On Monday of this week, August 29, 2022, my Youtube channel turned two years old. I posted my first video on August 29, 2020 and began a journey that I didn’t really know I was beginning. Or maybe I should say, I didn’t really know what it would turn into. The video consisted of 3 Beatles covers captured by my 720p webcam on my Macbook with audio coming from my Zoom H6 portable microphone. It was originally posted as a livestream to my facebook business page, “Nate Philips Musician/Artist.” Somehow and for some reason I can’t remember, if there was any reason at all, I decided to download that livestream from facebook and then upload it to YouTube.
First Video
This is a screenshot from my first ever YouTube video, posted on August 29, 2020. My first video just has the camera (computer’s webcam) placed in a random spot, with the room sort of in disarray, not cleaned up or organized at all. The video quality is horrendous… and the performance is full of mistakes and bits of talking that are kind of odd. But, as they say at “Think Media,” it’s good to start messy. And start messy I certainly did. I’m just glad I DID get started.
Dancing Man
There is a songwriting side to me… Although I haven’t explored it recently. In high school, college, and years thereafter I wrote many original songs with lyrics and guitar or piano parts. One of my early videos was a compilation of many different clips of me dancing in my room, from many different days (filmed with my iPad’s camera), set to one of my original songs. I still wish I could dance better, but alas, I’ve yet to learn.
Livestreams
Many of my early videos in 2020 were livestreams that I took from Reddit or Facebook and moved to YouTube. It was fun while it lasted, but after 2020 I stopped with livestreams all together. Who knows, maybe I’ll go back to it some day.
I did not know then that I would begin a long, intense journey that was going to become an essential part of my life. Many of those early videos from September and October 2020 were simply livestreams of me playing music on Facebook or Reddit which I edited briefly in iMovie and then posted to my channel. I also tried my hand at some educational content with these early videos such as: “4 Tips for Playing Music by Ear,” and “Tips for Improvisation in Music.” And then in December 2020 I got the wild idea to post 1 video a day for 30 days, which I actually did. I had much more free time when it all started. The pandemic was raging… lockdowns were still a thing… and I was unemployed. I had been laid off from my job as an ESL teacher in Trenton, NJ, due to the pandemic. Like I said, lots of free time.
And now we’re in August of 2022 (September, actually). I’ve been posting these videos for 2 years. I have posted 115 videos. Granted, 4 of them are Youtube “shorts,” which were considerably quicker and easier to make. But however you want to slice it, 111 long-form videos and 4 Youtube shorts or just 115 videos, it still seems, monumental, to me. It is astounding. It’s this big mountain of content sitting at my feet. I cannot believe I have made so much content. I cannot believe I kept posting consistently for 2 whole years. It has been… exhausting, but also, incredible. It has allowed me to connect with other Youtubers. It has allowed me to learn many new skills. It has allowed me to go deeper in my own music. But most of all, this whole YouTube journey has just… allowed me to share my music.
Yes, I know, that’s the whole thing. I’m stating the obvious. YouTube allows me to share… my videos. Videos of me playing music. But, if you sit back and really think about it, THAT is… the most incredible thing. Pretty much every day for the past two years, people have been watching my videos. Now, in 2020 when I started and for most of 2021 as well, it was a very small number of views. I mean, it was really, really small. 5 views per day. Sometimes 10. Maybe 20 on a really good day. Some days were as low as 1, 2, or 0 views. This year, 2022, is where it really started to pick up. For most of this year it’s averaging about 50 views per day. I’m not sure if it was the fact that my channel had already been around for a while and I’ve built a library of content which the algorithm can suggest to viewers, or if it was the fact that I went from posting once every 2 weeks in 2021 to once every week in 2022. Maybe it was partially because of all my new gear and new editing skills, which made my videos look and sound considerably better in 2022 than they did in 2021 or 2020. Whatever the reason, 2022 has had A LOT more views than other years (as well as more subscribers). But either way, with less views or more, the fact remains the same: every day, people were watching my videos and listening to me play music. Every day for 2 years. I just kept posting these videos and people were out there watching and listening. I never even had to leave my house! It truly is an incredible thing to think about.
This ability to share my music all across the world with the click of a button, and to have people watching it any time they want, is truly marvelous. I think we are so used to the internet now with the way we live, it’s easy to take for granted. But to me, to be able to do what I do with YouTube is just mindblowing. It wasn’t even possible even just 20 years ago. It still amazes me that I am a part of this journey I set out on. It still amazes me that people are choosing to watch my videos. It’s all just really.. amazing. It truly is.
I’ve learned so much in these first two years. My music is getting better and I’m learning more all of the time. But I’ve also learned a lot about video editing, cameras and gear, lighting, and all that stuff – technical stuff. It has become a fascinating new world that I’m exploring. And my videos now look and sound so much better than they did two years ago. There’s a long road ahead still. And I’d really like to get to 1,000 subscribers soon. But still, the journey and the process is perhaps the best part of the whole experience. Yes, there are many destinations to arrive at, but I’m just entralled to be on this journey. Thankyou to everyone who’s been on it with me!
All the best,
Nate
You continue to shed beauty on the world through your playing Nate!