YouTube Changes

The more observant among you who also watch my YouTube videos may have noticed things have been a little bit different over there since the new year rolled in and I decided it's probably time I explained a few things.

You may have noticed that videos have been going up weekly at around 6pm on Monday nights. I've not made any kind of announcement that this is going to be a schedule because, to be perfectly honest, I'm not great at sticking to schedules. It is definitely not set in stone that I will be uploading every week or what I will be uploading but I do have a vague idea of what I would like to do to guide myself a little bit.

My plan so far, which will probably change very quickly, is to have an outline of what I will upload every month. My plan at the moment is that the first Monday of every month will see a new original song that I've written recently and I'm still deciding on the others, meaning they are the ones that are likely to change. I'm considering doing a mashup on the second Monday of every month, a song that I've been requested to cover on the third and then having the last Monday of every month (or last 2 when that happens) as a bit of a 'wild card' where I can upload whatever I feel like uploading. These could be just a song I'm really loving at the moment, a song I've always loved but never got around to recording and uploading or maybe even a vlog if I feel the need (although vlogging really is not my forte, I'm far more comfortable with a guitar/ukulele at hand).

As well as this, you may have noticed my thumbnails for my videos have suddenly become all fancy and wonderful. This is thanks to my lovely friend Ishani who, if you read my book blog you'll know, designs pretty much everything I need designed. 

The quality of my videos has also changed a little. I tried filming on both my normal video camera (a very old sony 'bloggie') and my phone, an iPhone 5C and noticed that the quality of the video from my phone was far better. It just looked brighter and more colourful so I've decided to film on that from now on. I know a few YouTubers who film on their phone and you can never tell as there really isn't any difference and I'd rather do that and have brighter videos than have to worry about how bad the artificial lighting looks!

Hopefully, this year my YouTube channel will start to be what I wanted it to be when I created it all those years ago: a place where I upload regularly, don't really worry too much about what it is I'm uploading as long as I like it, and somewhere where I can share the music I love and the music I'm creating to more and more people. 

Lucy x

Jon Cozart's 'The Truth About Disney Princesses' TEDxYouth@Austin Talk

Having found Jon Cozart (aka Paint)'s After Ever After video with the rest of the world last year, I very quickly became a fan of his. I think he's an incredible singer and a very smart guy who seems to be able to very clearly see what will go viral, a skill I think we all wish we had! I just came across this video and although what he says is pretty simple, he has a very good point.

In his TEDx talk he says 'if I don't give people a reason to click away, they're not going to click away'. Such a simple thought but one that's entirely true. He later goes on to say that this means he's careful about the quality of what he posts from the material itself to the production of it all. I'd never really thought about it before watching this talk but Paint must be one of the very few channels on YouTube with 2 million subscribers+ that only uploads new content every few months (if that). Despite not uploading content weekly like most YouTubers have to do to retain their audience, every single video Jon Cozart has uploaded to his channel has well over a million views. This means he must be doing something right.

His mantra about not giving people a reason to click away obviously works, his view count and subscriber count show that, but it would be naive to think that's all there is to it. Although, as a content creator myself, I wish it were that easy, I'd be willing to bet that nearly all of his subscribers are there because of his wonderfully unique content. Sure, the production of it helps, it's always nicer to watch a video in HD rather than one that looks like it was filmed in the 1950, but his views are that high because he has a real talent for creating unique and interesting content.

Do you have a theory as to what makes a good YouTube video/YouTuber? Let me know in the comments below!

Lucy x

Upload Tour 3 and YouTube/Celebrity Culture

The Upload Tour returned last week and I went to the Cardiff date (Wednesday) with a few of my friends like last year. This year seemed different which is why I thought instead of doing a review like I did last year I'd try and contribute to the discussion that seems to be going around the internet at the moment regarding YouTube Culture in the context of how it affects events like this. This is a pretty long post because I have a lot of opinions on this subject so I'd suggest grabbing a cup of tea and getting comfortable. (I also will not judge if you skim read or skip sections).

