As I browse the forum, I notice I’ve become sensitive to the amount of music being shared through YouTube with the gear in it vs. being shared through Bandcamp / Soundcloud.
Am I the only one fatigued by this? It’s a though topic because I know everyone has their own preference, but I just don’t see the need for seeing the gear used time and time again. In the end it’s about what my ears hear and not what my eyes see. And if a track is good I do not want to go to YouTube to hear it.
Does not showing your gear make a track less interesting? Not in my opinion. In fact when I see music released on YouTube with gear all I can think of is how it’s being used to make something seem more interesting than it really is.
While this might not be a thread that pleases everyone, rest assured that the point is not to attack or devalue anyone that makes music for YouTube. Simply trying to get this out my system and have an honest talk about it.
I think Music has lost its mystical creativity status. Now AI can do a track on the fly its become more about the ‘gear’ to show a computer wasn’t used. Sad time in music.
that’s exactly my problem with youtube. I don’t care how people share their music but I hate that youtube forces you to keep phone open to listen.
I love catching up on the music from this forum at evenings while chilling after a beer or two and it’s a real moodkiller when the music abruptly stops because screen turns off.
95% of ‘synth YT’ is guilty of this, but also i value the synth YT folks for showing what is capable with each piece of kit. i’ve done so myself, but only as a showcase of the gear’s capabilities/etc…not as a way to sell the ‘music’ being made.
Insta is huge with this too…lots of blinky lights and people live tweaking their 3 pieces of kit arranged on a table with a plant to create a vaguely interesting ~40 seconds of sounds. 95% of the time, it wouldn’t stand on its own as a ‘track’ tho.
in both cases the prevalence of video graphics of a variety of means is cool and interesting, sure, but generally shouldn’t be necessary.
however, humans (and those of us in the current modern era’s social media landscape) are being tuned towards visuals along with all things. why write a good article when you can make a mediocre video? why write a good song when you can make a mediocre video?
not trying to gloom-and-doom anyone doing that stuff, it CAN be done in good ways that expand the music’s experience, but often it’s the opposite, it’s using visuals in place of the music.
edit: i should clarify that i mean humans are generally visual creatures so we’re naturally drawn to visuals, obv of course but ^ there i’m implying it’s all social media training us to like cool visuals but that’s not all ‘their fault’
It’s funny that you mention this now, since I was cleaning the whole apartment while listening to the soundtrack of The Last Mohicans. Some music allows me to sit still and some music gives me too much energy to sit still. Lying tipsy on the couch with headphones on and listening to Leo Kottke has made me very happy a few times!
I find myself more attracted in the performance than by its final product (the track) or in other words, I guess that being able to watch/understand the creative process, ends up adding something to the “raw value” of the song/painting/sculpture/whatever
On a side note, my musical taste switched a lot towards stuff I’d like to make with my own gear, since I entered this rabbit hole a couple of years ago. Maybe that have an impact on this, but I was always attracted on the “how it’s made” side of things tho, so I guess it’s mainly a personal thing/approach at everything.
yyeee I’m not going to install Brave, too controversial for me, I don’t watch that much youtube for making it worth it… I’d rather pay google the premium rather go with the cryptobros browser…
also I don’t think that having 3rd party extension is the solution to youtube forcing to watch rather listen…
I don’t mind youtube vids with gear, but I’m just as happy with just the audio in a link. I rarely watch youtube videos regardless, unless it is a tutorial or demonstration of something. It lives on the second monitor.
Ah well, I still don’t know what crypto is, or bitcoin or nfts … I only know ntfs … as usual I just wait until that stuff is history as AOL and some other cyperspace cr_p is the hype
However, my point is rather, other browsers may have the same function. Haven’t found it in Safari though.
Unfortunately for me synth YT is different from any other type live music on YT; or the ratio of watching someone play the tuba versus someone abusing the OT fader is something like 30:1. My brain bundles synth YT videos in the same category as “product videos”, “pesky ads”, “imfomercials”, “pundit talk shows”, “mr beast”, etc., and since I don’t need nor want to buy gear I don’t need, I simply do not click on them, and avoid them like an STD so that they do not contaminate my feed. I don’t care if the synth Youtuber is a famous musician or not: I just have no interest in synth YT, and I admit that I probably miss on a handful of cool music tracks that I could’ve stumbled upon, and switch to another tab or app window and just listen to in the background.
I also find synth YT to be a bit lazy. This was emphasized the other day when I had finished a piece of music and I wanted to make a video of it. I gathered a few ideas and I was ready to do the work but then just sat there with the computer in front of me kinda dreading spending an entire day putting a video together. Then I thought, “shit, why don’t I just record my desktop screen and do a ‘Bitwig run-through’, and call it quits?” I caught myself, scolded my ass, and did the work.
To state the obvious, having video of the performance will get more views than a static picture. YouTube also pushes these videos more.
It’s a shame we all have to play the game, but discovering a low view, low sub channels amazing jam can be rewarding. In a silly way makes me feel happy and lucky, as it happens so rarely amongst a saturated stream of 4 bar loop uploads.
We don’t though, you can release music on labels, send to DJ friends and get listeners from all around the world.
The consensus that one needs an online presence to get heard is a bit wrong imo. Most artists you’ll find being played in clubs, etc are not making YouTube videos. There’s also a reason you rarely see a YouTuber gain any momentum outside of their circle, it’s because the music is not really worth it once you don’t see the gear.
99% of the population doesn’t care about an Elektron box being used, they care about if the like something or not.
a different game! and it’ll get its own special youtube video, with a picture, as part of the publishing process anyways, i dont know that many labels that aren’t reliant on an online presence.
i’m on your side and agree, but don’t blame the players for playing.
I record/upload to both “types” and listen/watch both as well.
I use YT as a scrap book, I don’t record noises or sounds that one I might spend all day chopping up into a track, I sit down for half an hour/hour then before I go back to my life I record what I’ve managed to make and how I did it. I had tones of vids taking up space in my phone so one day just decided to put them up to YT to save space on my phone. Whole bunch of my scrap book unedited/mixed demos and in that sense it’s great.
I upload tracks that I’ve put some more effort into for listening as opposed to watching.
As what I prefer to watch or listen to other folks stuff on, meh don’t care, depends where I am. I always listen on the go, walking/driving somewhere, working or doing something. I never listen when sitting down, if I’m sitting down with time to kill I’ll watch some videos. Horses for courses.
