I’d imagine that I am not alone in saying a vast majority of my ‘dedicated’ study time is spent on websites where I watch videos for pleasure. That’s right, YouTube.
The little red play button that sucks you in, chews you up, and spits you out three hours later after you’ve fallen for the WatchMojo trap of clicking ‘Top 10 Nostalgic Candies,’ which undoubtedly eventuates to ‘Top 10 Conspiracy Theories of All Time.’
When not perpetuating conspiracies, my favourite things to watch on YouTube are live performances from some of my favourite bands. I’ve always enjoyed seeing these intimate performances and re-works of songs, especially now in the current climate.
See throughout YouTube, there’s a bunch of channels that specialise in putting on these small gigs to broadcast out into the world wide web. Many of the best, in my opinion, come from radio stations that have lately been capitalising on fans like me. When stations get bands in to play on their show, there are live listeners of course, but the past decade has seen a massive rise in the recording of these performances – which eventually gets posted to YouTube. American stations such as NPR and KEXP, British BBC Radio 1 and even Australian Triple J have all quite successfully created renown with their channels, racking up millions upon millions of views each.
Being local, Triple J has become a real source of Aussie pride for me with their broadcast segment – Like A Version. In Like A Version, which is held every Friday morning at 8 am, artists come to the Triple J studio and following a short interview perform one original track and a ‘version’ – a re-imagining of another artists song. In 2005 the goal was to collect these recordings and create a compilation CD, but the rise of the Internet saw a new market – Videos to accompany the tracks.
Since the establishment of its’ channel on YouTube in 2008, Triple J’s account has gained over 620 million video views and well over 1 million subscribers. Estimates of earnings from ad revenue reach up to $66,000 a month. That’s just from YouTube alone, reposting these videos across other social media platforms, such as Facebook and Instagram, has also seen a massive boost in views and support for Triple J.
Now Triple J is a government-funded radio station, which aims to specialise in alternative and Australian music. A revenue boost as big as estimated would do wonders for their budget. Additionally, having such a large online presence combined with open support for the Aussie music industry is a major factor in the rising popularity of so many Australian artists, who often seem to soar into fame following any kind of Triple J airtime.
While I don’t quite know exactly what my research for BCM241 will entail, I do know this: There is a massive market for live music performances that are a little less-than live. I am one of the millions of subscribers who enjoy the shared space that is created by these radio stations turned YouTubers and would love to delve deeper into some of the concepts explaining why people love hearing artists play songs that aren’t their own, and how it became so popular.
Sources:
Image 1 – youtube.com
Image 2 – npr.org/series/tiny-desk-concerts/
Image 3 – abc.net.au/triplej/
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