INSTAGRAM / YOUTUBE DRUMMING CULTURE: LOVE IT? HATE IT? WHY?

*……..In the meantime trying to see where i accused anyone of speaking about durbs….lol…..*

Only said i completely agree with him..

Anyway, except the term “selfie-slut”, definitely not posted by durbs btw, i see no “blatant misogyny” in this thread untill now..

There are other threads on the forum with better examples regarding that..
 
Well, since you asked, only a few minutes search came up with this..

Btw, to be clear, i am not caring that much…..actually, couldnt care less….just agreed with durbs……lol…

Besides that, there are as many guys too who act like this..

I am also not judging them, since everyone is free to make whatever drumming video they like..

But i cant really look at “entertainment” like this..





 
Showmanship has been in drumming since the beginning, it helps get a non-drummer’s attention. If you have assets like cuteness, youth, humor, sex appeal...it gathers attention, this is just universal human behavior. Intelligent content requires audience effort and likely less subs/likes. Art and entertainment overlap and separate.

I think the musician of today needs many peripheral skills more than ever, not just the art of your craft and which is art as well. The YT medium is interesting, it is probably sustaining more music careers than music itself now a days.
 
Right, so I'm a bit conflicted on this... On the one hand, it's big platforms like this which can help spread the good word about drumming. These platforms also provide for great educational resources, etc. However, thanks to these platforms, I think playing drums can become a popularity contest, and chops and speed, can become the markers of great drumming.

As a self-employed drummer, I'm a firm believer that education is super important (I teach a lot, and love doing so), so I'm happy about it... Yet, I also record remotely for people all over world, and believe the most important things for drummers are musicality, good time and feel (of course, good sound, etc is implied here).

Where do you stand on this?
 
Right, so I'm a bit conflicted on this... On the one hand, it's big platforms like this which can help spread the good word about drumming. These platforms also provide for great educational resources, etc. However, thanks to these platforms, I think playing drums can become a popularity contest, and chops and speed, can become the markers of great drumming.

As a self-employed drummer, I'm a firm believer that education is super important (I teach a lot, and love doing so), so I'm happy about it... Yet, I also record remotely for people all over world, and believe the most important things for drummers are musicality, good time and feel (of course, good sound, etc is implied here).

Where do you stand on this?
YT is a tool. It helps me work through the moguls.
 
And actually, you know what? I'm gonna call some people out. Can I have some examples of female drummers who spend most of the time looking at cameras? Because honestly, even the women that people tend to blast here on DW, they generally don't look at the camera much at all.
Off the top of my head, Meytal Cohen is probably the biggest "offender" in this regard.

And I agree with @oldskoolsoul , I also find it annoying mostly because it feels like she's pandering directly to the audience instead of concentrating on the performance.

And no, that doesn't make her a "selfie-slut"/ bad drummer/ horrible person, etc (her videos are awesome), it's just a mildly annoying thing she does while playing 🤷‍♂️
 
Meytal Cohen doesn't look at the camera though (unless she does things differently now, I know 8 years ago or so when she was the hottest shit I never saw a video of her where she looked at the camera for more than like a second)

As far as the examples oldskoolsoul posted, I do have to give him credit. I'm not on Instagram, so there's a whole avenue of drummers I'm not exposed to. *But* as far as youtube goes, there's very few, if any, drummers that look at the camera while they play, or at least for large chunks of their videos.
 
Meytal Cohen doesn't look at the camera though (unless she does things differently now, I know 8 years ago or so when she was the hottest shit I never saw a video of her where she looked at the camera for more than like a second)
In this video (early on in her Youtube career) she has the temerity to look at the camera TWICE at 1:37 AND 2.58 (how DARE she)?? 😅😅

 
Yeah remember that's not what we're talking about. What the others were taking about were how these women social media drummers just stare at the camera while they're playing because they're making it all about them and yadayada.

I look at my camera in my drum videos occasionally, but no one calls me a selfie slut.
 
If a girl wants to dress a certain way or look into the camera while playing the drums, she can do that. If it makes you uncomfortable/upset/angry, that is a you problem.

Most of the girls I’ve seen do that also play like absolute beasts.

Guys get fresh cuts and fades, and play shirtless while making the dumbest faces into the camera... I wouldn’t call them a “slut” or anything close.

Also, the use of the term “slut” is fairly symptomatic of some misogyny but that’s all I’ll say about that. 🤷🏾‍♀️

Being a girl in the music industry, you constantly hit these “pockets” of old crotchety misogynists, ESPECIALLY here on forums. These are (unfortunately) “male-dominanted” areas, and the best thing I’ve learned to do is take note of it and move on. Chances are these “sluts” play circles around most of us here.
 
In this video (early on in her Youtube career) she has the temerity to look at the camera TWICE at 1:37 AND 2.58 (how DARE she)?? 😅😅

I followed her for a good minute early on and what had me bail wasn't her dress, 4th wall breaking or even her set up. It was her lack of playing with other people.
Sometimes she'd not finish a song (for whatever reason) and then move on to the next video.

So I didn't really understand what her reasons for making the videos were. Over my time following her, it seems she got a DW endorsement at some point as she went from DC Drums to them. Then had a major studio upgrade after.
Yet...no band to really speak of.

So for me she exemplified the "YouTube star" with no real musical purpose other than showing off her chops & the ability to cover a song.
This is all the rage now, so I hope she can get gigs from it. But to be honest, I haven't seen much of her of late.
 
