Comment by jeffwass | Hacker News Reader

Comment by jeffwass | Hacker News Reader

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Thanks for this Micael, very helpful info and your channel is pretty cool too!

Regarding the weekly video, are you saying you’d spend about 15-20 hours per week on that one video to get to the status you were at last year?

I’ve heard that regular releases are important for a channel to be picked up properly by “the algorithm”. Is this your experience, and is that a critical to keep up the cadence of one video per week?

I make music videos (basically myself playing keyboards) and have never really gotten a good long-term traction with “the algorithm” yet. Sometimes I get a burst of impressions for a few days with corresponding views and subscribes, but these come and go. I release ever few weeks, though some of my videos are shorts, or just a few mins long for a single song.

I think a weekly release would be a real challenge, but maybe that’s what is needed to get to the next step? For me the real time sink is all the time arranging and practicing to get to a point I’m confident to even film myself playing.

I spend on average around 10 hours per video. (1h ideation, 4h filming, 5h editing+thumbnail). I make at least a video a week, often 2 videos. How much time you spend per video will be up to you. There are successful youtubers who spend just 8h per video, while other successful youtubers spend A LOT more.

I think of every video like a lottery ticket. I know a certain percentage of them will become "hits", ie. give me 100k+ views. And I know the more videos I make, the more of these hits I get. I also know that over time I will get better and better at my craft, and increase the likelyhood of any video to become successful. I never had a schedule, and I don't beat myself up if I don't post a particular week. I just keep working on my videos a little every day, and post the video as soon as it is done. It has resulted in 1-2 videos per week over time.

I know that it is probably best to keep a schedule with strict times, because then the audience will show up once they learn the schedule. But I am always too eager and can't bring myself to not post immediately, and it has worked okay for me :) Most important thing I think is that you don't take long breaks of several months. I think your audience cares about consistency, but not the algorithm.

Thanks for the reply, very helpful.

Well done for maintaining that publishing momentum. That's a good strategy it seems, spending a little time each day, but enough to maintain a weekly video at least.

Will give it a go and see if it helps. Cheers!

I'm not 100% on youtube's algorithm, but I believe one of the points it hammers is that it's no longer about catering to the video but rather the viewer. So rather than think about weekly releases to play into the algorithm, it's generally better to focus on higher quality content that keeps people/your subs engaged throughout.

Schedules are important for fans, it's easier to grasp that they can check youtube at a certain day and see your new video over hoping they enable notifications. However if the schedule is far too much for you to handle, don't force a weekly schedule! There are plenty of channels doing great on a more spaced out release timing, but perhaps it's best to encourage some sort of schedule on yourself just to keep producing stuff.

As you said though you have to get to a point of feeling confident to even film yourself playing. That's your #1 over scheduling. Maybe livestreaming your practices could help with that, on the plus you would also have a bunch of livestreamed content you can edit down into future videos. Doesn't suit everyone and livestreaming is definitely its own challenge/realm, so it's just a suggestion! But I could see it being good for getting over that whole perfectionism angle we get ourselves into.

For music content specifically, it seems a lot of it revolves around the hopes of getting people aware of your content through fan stuff, and then pushing original stuff alongside it. So piano covers of video game music (for example) and then they also release original music; the former is easier to create/tag/practice, the latter establishes uniqueness amongst the sea of channels.

Thanks for the suggestions waboremo!

I never would have even thought to film myself practicing, I would have thought it would be way too boring for any of my subscribers to want to see.

Honestly I feel fairly camera shy, and in life I managed to roll a 3 in charisma :-) Luckily I don't need to speak in my actual published videos. But I'll give it a think and maybe try it out some time.

Yeah I mix it up w/ covers and originals. Every cover is in my own unique style, and has at least some bit of originality in it.

Definitely think a lot of creatives feel the same, that practice is too boring or too raw but it's just a part of the process! Some love seeing that process, and it gives them another way to connect, others don't really care but even just seeing the process on the channel can demonstrate authenticity.

Lots of options even if you don't want to show your face or voice as well. Like short videos on how do play the chorus of (popular media here), with text/graphics on the video to help people.

Don't discount external platforms as part of the entire journey, they can feed into each other. Twitch-Patreon-Youtube combination is really common, TikTok/Insta Reels instead of Twitch is another. Best part of such video-based combinations is content reuse, you don't need to generate new content per platform, fantastic for stretching out periods between intense recording sessions. Then add in platform specific content (like opening up some rough draft originals to Tiktok duets, encouraging people to add their own lyrics), and you've got quite a substantial cycle in place without much serious effort due to all the reuse!

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