The discussion on YouTube Culture, which started when Louise from Sprinkle of Glitter posted this video, is one that seems to have snowballed very quickly. Although I was tempted to write a response I wasn't planning to due to the huge amount of video responses and the insightful and interesting points they raised which made me feel that I had nothing original to contribute, however, after going to the Upload Tour 3, I feel the difference I noticed between last year's Cardiff YouTube gigs, both Upload 2 and the Summer In The City Warm Up Tour, and this tour was huge and I believe that was down to this 'YouTube Culture'.

Last year I went to Upload 2 with 2 of my friends and we went purely because we wanted to see eddplant and bribry perform live. We were there for the music and nothing else. We had no idea that there would even be a possibility of meeting the musicians afterwards and because of that we were over the moon when we were able to. The same goes for the Summer Warm Up Tour. Although we'd been to Upload 2 so knew the possibility of meeting the musicians was there, we went to see Dave Giles, doddleoddle, Tom Law and musical Bethan sing and were pleasantly surprised when they came out before hand to meet those of us who were waiting before the gig and have a little chat and then again when they did a meet and greet afterwards. For my friends and I, that was the same with Upload 3. We went for the music not for a meet and greet. It would appear that other people, not just at the Cardiff date from what I've read on the Facebook event, went purely because they wanted to meet Dave, Luke, Emma and Bribry, which is why they then seem to have been rude when they weren't able to.

Obviously I only know what happened at the particular date of the tour that I went to and can only speak from what I've read online, mainly from Emma Blackery's post on the Facebook event about people being disrespectful in lines and at meet and greets and then from her tweeting about some people who were rude when told they wouldn't be able to do a meet and greet. All I know first hand is that in Cardiff on Wednesday, Dave Giles told the audience that he was ill and loosing his voice and him, Emma, Luke and Bribry all seemed as though they were a little bit fed up. Whether this was due to the fact Dave was ill or that, as she told us, Emma had suffered from anxiety earlier in the day or not, they were very open about the fact that people on previous tour dates hadn't been respectful during the meet and greets and I think it's fair to assume that that impacted their moods.

Although I don't know it as fact, I'm fairly sure this lack of respect comes back to the same element of YouTube culture that Louise talks about in her video. In the video Louise talks about the way certain viewers at meet and greets and similar events overwhelm her and how she doesn't agree with people idolising her because, as she puts it, 'we all started as the same'. It definitely seems that people at these kind of events forget that the people they are meeting/watching perform are people too and I've seen multiple video responses to Louise's video talking about how we, as viewers and creators alike, need to imagine the other complexly. Essentially, both viewers and content creators are complex human beings with individual lives and, despite how hard it may be at times, we really need to remember that. 

Personally, I feel that it's such a shame that some people miss out on things like meet and greets due to some people being disrespectful, rude, or just, let's be honest here, overreacting when meeting someone. I'm not saying that when meeting someone you admire you shouldn't be excited or happy or any of the other emotions you might be feeling, I'm just saying you need to remember you're meeting a person and try and keep the fangirling to a minimum, at least while with them. You can go home and fangirl with your friends as much as you like, just don't do it infront of who you're meeting.

It seems as though I'm not the kind of person who 'fangirls' when meeting people I watch on YouTube or who's music I listen to or anything similar but I honestly believe that's because I make a conscious effort not to. As a musician myself, I know that if I want to get anywhere in the industry I need to remain professional, especially around people I admire which is why I make this effort. For example, during the Upload 3 gig Dave Giles asked if I was there because he wanted to say hi and then afterwards, while I was buying merch, came and gave me a hug. For those of you who haven't read the posts I wrote about the Upload 2 or Summer Warm Up gigs, despite only knowing of Dave and his music for little over a year I'm a massive fan of his and I think he's an absolutely fantastic musician, so much so I covered a song of his recently on my YouTube channel. Knowing that he not only recognised me and remembered my name but also went out of his way to say hello to me whilst he was on stage was amazing and I don't think he'll ever know how much it meant to me. But I didn't 'fangirl' or 'freak-out'. 

At the time I was confused as to why I didn't but after having some time to think about it and let it sit in my brain I think it's a combination of the recent discussion on YouTube culture making me realise that it's important not to think of people in the public eye as something they're not and the fact that, ultimately, I respect Dave too much. Although I was surprised by the fact he remembered me I realised that, as I've met him twice before, covered a song of his on YouTube and spoken to him online asking his advice on a few things before, there was no reason for him to not remember me. I realised that just because he's a much more successful musician than I am and he makes videos on the internet, doesn't mean he's any different to anyone else, he just has different talents and a different job. 