Some times I really thinks that these cultures are evolving and are future of us!
The link is for Natural Beauty Textile.
Does Natural Beauty Textiles make drumheads or did you join here just to advertise a business of yours?

I promise you that will get you bounced.
 
I mean, if she's making a living making music, is it really that big of a deal she doesn't play live? Or with other people?

I know for me, and most of us, we get our biggest thrill playing with other musicians in front of an audience. But some people just like playing for themselves. Pianists and guitarists play solo all the time (although due to the nature of the instrument they can simultaneously provide melody and harmony, something most instruments can't do). And if she can make money by doing just that.....I mean, go her! Not my cup of tea, but whatevs.
 
i like this lass, shes only 23 and making a good go of it, shes still learning the audio side of things, but shes passionate, and enjoys what she does :) she found fame via youtube and instagram so some good comes of it :)

 
i like this lass, shes only 23 and making a good go of it, shes still learning the audio side of things, but shes passionate, and enjoys what she does :) she found fame via youtube and instagram so some good comes of it :)

Yes! I've seen some of her stuff, very cool. I would've guessed she was younger than I am, didn't know she was 23.
 
Damn I like her cymbals! Finally someone who is a youtube drummer not playing Meinl!

(for the record, I'm just not a Meinl fan, I think Byzance cymbals are the most overrated thing ever)
 
Damn I like her cymbals! Finally someone who is a youtube drummer not playing Meinl!

(for the record, I'm just not a Meinl fan, I think Byzance cymbals are the most overrated thing ever)
Agree to disagree, love meinl byzance. :ROFLMAO: They just sound/feel good (in my opinion)

But I see a lot of YT drummers with Zildjian or Sabian set ups (most of the ones I follow anyway). One of my first and all-time favorite drummers played TRX cymbals for a while, now Sabian.

K/A customs, Paiste or Sabian are the most ubiquitous. But Meinl is getting popular for a reason. I heard that their relationship with their artists is top notch, so maybe that's another reason why people are switching.
 
The other aspect I wish we had youtube when I was younger:

It sets a bar of where skills really are.

As a teen in the 80's, you listen to the radio, and ok, it was Bon Jovi, Guns and Roses, etc, and I'm all "ok, I can do that". Turn on MTV, and it's pretty much the same thing. OK, along comes Lars, I'd better learn some double bass. OK, got it.

And sure, you could get a cheap tape recorder and check yourself, but it was difficult to get much if any, real feedback on where you were as a player. And it was easy to think you were better than you were.

Sure, I was into Peart and knew about Weckl, Vinnie, Simon Phillips, etc, but they all seemed to be way out there, more of an exception than the rule.

If in 1988, you asked 50 drummers who are the top 20 current drummers in the world, sure, the order would be different, but all 50 would have a similar-ish list.

But now with YT, one can see there are a lot more highly, highly, highly skilled drummers out there. Competition is high. Just getting away with being to play the songs on the radio isn't going to cut it in the real world.

Now if you asked 50 drummers who are the top 20 current drummers in the world, the names on these lists would be all over the place. You might end up with 1000 different names if you complied them all.

Kids today have to practice more. They need to bring more talent. You want to know how you're doing? It's easy to make a video. It's super easy to check out 500 drummers at the same level as you and see where they are. Gut check time. If you need to practice more, there a ton of examples out there as to why you'd better practice more.

Not feeling it today? Here are a thousand more drummers on YT to motivate you.

If you think you really have your stuff together, a reality check is just a few mouse clicks away.

In 1988, I would have killed to have access to something like youtube.
 
The other aspect I wish we had youtube when I was younger:

It sets a bar of where skills really are.

As a teen in the 80's, you listen to the radio, and ok, it was Bon Jovi, Guns and Roses, etc, and I'm all "ok, I can do that". Turn on MTV, and it's pretty much the same thing. OK, along comes Lars, I'd better learn some double bass. OK, got it.

And sure, you could get a cheap tape recorder and check yourself, but it was difficult to get much if any, real feedback on where you were as a player. And it was easy to think you were better than you were.

Sure, I was into Peart and knew about Weckl, Vinnie, Simon Phillips, etc, but they all seemed to be way out there, more of an exception than the rule.

If in 1988, you asked 50 drummers who are the top 20 current drummers in the world, sure, the order would be different, but all 50 would have a similar-ish list.

But now with YT, one can see there are a lot more highly, highly, highly skilled drummers out there. Competition is high. Just getting away with being to play the songs on the radio isn't going to cut it in the real world.

Now if you asked 50 drummers who are the top 20 current drummers in the world, the names on these lists would be all over the place. You might end up with 1000 different names if you complied them all.

Kids today have to practice more. They need to bring more talent. You want to know how you're doing? It's easy to make a video. It's super easy to check out 500 drummers at the same level as you and see where they are. Gut check time. If you need to practice more, there a ton of examples out there as to why you'd better practice more.

Not feeling it today? Here are a thousand more drummers on YT to motivate you.

If you think you really have your stuff together, a reality check is just a few mouse clicks away.

In 1988, I would have killed to have access to something like youtube.
Very well said and if you want a real kick in the guts, post a drum cover to this forum 😄

I mean this in the best possible way of course- someone who gets a million views/ likes or whatever from Youtube alone may just have a strong social media following while receiving positive feedback from this forum is a bit more "legitimate" I guess
 
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