The Music on YouTube panel took place on Saturday at Summer in the City 2015. It featured creators including Meghan Tonjes, Hannah Trigwell and Joel Berghult. It was chaired by Mark Douglas.
The panel was very well attended and topics ranged from the difference between covers and originals, how they can make money as musicians, and what advice they would give to other musicians.
The creators on the panel were Hannah Trigwell, Meghan Tonjes, Joel Berghult, Mark Douglas, MikeyBolts, and Kier from Fearless Vampire Killers. The panel took place in Panel Room A.
The panel began with Mark asking a few questions about cover songs. All the panellists agreed that covers were a good way of getting exposure, but they all had their own style to differentiate them from the originals, including MikeyBolt’s version of Rap God by Eminem in the voice of Stewie from Family Guy. Joel added that it was best, if you were planning to upload original content, to do it early on, otherwise your audience may only be interested in your cover songs.
Mark later asked the panel whether they feel pressured into YouTube vlogging in their channel at all. Meghan said: “There’s such a culture of falling in love with a personality [on YouTube]… I think the first ten videos I didn’t say a word.”
At the end the panellists were asked for one piece of advice they’d would give to musicians on YouTube.
Kier said his was to “really think about your own identity and personality, what your audience is going to be and how you want to present yourself”.
Meghan’s advice was to always record everything you do, as you will forget it. She said: “I take a lot of voice notes… I’ve got out of the shower before because I just kept humming something over and over again. I was like, ‘Well maybe I’ll go back to that later’.”
During the questions at the end of the panel one of the audience members asked whether the panellists considered themselves to be YouTubers or musicians. Meghan’s response was both: “At the end of the day I’m a musician, but YouTube is a place I’ve grown up on… Being a musician has made me a better vlogger and being a vlogger has made me a better musician.”
Photos by: Ollie Ali
Want more from Summer in the City 2015?
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