one of Casey's videos. When you grab the attention of someone who isn't a musician of any sort that says to me they must be doing something right.

Not really my cup of tea, but I respect the passion and love for the drums definitely. Good on you Casey.
 
Everyone's response to what I said was very respectable and I'm appreciative of everyone who took the time to read about it from my point of view. Almost everyone's words are fair and I really do appreciate the constructive criticism, I know I have a lot of things to improve on and to hear it from those who know more than me is great, but your words really aren't as fair as everyone else's.

You look at me and my "success" as "cutting the queue," when it's the exact opposite of that. I don't believe you give me anywhere near the credit for what I have accomplished and the work I've put in. If a new recruit came into your job, took a similar job to you for WAY less money (if you divided my ad revenue from YouTube by the amount of hours I've worked to build my channel, I would be making about 10 cents an hour), and proceeded to work 16 hours a day almost everyday for a couple of years, would you say he is undeserving of the fruits of his labor just because he is younger or new?
Now I understand you probably have no idea what goes into creating a YouTube channel like mine, but in less than 3 years I have created over 500 videos, almost exclusively by myself (recording, mixing, editing, uploading, responding, etc etc etc) all while over the spring/summer/fall working 80+ hours a week at Turner Field to earn the money to pay for the gear I use in my videos and going to school and performing with Georgia State's marching band and basketball band. That has translated to way too many days where I get to sleep at 5 or 6am and wake back up at 8 or 9am to get started again. I'm not saying I'm, the only person who works their tail end off, but I am saying that if you think I haven't worked for what I've achieved and that I've cheated the system, you're off on that. Getting lucky is the only way to cheat the system. There's no substitute for hard work.

And the whole "plastic smile" is completely missing the point, too. You must not have watched much of my playing because 99.99% of the time I look constipated rather than smiling, but the times I do happen to smile, it's because I genuinely have the time of my life when I play drums and that's what I want others to have too.

I don't owe credit for anything and I think being a great drummer is an accomplishment not to be confused with being big on youtube (and besides, I did say you are a good drummer). You chose to put that work in and building your youtube channel is for your own benefit, not ours, we see the drumming for what it is.

RE: cutting the queue; Consider that Virgil Donati has 6,000 youtube subscribers. Travis Barker has 84,000. You have 330,000. Where do you think you stand next to Virgil Donati as a drummer? You are a cool drummer but a bigger part of your fan base was earned with pop song choices, stick tricks, lots of cameras, loads of spamming, knowing what appeals to teenage drummers and non-drummers and whatever else, and there's a term for all of that. Congratulations on that but if some ugly guy with one camera in a dimly lit room plays better drums than you, I (and the guys on this site) would rather watch him, hence some of these comments.

I understand your frustration and I'm not trying to be a jerk in saying any of this, though I probably look like one now. I just think it's an interesting topic, and in my opinion commercialism changes music and musicianship, and not for the better.

And I'll say it one more time - you are a good drummer.
 
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I appreciate you reading this, if you did.

Have a great one, work hard, jam hard, and have fun!

Cooper

Hey Casey,
I read every word of it and to put it simply...you're awesome. You even respond well to criticism. I'm a big advocate of hard work, and I can tell, through many different observations, that you are a very hard worker. That value of hard work not only shows through your videos and YT channel, but also through your forum post.

Keep on jamming. You are an awesome drummer and you truly inspire me to become the best drummer that I can be.

Thanks for taking the time to stop by the thread!
 
You look at me and my "success" as "cutting the queue," when it's the exact opposite of that. I don't believe you give me anywhere near the credit for what I have accomplished and the work I've put in. If a new recruit came into your job, took a similar job to you for WAY less money (if you divided my ad revenue from YouTube by the amount of hours I've worked to build my channel, I would be making about 10 cents an hour), and proceeded to work 16 hours a day almost everyday for a couple of years, would you say he is undeserving of the fruits of his labor just because he is younger or new?

Now I understand you probably have no idea what goes into creating a YouTube channel like mine, but in less than 3 years I have created over 500 videos, almost exclusively by myself (recording, mixing, editing, uploading, responding, etc etc etc) all while over the spring/summer/fall working 80+ hours a week at Turner Field to earn the money to pay for the gear I use in my videos and going to school and performing with Georgia State's marching band and basketball band. That has translated to way too many days where I get to sleep at 5 or 6am and wake back up at 8 or 9am to get started again. I'm not saying I'm, the only person who works their tail end off, but I am saying that if you think I haven't worked for what I've achieved and that I've cheated the system, you're off on that. Getting lucky is the only way to cheat the system. There's no substitute for hard work.

I'd rather see you doing something creative and your "own" rather than watching another cover drummer on YouTube. Use your talent to create, not replicate.
 
I'd rather see you doing something creative and your "own" rather than watching another cover drummer on YouTube. Use your talent to create, not replicate.

Musicians aren't required to create in order to be valid as musicians, or to have a career in music, or to just have a good time. Each player has their own particular goals for what they do with their instrument, and concepts of success also vary. I replicate parts, have a successful career and enjoy respect from my peers, and have a blast. I do very little notable creating and have almost no personal exposure on YouTube, but most people regard me as being successful (and I'll admit that I've achieved everything I ever wanted, and more.)

What that means is, people have different levels of success doing different things. Casey does well at the YouTube level, where I probably would not (if I decided to promote my playing that way.) But I also have a long career, built in the traditional way, and also a 35-year head start on Casey. Only time will tell if he will do the same, given his start with YouTube on his resumè.

Actually, I started a thread a while back about what (if anything) becomes of YouTube Drummers, and how they regard any success with getting views. Again, time will tell.

Bermuda
 
Exactly where did it get him? Apart from revenues from the ads that are allowed to run in their entirety, is he known beyond YouTube? Is he gigging? Does he have a career drumming as a result of the views?

Or maybe I'm the one who's been doing this all wrong, getting paid to play with other musicians in front of live audiences... what a chump I am. :(

j/k of course, but I wouldn't trade all the fame on YouTube for whatever it is I've achieved in real life.

Bermuda

Yeah Bermuda - what the heck are we doing playing for money in front of people? That's just crazy talk! Actually having to suit up and go be perfect while on stage is just certifiable!
 
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