Although the discussion at the moment is very much about YouTube culture rather than celebrity culture in general, all the points raised from this discussion got me thinking about, how as Louise said, everyone starts out the same. It can be really weird to imagine your favourite celebrities doing day to day things like going to bed at night or having a lazy day at home, but we, as fans, need to ask ourselves why that's weird. They're just as human as everyone else.

Ultimately, although it can be difficult to remember at times, at the end of the day, all people are the same. They may be incredibly talented in a certain area and they may have a different job to what the majority of people have, but that doesn't mean they should be treated differently. Although YouTube is definitely evolving and the gap between viewer and creator is growing constantly, it's important to remember that, regardless of subscriber count, someone who runs a channel with 3 million subscribers is exactly the same as someone who runs a channel with 3 subscribers. 

Even the fact that the process of creators and viewers meeting used to be called 'meet ups' and is now referred to as 'meet and greets' shows that the YouTube community has shifted from a mutual relationship to a very one-sided, celebrity-like scenario. It's probably too late to reverse this but it's never too late to change attitudes, which is why we need to constantly try to remind ourselves that we are exactly the same as these 'famous' people. Who knows, maybe one day we will be able to change attitudes towards those in the public eye.

If you've made it to the end of this post, first of all congratulations for reading all of that but secondly, please leave me a comment letting me know what your opinion is on this issue. It's something I've been thinking about a lot and would love to discuss!

Lucy x

On a related note, I recently watched this video from Candice (aka CandySomething) on people saying they wish the YouTube community could be like it used to be and it's definitely worth a watch. It fits well with the theme of thinking of people/things as something they're not.

Life Update! (100 Subs, New Uke and Gigs)

For the past week or so I've been painfully close to 100 subscribers on my YouTube channel and just when I'd told myself to stop obsessively refreshing the page and just patiently wait for an email, the email came.

It is utterly mind-blowing to me that there are 100 people out there in the world who care about my music enough to want a reminder every time I share something new. I started my YouTube channel in January 2012, after being inspired by the likes of Tyler Ward, Boyce Avenue and Savannah Outen, because I'd been writing songs for a while but had kept them to myself and not played them to anyone. I'd also been working on becoming a better singer (and musician in general) and I wanted a way for me personally to track my progress. I never really thought anyone outside my closest friends and family would want to listen to it but here we are, nearly 2 years later with 100 people wanting to listen. I'm aware that to many people 100 subscribers isn't very much (especially when compared to the 'bigger youtubers', many of who have reached 1 million) but to me it is definitely a lot.

In the time since I started my YouTube channel a lot has changed. My musical style has evolved and I'm much closer to finding the type of musician I want to be, although I'm still not quite there. I've had the chance to have feedback from some musicians I really admire and I've even got a few of my friends considering setting up their own YouTube channels because they've seen me do it. The fact that I could have even slightly inspired someone else to follow their dream, even if only a tiny portion of it has been from me, makes me so happy. In September I started at a new school and with that came a massive change in environment. I've left a school where it was considered a 'weird' thing to post videos online of myself singing and I was told to give up because nothing would ever happen from it to an environment where they encourage it. My friends at my new school have all subscribed to my channel (something not many from my old school did), tell me often that they like my music and ask about gigs and are trying to come to as many as possible. This change in environment is amazing and I feel so lucky to be in such a positive, encouraging place surrounded by such supportive and lovely people.

Along with the excitement of reaching 100 subscribers, I also bought a new ukulele yesterday! I've been saving up to get a new one for a while and as I'm starting to get into playing live gigs a lot more than I ever have before now it made sense to get an electric-acoustic one so I don't have to rely on the venue's having enough mics. I went to a lovely music shop in Cardiff (G. M. Music) with 2 very specific ones in mind (both Ibanez) and surprisingly, chose almost straight away when I saw them (this is surprising because when I was buying my guitar about a year and a half ago we were in the shop for an hour and a half with me playing 2 different ones trying to decide. I'm not a very decisive person to say the least).

