Your perception of YouTube/IG/TikTok drummers

finally someone who know s what he's talking about 😄 no not me; River above
 
bermuda said:
That's been my observation as well, and the gist of this thread. I guess these drummers don't think about being a musician and interacting with other musicians... and I don't understand why they wouldn't consider going all the way with their talent. Do video views really replace the applause of a live crowd?
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People are becoming much more used to interact with others virtually and not so much in the real world.
Yes some will be perfectly happy with just "likes" and comments in their social media page.
Consider how lots of those people grew up, basically they only know social media.
We grew up when the internet was not available to the masses so we interacted in person.
To us, it seems very abnormal to not want live interaction, to them its normal... A sad side effect of technology and bad parenting.
(to give you the example, I grew up having video games available, I would have spent a lot more time playing if I was allowed to, but I wasn't so I had to go out and play with other kids, soon the video game was forgotten and burn all that energy). Basically NONE of my friends were fat because none of us were couch potatoes. Now being a couch potato is normal too. :(
 
Chris Whitten said:
Because of the algorithm, anyone who wants to make a living on Youtube HAS to make content that attracts views, comments and subscribers. It was easier in the beginning, but now there are thousands of drummers trying to be popular on Youtube. So the content is quite narrowly focussed and most people follow it. There is also a strict timetable - the advice is to post regularly and consistently (like once a week on the same day every week) and the content has to be consistently engaging and good.
I actually think a lot of working musicians in the real world have more creative freedom and more choice as to what to work on.
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That has proven to be false, I can make a channel that gets thousands of daily views if I pay for views, My content could be terrible yet I would have the views to back it up. If I have views I can monetize and if I monetize, I can pay for more views, so anyone could make a living doing that even with mediocre content. Clearly not everyone is paying for views and likes, but there are a lot of creators doing it more so than you think.
This is just one example of people cheating their way to "success":

 
One of the other challenges with long term YT "success" is that once you establish your niche with both content, quality and length of video, it is hard to deviate without starting over with a second channel and trying to get your viewers to subscribe to both.

If for example you build your following initially by investing a bunch of time and effort in a really well produced and slick production with regular 1 or 2x per week uploads on the same days.......if you were to start skipping uploads, or reduce the quality of your video and content....suddenly your videos get buried in the algorithm and only those with notifications of your new postings will begin to see them.

Another quirk is the fact that YT itself is basically a crack dealer.......new content creators are identified and will be given some prioritization in the algorithm to help some of their initial videos to "go viral" or catch fire in the hopes that the dopamine hit from "success" encourages that newbie to create more and more and more and go down the rabbit hole......remember at this point they are not monetized so there is no cost to YT to encourage these new druggies.

Then once they are in the meat grinder.....they enter the roulette wheel of "the algorithm" and are forced to constantly create, innovate, produce content etc. to even see any actual $ from their ad sharing piece.

Without a sound business plan on how you will leverage the YT platform and then "jump off" into an adjacent business/gig to make some $, you will just circle the drain with the millions of other YT creators. By sound business plan I mean......a targeted and focused plan to build Patreon followers via courses, tutorials, etc. where maybe the goal is to get to 1000, 2500, 5000 etc. Patreon subscribers providing $1-$3/month each which is then real income.......

Which is why I actually ask some drummers constantly posting "look at me vids" on the gram or YT....."what is your goal with these types of videos?".........most don't have an answer other than "building my likes"........OK, to what end? Are those people going to pay you money? Offer you a gig? Record deal? I ask them not to be a dick, but to maybe have them pause and think about what their next step might be with whatever talent they truly have.....

Just my $0.02

EDIT: If the goal is purely entertainment.......and you post videos to build a small community etc. with no focus on $.....then go nuts..... but I wanted to address the "YT creators making a living on YT".....
 
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I post one-take drumming clips on my personal YT and Instagram accounts, but have no intention of running on the hamster wheel of endless content creation and monetization. I do it simply because I *can* and because I and (possibly) my handful of viewers get a kick out of it. It's not a crime. Yet.
 
bermuda said:
There's no question that many of the drummers who are known for their online presence can play the drums. Some are quite proficient on the instrument. But how do you feel about their status as a drummer/musician?
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Such a long thread.. sorry if this has already been mentioned but my take on it is;
- I am tired of being bombarded on reels and feeds with someone demonstrating yet another silly drum fill or pattern that I would never use in a real playing situation. Out of the 1000s that pop up on my social media feeds.. maybe one or two were cool.
- the superspeed drummers like el estepario siberiano are astounding and entertaining to watch.. but eventually the shtick wears thin.. I'd really like to see what he can do in a really great band. I know he did tour with bands and found the lifestyle and money unrewarding - which is why he discovered Youtube and amassed a huge audience. I'm glad he's enjoying what he's doing and hope he leverages it to further his career.
- I enjoy some youtube drummers that use it as marketing tool to promote their music in clever ways. Like Louis Cole and Clown Core.. I hadn't heard of him.. but after seeing his videos I jumped at the chance to see him play live when he came to town at the Jazz festival. Fantastic show.. amazing drummer.
 
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I don't have much time for vids that aren't displaying how a person covers a song. Because I'm constantly having to learn new songs.
I like El Estepario's short playing takes. I watch some lesson developement stuff. But have almost no interest in reaction vid junk. Telling me what to think abiut something turns me off.
 
Stickman said:
Such a long thread.. sorry if this has already been mentioned but my take on it is;
- I am tired of being bombarded on reels and feeds with someone demonstrating yet another silly drum fill or pattern that I would never use in a real playing situation. Out of the 1000s that pop up on my social media feeds.. maybe one or two were cool.
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There was this guy who posted youtube videos once a week about cool fills, I discovered him on r/drums on Reddit. For about a month I dug what he was playing, but then he started playing fills to just made no musical sense and were overtly complicated (which, coming from me, says a lot). After a few weeks of that I stopped paying attention to him. Forgot the guy's channel name.
 
