Posted by Spencer Morasch on September 07, 2008 at 12:16:30:
In Reply to: A Top 15 Hit That Never Charted! Thanks Spencer! posted by Mike Riccio on September 06, 2008 at 19:03:41:
Mike - Appreciate the plug for my YouTube channel!
This has been quite a ride since posting my first record 5 months ago in early April. I have been hearing from people all over the world how much they enjoy what I post. There is an incredible amount of passion for this music, and it really comes through in the comments! I really enjoy being able to finally share my record collection, which has sat in my garage for decades.
It's fun to post a record, and within just minutes start to get listeners and feedback!
Since starting up in April - here are the stats:
270 uploaded videos of 45's
330,000 total views
Recent average of between 3000 - 4000 views per day
295 Subscribers
Demographics:
0-17 - 5%
18-24 - 3%
35-44 - 15%
45 - 54 - 48%
55 - 64 - 28%
65+ - 1%
Listeners primarily from: USA, Canada, UK & rest of Europe
Female - 23%
Male - 77%
The Top 5 (ranked in order of total number of views)
Hooked On A Feeling - Blue Swede - #1
Hurdy Gurdy Man - Donovan - #2
Bad Time - Grand Funk - #3
Love Really Hurts Without You - Billy Ocean - #4
Burning Bridges (Kelly's Hero's) - Mike Curb - #5
Yes - by following Mike's link, you can get a view of all the videos ranked from #1 in order by number of views. That Holly's song really surprised me - and in fact, MOST of the other heavily viewed videos surprised me too - such as Shame Shame by The Magic Lanterns. While I can't say scientifically what is doing this to *certain records*, but if you take a look at some of the comments - listeners are PASSIONATE about the music - so much so that they take the time to write a note about it! This music is touching something deep inside them, and they are voting with their mouse!
As this has been happening all Summer, I've given a lot of thought as to how it relates to traditional radio surveys. This one is obviously technically flawed - for right now the records that have been posted the longest have the most exposure and the tendency to rank higher. However, as time goes on, that should even itself out. Plus, this is just from a total universe of less than 300 records. Some real big obvious songs are missing (such as Hey Jude), so it is not a fair comparison. BUT - You can see some trends emerging from the data so far. Except for just the raw total number of views, I don't know how else to interpret all the data yet. Perhaps this could make for an interesting discussion at our next gathering!!
One thing that is not noticeable from a viewer's perspective is that I as the owner have access to a lot of behind the scenes data that YouTube makes available. For example - I can view the demographics just on EACH record posted. There are surprises there as well!!
The one overall thing that I do see, based on all the public comments made, as well as private messages - is that many enjoy hearing the music exactly as they remember - short version and all! Plus, many have long ago lost their records, and really enjoy just watching the record spin while playing. This is something that an MP3 can't give you. There is something nostalgic for us who grew up with 45's by seeing the record label, hearing the needle drop with some pops & crackles in the beginning and watching the label go round and round. So I'm giving this to them in a virtual way.
Plus - The label contains a lot of info normally not commonly found that easily - Who wrote the song, the producer, record label, time, exact title, exact group name (early Cream was known as The Cream), etc.
My biggest concern are copywrite issues. YouTube has a three strikes and you're out policy. So far I got one (Prince). Two other larger 45 RPM posters just had their accounts suspended. They are slowly returning. We are now learning from where the complaints are coming from, so that should help. I often use the WNEW analogy about copywrite issues. The history is truly repeating itself here. WNEW was the first radio station to play records, and they got sued by the record companies who thought that would take away from their sales, as customers would simply listen to the radio for music, rather than purchasing it. Well we all know what happened when the record companies found out the opposite was true. The same is with YouTube. Except for some computer geeks who have figured out how to convert the YouTube Flash format into an MP3, for most of the public, they would rather simply download the music from iTunes or Rhapsody, then jump through hoops and convert the YouTube to MP3. The same was true when anyone could tape a song off the radio for free. It happens, but is very minor compared to the majority of the public who would simply rather purchase the music in an easy to use format, rather than recording the radio's music, editing, etc. I'm hoping that those few record companies and artists who have a problem with YouTube wake up and realize what a great promotional tool it is. The Rolling Stones & Abkco Records have already figured it out.
Thanks again, Mike!
And thanks everyone for listening!!