Lastly, I'm playing a lot more gigs! Although they're all very local it's still progress and although I've played live for a number of years at competitions and such it's very exciting to be asked to play more than one song, especially as it all sort of happened by accident. A friend of mine was helping organise a fundraiser for his rugby team and asked if I'd play and since then I've been asked to play another 3 in the lead up to Christmas. Along with the subscriber milestone, the fact people in my town are starting to talk about me is very exciting because it feels like what I've been working hard at for a few years is starting to pay off. When I was younger I was never much of a singer but it was something I had my heart set on and with hard work (and constant practice!) I feel like I've come a long way. I still have an even longer way to go but looking back on my old videos does make me realise that the hard work is definitely starting to pay off.

All in all, my life seems to be getting crazier by the day! With starting my A-Levels came a work load like I've never known and then adding all of the music things on top of that everything seems a little hectic, but I have to say, as tiring and chaotic as it sometimes seems, I'm loving every minute of it.

Lucy x

Summer In The City Warm Up Tour (Cardiff)

On Wednesday this week (7th August) my friends and I headed into Cardiff for the Sitc Warm Up tour to see Tom Law, Dodie Clarke (doddleoddle), Dave Giles and Bethan Leadley (musicalsbethan), and let me tell you, it was fantastic.

Soon after we arrived at the venue (around 4pm with the gig scheduled to start at 7.30pm) Dave came outside to say hello and Tom and Dodie arrived at the venue (with a quick comment about how we were earlier than them) and went to leave their instruments inside before coming straight back out for a chat. The 3 of them stayed outside chatting to us (there were already quite a few people in the queue, maybe around 20...ish...) and taking photos for a while before going back in to get ready for the gig. The reason I wanted to mention this is because, to me, that is what YouTube gatherings used to be like and I wish they were still like that now. A small group of people got the chance to meet people whose videos they like and also make friends with other viewers. It was so lovely to get to spend time with Tom, Dodie and Dave like that and I can't really imagine a similar situation where you would get that chance these days because everything's grown so much (take sitc for example!). I know that the majority of gatherings are still just a group of people meeting up in a field somewhere but even then it can be difficult to talk to content creators because there's often a lot of people there. I'm not trying to say that bigger events like vidcon and sitc are bad, I think they're a fantastic chance to get to see a lot of content creators you like in one event but I definitely understand why people say they miss how gatherings used to be.

The gig itself was fantastic. I've watched Tom, Dodie and Bethan's videos for a long time now and Dave is honestly one of my favourite musicians at the moment and I've been listening to his music constantly since Upload 2 (and I'm STILL loving it despite listening to each song hundreds of times). Clwb Ifor Bach is such a lovely, intimate venue and we ended up sat on the floor for most of the gig just enjoying the music. As a fan of acoustic music, I loved having the chance to listen to them all play in that kind of environment and at the end of the gig they turned all the electric equipment off and played a song each with just them and their instrument while we all sang along (still sat on the floor).

They had a meet and greet afterwards but because I managed to get photos with them all before the gig I just took photos of my friends with them (who didn't manage to get photos before), bought an EP off Tom (which is fantastic, I've already listened to it loads) and went to have a photo with Bethan (Bethan didn't come outside before but she did say in the gig that she's ill so I assumed that was why she didn't. She was as lovely as the others in the meet and greet! I did have a photo with her but it didn't turn out great). I also mentioned quickly to Dave how much I appreciated him taking the time to comment on my YouTube video and he said that it was no problem, it was a good video and one of his favourites from Upload which made my night!

 

Overall, it was a really fantastic gig and they were all
so nice! I really enjoyed getting to spend time with them before and if you get the chance to see any of them live I'd definitely go. Also, if you haven't heard of them before please do check out their YouTube channels because they're all fantastic musicians :)

Lucy x

Becoming YouTube Episode 10

If you haven't yet seen the latest episode of Becoming YouTube I suggest you watch it before reading this because otherwise it might not make much sense. Also, this is a bit of a long post so you might want to go grab yourself a cup of tea or something before you sit down to read it (please do still read it though, I'd love to hear what your opinion is). Right, got your tea? Here we go...

