Youtube for musicians by Adriel Rivera

Which social media platforms are best for content creators: YouTube, Twitch, or TikTok?

Almost every platform is great for content creators! There is no platform that’s better than the rest. What creators should be asking themselves is “what platform do I use the most?” and “what kind of content would I enjoy making?”. Once you’re able to answer these questions, you’ll find that the “best platform” for you may look different than what you expected. Every platform has its own culture, so find out which one best suits you and your content.

What are the differences between them? What is the type of content you can find on each social platform?

There are a bunch of differences between each platform. YouTube is full of high production value, long-form videos while content on a platform like TikTok is shorter and generally lower budget. But there are still many similarities. Even though the way content is presented on each platform is different, you’ll notice that every niche is still present. Music production tutorials can do just as well on TikTok as it does on YouTube! The same goes for any niche you may decide to make content in.

What is the most useful for you as an artist? And as a content creator/influencer?

My camera. A camera is the one tool that helps build your brand as a content creator AND as an artist. It can capture everything from photos, to behind the scenes, to music videos, to YouTube videos, but most importantly it captures YOUR FACE. Having your face connected to your music reminds your listeners that there’s an actual human being behind the songs they so thoroughly enjoy. Humans are social creatures. We connect with people. What some young independent artists seem to forget is that listeners become true fans only after they connect with the artist and NOT just their music.

What do you think about Tik Tok and Instagram becoming a career?

I think it’s totally viable. As the saying goes, money follows attention. If an artist can build a name for themselves on any social media and prove that they have the attention of an audience, all sorts of opportunities will come their way. Some artists box themselves into streaming royalties as their only source of revenue, completely oblivious to the fact that there are brands eager to sponsor and collaborate with influencers. With TikTok only growing in popularity, the influencers I’ve seen on the platform especially have it good!

Have you ever been reached out by any influencer agency offering management services as a creator?

I have not and personally would deny it! I like to have total control over everything I do, especially with my content. Because of this, I created The Unattainable Music Group – my development team dedicated to helping independent artists reach the seemingly unattainable. At the moment it’s just my editor Fezi and I, but I’ll be recruiting more team members as needed! This is my solution to managing my content as a creator, but others might take a different route. Biggest caution I can give is to do your research before trusting anyone with your content!

What do you focus your efforts on: being a content creator or a musician? What are the perks of each career?

From an outside perspective, it looks like I focus my efforts on both! Which at a time that’s definitely how it was. Now I’m lucky enough to have gotten to a point where I can focus more on what I love – which is my music. Once a week I’ll record a video, then my editor handles the rest. All the time saved from not having to edit allows me to hone in on my music while refining my craft and sharpening my marketing strategies. Since I’m still putting out content, my channel is still growing and I’m reaping the best of both worlds. As a YouTuber, I’m getting ad revenue, sponsorships, affiliate commissions, and exposure. As a musician, I’m getting streaming royalties and a dedicated listeners base that I can eventually sell merchandise and live tickets to. Oh- and I also get interviews with Indiemono, haha! With social media becoming commonplace, the lines between artists and influencers are starting to blur. I’m sure you know of at least one artist that created a TikTok page or YouTube channel, and at least one influencer/content creator that became a musician. If you’re an artist and haven’t started creating content yet, please consider it!

What is most important when creating content: quality or quantity?

While the quality of your content is definitely most important, putting out one supremely high-quality video every year won’t grow your audience. You need a balance. If you’re spending more than 3 days making one video then you’re focused on the wrong thing. It doesn’t have to be perfect, just good enough. Do that once a week and you’ll slowly but surely see growth!

What would you say to someone starting on Youtube?

Start with making content you like. If you don’t like the content you’re making, you won’t be motivated to continue. Once you are, make sure that content is discoverable. Nobody wants to watch a video titled “vlog day 1” if they don’t know you. Tutorials are one of the easiest forms of discoverable content, but you don’t have to niche yourself into education-related content. Take someone like Mr. Beast for example. Before he had the funds to give away millions of dollars in his videos, he was making content like “Counting to 10000 In One Sitting” and “What Can You Cut With Paper?”. Although they’re not educational videos, they’re still sparking curiosity and providing value to the viewer through entertainment.

Do you think there is a formula or tips to make a video go viral?

YES. AUDIENCE RETENTION AND CLICK-THROUGH RATES. I’ll get to why in a second, but first I want to talk about social media platforms from a business perspective because this ties into what I’m about to say. As a business, what’s your main goal? Make money. Most – if not all – social media platforms make their money from advertisers using their platform to run ads. Therefore, the more ads they show, the more money they can make. How do you show more ads? Keep people on the platform longer. How do you keep people on the platform longer? Show them content that they like.

Since social media platforms can’t ask everyone what kind of content they like, they need to find a way to measure how good a video is in order to decide whether or not to recommend it to more people. So, metrics that show how often people click on a video and if they watch it all the way through are good indicators of the quality of the content (a.k.a click-through rate and average view duration). In the case of YouTube, a video with an absurdly high click-through rate and average view duration will most likely keep people from leaving the platform, so YouTube will recommend that video to more people. The same goes for TikTok, except you don’t have to worry about click-through rates since videos are automatically shown to you on the “for you” page. If you’ve already started making content, look at your most viewed video and compare its click-through rate and average view duration to other videos you’ve made. I guarantee you’ll start to see a pattern!

What should a YouTube video include?//How can someone improve their Youtube algorithm?

A high-quality YouTube video is one that keeps the audience engaged. A good rule of thumb I like to follow is while I’m watching my video back, if I find myself zoning out or reaching for my phone, then I know I’ve lost my own retention. So, I’ll put something interesting in the edition or cut out redundancies to make it more engaging. If I’m not even engaged with my video, how can I expect anyone else to be?

My buddy TJ has a TikTok account (@2xstokes) where he talks about business and entertainment. After asking for my feedback on his content, I gave him the same insight as I just shared. When he went back to tweak his videos to make them more engaging, the next video he posted on TikTok ended up on a lot of “for you” pages and today has around 120K views. He’s since been able to make multiple videos with views in the five digits. Audience retention is fundamental in making good content on any social media platform. Get good at it!

Could you tell us some tips on how to get collaborations with brands?

The bigger your audience grows, the more brands will start to approach you. Don’t feel discouraged if you reach 3,000 subscribers and haven’t yet had a sponsorship. Your focus should be on making good content! However, if you feel your channel could be a great candidate for a specific brand to collaborate with, there’s no harm in reaching out! You might be denied or even ghosted the first few times, but all it takes is one brand to see your potential.