I want more action and less talking in vids.
 
I think the need to become a star or be applauded by a huge crowd is a measure of insecurity instead of musicianship. Playing live is a choice, a certain type of job or a fun activity for those who enjoy doing it. So is playing on youtube. I couldn't care less what other people do.
And what about musicians who are dead and cannot play live any more..? Why do they get a pass? :) Aren't they less worthy now?
 
One thing Mary Spender does really well is lift the lid on the reality of social media and Youtube in particular.
People who earn some kind of living off Youtube are a business, that is their chosen career.
When you start out you are making weekly or monthly videos with great content and good production values and earning absolutely nothing. If your channel grows you become consumed seven days a week trying to come up with quality content, scripting it, filming it then editing it.
That's why people burn out. If you can keep the channel growing you then hire people to help you.
I know a couple of career YouTubers and they have a team. They are not superstar YouTubers making a lot of money, they are more mid-level and making a decent living.
Just like all social media it pays to be in at the beginning. There is so much well known drum content on Youtube now, it would be hard to start a channel today and build a big enough following to make a living at it. The people who ARE doing that started 5 - 10 years ago.
 
doggyd69b said:
That has proven to be false, I can make a channel that gets thousands of daily views if I pay for views, My content could be terrible yet I would have the views to back it up.
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And that's going nowhere. If the content is even 'average' (better than terrible), you will have to keep paying for views because when you stop paying your views will fall off a cliff.
I now someone who paid for thousands of Instagram (fake) followers. It didn't really do them any good because they still only got a few hundred likes per post. Companies are wise to the fakes. If you have 200,000 followers on instagram but only 250 likes per post it's a massive red flag.
 
Matt Suda said:
Seems as though the assumption is a drummer with a strong social media presence is not playing live or playing with other musicians outside of their content.

How do we know these drummers aren’t playing in their local scene or working on other projects that aren’t featured on their channels?
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Because part of being a Youtuber is having a strong social media presence that generates more interaction and sends traffic to your main money making outlet - Youtube.
YouTubers post on platforms like Instagram daily, so you can see if they are making a record with someone that day, or are setting up at a gig. They usually are not.
Also, as I know a couple of career YouTubers, it IS true that Youtube is all consuming. People barely have the time to write songs, or make personal projects outside of the grind of posting Youtube content regularly.
 
For me I see it as an ad for services. I am going to say it, don't know if I should and not sure if it is even correct but the name pops up, i think it is Samus66, maybe wrong, but this person is the only one I have seen that is actually making money playing on youtube. It comes off as a resume, or a marketing demo letting the world see him play, and offering drummer for hire service. I find that to be an excellent way to put yourself in front of as many people you can to get the phone ringing or emails and messages and so forth. I really cannot think of a better way to advertise your availability. Although the player I am talking about is prepared to be put out there. He is very ready to play that style of music. He also gets to use the videos to show his personality some. However, I do not have the same opinion exactly on the cover tune drummers. I have not sat here and put enough thought into posting an answer about them. I am specifically talking about using youtube as a marketing tool to get hired. In that band. I think it is a great idea for the ready to go, fully prepared drummer to say hire me. Building a fan base before you join a band adds value to your part in the band. Smart.
 
Most people looking for a drummer are song writers. I think a great advert for your services as a drummer is playing a cover song with great skill, taste and a good sound. Not many YouTubers who do the super fast, super technical drum solos get picked to join a touring band.
You are right, it is the ideal shop window, but the type of video drumming that gets notoriety and therefore gets you noticed, is generally not the kind of drumming touring or recording musicians are looking for.
 
Chris Whitten said:
Most people looking for a drummer are song writers. I think a great advert for your services as a drummer is playing a cover song with great skill, taste and a good sound. Not many YouTubers who do the super fast, super technical drum solos get picked to join a touring band.
You are right, it is the ideal shop window, but the type of video drumming that gets notoriety and therefore gets you noticed, is generally not the kind of drumming touring or recording musicians are looking for.
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This is my world reality.......all the work I do is for songwriters.......they want tasteful relatively simple parts in the cliche of "serving the song" as that is near and dear to them and they aren't reaching out to me to play some 32nd note quintuple paradiddle-flam flam into their chorus......
 
Chris Whitten said:
And that's going nowhere. If the content is even 'average' (better than terrible), you will have to keep paying for views because when you stop paying your views will fall off a cliff.
I now someone who paid for thousands of Instagram (fake) followers. It didn't really do them any good because they still only got a few hundred likes per post. Companies are wise to the fakes. If you have 200,000 followers on instagram but only 250 likes per post it's a massive red flag.
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YouTube doesn't have actual people reviewing the content it is all reviewed by an algorithm so if someone is fulfilling the criteria (X amount of views) they will get paid, advertisers don't pay youtubers directly they pay YouTube. Yes if the content is mediocre the channel is going nowhere fast, but in the meantime it could still generate some revenue. Some people have a whole business just on reacting to some other people's music for example Elizabeth Zharoff "The Charismatic Voice" a whole shop of T-shirts and other channel related items and climbing. at 1.57 million subscribers and millions of people watching her average content really doesn't need to be great.

And before you challenge my answer yes people will review some videos that may trigger certain flags but usually not, the system will block them automatically. Imagine how many people they would need to review all the millions of videos that get uploaded daily?
Same with NSA and other agencies that "spy on Americans" they don't have the people or the time to do that...
 
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