I've just finished watching the latest episode of Becoming YouTube, the series created by Ben Cook that follows some of the popular (British with the exception of Hank Green) YouTubers and it has really left me thinking.

Yes, they did make light of a very serious situation by making the last section of the video into a musical but  I think Ben's monologue (rant) in the middle of the video is really the main focus and we all need to really think about what he said. Although I would consider myself a viewer of a lot of YouTubers, possibly even a fan depending on the way you look at it, I've never been the type of person to send gifts via P O Box or to have 'fandom' tumblr or twitter acounts. Personally, especially in the case of YouTubers who are mainly just people who occasionally film a few minutes of their lives and upload them to a website, I've always found that to be an invasion of privacy, like crossing some sort of invisible line between enjoying what they do and appreciating their hard work and creativity and entering their 'personal space'. If they wanted you to know something about their lives, they would share it with you via one of their many social media platforms.

Now having said this, I would be lying if I said there wasn't a part of me that likes to speculate over who's dating who or who's really friends outside the realm of the internet but I remind myself of what I said before in situations like this. If they wanted us to know, they'd tell us. It's not our place, as viewers to demand information from them about their personal lives and they shouldn't have to tell us every tiny little detail about them. That's when it goes from being a perfectly harmless appreciation to getting, well, a little bit weird.

One of the main things that had me thinking after watching the video is what Ben says about people sending things to YouTubers. In the video Ben says...

'Most of you would prefer to send presents to your favourite YouTubers than you would to your own family, or, heaven forbid, someone, somewhere in the world, who actually needs aid. Syrian refugee crisis? Yeah, well, why bother? Send food packages to pointlessblogtv instead.'

The scary thing is, it's true. Think of all the time, effort and money people spend sending things to their favourite YouTubers or tweeting them or trying to get their attention for that longed for acknowledgement that they deserve so much more than everyone else because they've been around since the dawn of time (or 2007 as most people call it). I've honestly never thought about this myself until Ben brought it up in the video but once you notice it, you realise just how awful it is. How can people justify spending money sending things to YouTubers when they then claim they haven't got the money to spare to give to charity. What if, instead of spending time watching videos and leaving thousands of comments about how amazing their hair looked people watched the video and then did something more productive with their time like volunteering or even just doing something they love to do and could help their future (for me, this would mean spending more time writing songs or practicing guitar or something similar). What if the monetary value of paper, envelopes, postage and anything else that is put in the contents of the package was given to charity instead of using it to send things. 

Like a few of the interviewees say at the beginning of the video, YouTube has the power to change the world mainly because of the sheer number of people that it reaches. Think how easily videos go viral these days thanks to Facebook getting in on the action and people sharing videos on there too. Think what a drastic change could be made if the content creators managed to find something they all collectively care about strongly enough and we, as viewers, took on board every single word they said.

I really think that this video of Ben's will make a big change to the YouTube 'world', at least I hope it does. I hope that people think about what they're planning on sending to their favourite YouTubers and think of someone more deserving of their money like the people who care for them or people who actually need aid. I hope people think about the personal boundaries that have been set by the people they're watching and respect them before deciding to 'ship' people to the extreme, past the point of it being harmless until it just makes people feel uncomfortable. I hope people think about the content they're watching and actually listen to what people are saying rather than just choosing to watch because, as Ben puts it, they want to see a 'British boy with a fringe'. 

I realise that some of the things I've mentioned here may be hypocritical of me, it would be stupid to think I have never done any of the things I've listed, but what is important is that I've listened to what Ben said and I've taken it on board and it's changed my outlook on things. I feel as if, for me at least, something to do with my perspective on content creators has shifted.

This episode of Becoming YouTube has really put a lot of things into perspective in my opinion and although I could probably go on for a lot longer about the various bits and pieces I picked up on, these were the main points that made me stop and think. 

What did you think of the episode? Do you agree that we should think carefully about how we're spending our time and money when it comes to sending things to content creators? Do you think if you want to ask repeatedly whether two people are dating that's okay? I'd really love to hear what you've got to say on this one so please don't hesitate to leave a comment or to start a conversation in the comments!

Lucy x