Published 15 April, 2020

Date: Tuesday 14 April 2020
Location: Zoom
Speakers: Jess McGuire and Ant McCormack (Changer Studios)

In response to the COVID-19 crises the VMDO team have developed innovative digital solutions for events, workshops and resources to support the music community.

On Tuesday 14 April, we held our second VMDO Virtual Networking Breakfast via Zoom with Ant McCormack (co-founder, Changer Studios) speaking in conversation with Jess McGuire (Music writer & broadcaster).

They spoke about the significance of video streaming for music discovery, key ways to take advantage of YouTube as a creator and maximising your chances for success.

What is Changer Studios?

Changer Studios are all about short form online video, a lot of which is available on YouTube. The company has been running for 7 years and predominately focuses on education, development and new ventures with creators. Changer Studios work with businesses, individuals, media companies and production companies to understand the online video space. They do this through education programs such as the upcoming YouTube for Music workshop and they also run high performing and focussed programs such as Creator Accelerator. 

Changer Studios have a unique partnership with YouTube and work across Australia, New Zealand and South East Asia delivering these workshops focussed on music, animation, gaming and much more. They work with beginner creators with zero subscribers, through to advanced with millions of subscribers. 

What does the music industry need to know about YouTube?

YouTube content has developed in recent years from originally offering short, throwaway videos such as Charlie Bit My Finger and cat videos through to much deeper and engaging content. This isn’t just related to one off videos, but channels too. The music industry has also changed dramatically in the recent years not only in terms of streaming developments, but also with the video content available. YouTube is the most dominant streaming platform in the worldwide music business. 

YouTube is more than just music videos, it’s an engagement platform and that’s where the new form of music creator engagement is coming from. Musicians are building their own audiences through different content, outside of just music videos. 

What are the most important elements of a music video in 2020?

A music video at its core hasn’t changed, but typically the production budget isn’t there unless you’re a really big artist with major label support. Artists are having to get more creative, on tighter budgets. An example of being smart about the way that people consume content is Drake’s Hotline Bling and the way it was designed to appeal to meme culture. Having an understanding of how the short video space works and how people consume content is really important. And even now, TikTok continues to change the way music is consumed. 

The upside for artists is you have easy access to building an audience and engaging with them on your own terms. It’s the same with YouTube entertainment creators, often there is nowhere in traditional media where they can find an audience but there are opportunities to find and develop a global fanbase through short form video content. 

Are there hard and fast rules about how often you should be uploading content?

There aren’t any hard and fast rules, the key is consistency and quality over quantity. You should be uploading content at a consistent rate, whether it’s once a week, fortnight, month – whatever works best for the content creator. The tone should also be consistent, in terms of the type of content you’re uploading as this is the most effective way to build a loyal audience. Don’t do content for content sake, as it will most likely be a waste of time. Play to your strengths.

What kind of content is most effective for musician creators building a YouTube audience?

In terms of the type of content, it depends on the artist and their audience. It could be interesting to take an insiders look into your creative process, if that’s the right angle for you, e.g going into detail about how you write, create and compose. One great example is Tom Thum, who will be speaking at the upcoming YouTube for Music workshop. Tom’s main platform he leverages off is YouTube, for example he posts tutorials on how to Beatbox. He also shows his audience his creative process and how he layers tracks. As long as the content is genuine to the artist, it can go a long way. 

How can you monetise YouTube?

One way to monetise YouTube is by using Super Chat on live streams. You can also utilise your channel to sell to your audience, with merchandise as an example. YouTube is a really effective way to go direct to your fans. Unless you’re a really big channel, don’t think about YouTube and the ads as a monetisation platform. YouTube advertising revenue is the cherry on top. It’s nice to have but can be quite unstable and fluctuates based on views. Remember, YouTube advertising revenue is mainly out of your control. 

What about using YouTube to collaborate?

One great example of this is when Tom Thum reached out to his subscribers and asked them to record themselves making a sound. He received over 500 submissions and he used 100 unique fan sounds to compose a completely new track. A content piece like this really builds fan engagement. Even if you have 1,000 subscribers and you get a small percentage of them involved in a video like that, you can build a really great piece of content. It’s the equivalent of a shared group experience you would have at a live gig, but translating that experience to online. Right now is a great time to consider collaborating with other musicians who you may be creatively aligned with, some of which might have significant followings online. 

Is the upcoming YouTube for Music workshop suitable for artist managers?

Yes, as there’s so many misconceptions about how YouTube works so this workshop is a great opportunity to understand that landscape. We’d encourage anyone from artists, managers, labels and a variety of others in the industry to RSVP. There aren’t enough musicians globally taking advantage of different short form video opportunities on YouTube, so this workshop is a great place to start.   

Is it important to consider different countries and territories on YouTube?

Not so much, unless your music is very genre/country specific. YouTube is built around audience content preferences, rather than audience location. 

Can you speak more about the upcoming workshop on Thursday 23rd April?

YouTube for Music will be a deep dive specifically on actionable things music creators can do to understand YouTube better, how it works, how the distribution of content works and practical tips you can apply to your channel now (e.g what you can do with a backlog of music videos and tips for new content). 

And what about the Creator Accelerator program?

The Creator Accelerator program is a 4 week intensive course with 10-12 creators, where experts and guest speakers from all over the world will help the creators grow their channels. It’s framed for more advanced creators and applicants will need to have good foundational knowledge about YouTube. We’re recommending having 100k+ subscribers, or if you’re not at this level you’ll just need to explain why you’re ready to take this next step in your application. 

If you’re using both TikTok and YouTube, can you use the same content or should you have different strategies for each?

Typically, you would want different strategies and content for different channels. It then becomes a matter of sustainability in order to keep that up. The content you’re creating for TikTok may translate to YouTube quite well but on YouTube you’re building deeper engagement with your audience and it is seen to be a ‘stickier’ form of content. With all of the different platforms available, you should consider where your audience is at and spend the majority of your time there. It should be noted that a few creators have edited the content they originally created for YouTube down into short form for TikTok. It’s easier to edit down rather than to expand back up.

The VMDO are very proud to announce Victoria’s Digital Creator Program delivered by Changer Studios, supported by the Victorian Government. The program includes a series of free online workshops designed to help you get the most out of YouTube and is part of a new partnership between the VMDO, Film Victoria and Creative Victoria.

Upcoming Workshops and Opportunities:

Creator Accelerator Program - Applications close: Wednesday 15 April, 5pm

YouTube Workshop: Music - Thursday 23 April, 6pm