I think videos like this can work but they have a couple pitfalls:
Almost invariably they come across as “New music sucks!” or the milder but equally incorrect variant “Our old stuff was way better than this new stuff.”
In reality, pop music always has some hits and misses, across all generations. For every Cowboy 808 tune today there’s another by someone like Dua Lipa or Grimes. In fact all in all I would take today’s pop over the average pop of the ‘80s, which few remember, as it was utter shite.
Another pitfall is that it invariably invites genre comparison, which is never a good path to go down.
And on a personal note @JoshFossgreen, I think your personal strengths lie on the “bringing out greatness” side of the spectrum rather than the “slamming the mediocre” side. The latter is easy but you have a real talent for the former, which is not easy at all.
As for what you can do about this while still making reaction videos - I actually have a good answer here. You can do what I used to do when I was a music reviewer in college.
You can cheat
Back then I hated music critics that would tear down artists due to their own biases. So I decided to use my own biases for good.
I would sift through and select new bands that I actually liked and only review them.
It’s kind of cheating but my editors never caught on and as such I was able to help promote bands I thought were talented while hopefully introducing people to new music they liked. And it left room for constructive criticism and comparison that the bands themselves appreciated from time to time. One band even picked up some of my feedback and incorporated it in to their press kit, it was kind of cool.
This was much more satisfying than the usual path critics take and even if I was technically not doing my job at face value, it felt like I was doing something better.
So, cheat! Do reactions to stuff you really have insight into and which contain concepts you want to introduce other people to.
to echo @howard: what makes you great @JoshFossgreen is that you lift people up, not push them down.
while i get the intent of the video, and while i agree with many of your opinions, i don’t want to hear an entire video of you telling us what sucks. i want a video of you telling us what’s good.
It depends on what audience you are shooting for. I don’t think you are wanting to go after the audience who typically watches reaction videos for their entertainment.
I could be wrong but I think you are wanting to reach a more mature audience so like others have said, the vibe you brought may not have resonated with the more serious viewers.
I personally love the reaction/analysis videos, sort of the kind that Jack Conte and Ryan Lehrman used to do regularly. I learn so much from their analysis of songs, even if they are pretty much fanboys of everything they analyze.
To me, and to echo a bit of what’s already been said, it felt too negative given the tone of the rest of the channel. There’s a lot of bad vibes all over the place and it irks me when they creep into otherwise nice areas.
I’m not going to sit here and say that everything in the world needs to be happy go lucky kum ba yah shiny happy people everywhere. Frankly, the thought of a world like that disturbs me far more than any Stephen King coked out fever dream. I think there just needs to be islands. If I want some humor, I set sail for one of the laughing islands. If I’m in a bad mood, I turn towards the islands shrouded in storm.
Stick to the established tone. This is one of my happy islands.
On a side note: props to you, @JoshFossgreen, for making a post like this. Critique is a difficult thing to ask for, much less accept. While most content creators stick to “like and subscribe” as to the sole indicator of how people like the content, this kind of thing is a great indicator that you really care about your content and want to put out the best.
Edit because I keep thinking of “one more thing”: Reaction and “Top #” videos are and have always been popular and, like it or not, YouTube is a popularity game more than anything else. One thing to take a more positive spin on the reaction type of videos is to maybe do a bit more analysis type of approach. Instead of “this sucks as there is no bass let’s move on”, maybe try to focus on how the addition of bass could make the song better.
There’s a dude I follow on YouTube that has a series showing how EVERY song could be improved with a saxophone solo. He doesn’t tear down the song, he just shows how it could be tweaked.
Made me think of the “Listening 2 Britney” series of the Switched on Pop podcast. Two guys nerding out on vastly popular songs and disecting them down to the level of how her voice cracks. I’d love something like this but bass focused. Maybe that’s not what you were asking, but more videos explaining what the bass actually does in popular songs or genres and how it interacts with the other instruments and the overall composition would be so cool. You do it in the course and some of your videos already, but those are more centred around learning the bass line, iirc (not having watched all of them, I must confess).
Also: feature more Women on Bass pleeease.
I had read the forum comments on the video before watching it and thought it wasn’t as negative as it could have been. You did have some positive points in there, and your reactions were fun/seemed genuine.
As far as music goes, most of the top ten were not what I normally listen to and found it easy to agree with the bass disappointments.
I think part of the problem was the video was too similar to most other YouTube content out there. I agree with other comments here, it didn’t line up with what you do best!
Well @JoshFossgreen , I really hated that video, because I reject its premise. It’s why I stopped watching Beato. Enough of that.
I watch a ton of reaction videos, by different reactors. There are three kinds of reaction videos, one like you did for one. Next are reactions to the music. People hear music for the first time only once, but they crave that moment of discovery of a song, so they live vicariously through a reactor’s first time, and get some validation of their feelings. These are just popcorn.
The third kind is educational, where a musician brings their experience and enlightens the viewer about the artistry behind the song in some way. I think this is a niche you would do well in, no one is doing it from a bass perspective. There are drummer reactors, guitar reactors, composer, vocal, not a bass reactor that I can think of.
Here’s an example of one such by Elizabeth, the Charismatic Voice. She is an opera singer and vocal coach, and I learn a lot about how the voice works by watching her. Also how to listen to music
These reactions bring value, which is where I think your initial video did not. Also you need to bring your own voice to these things. Alan from Dicodec gets very technical and really breaks down the song.
I think you would do well in adding value.
Here’s a third version of this, a Shakespeare professor and musician breaks down a song, they each bring a different take on how to educate on a song
actually i love watching reaction videos to performances on stage, and love watching the surprised faces from yet another babymetal concert or any exhilarating Lindemann concert, but sometimes these bloggers just overplay their emotions lmao
As a fun side fact: I’ve done a lot of video related production throughout my freelance career. There’s an old saying that the camera adds 20 pounds to a person. The unknown rule is that the camera also subtracts almost all emotion. If you ever watch a recording in person then go back and watch the final product, you’ll notice that the in person subject seems almost comically over the top. Once you see the final one, it’s about normal. Or the person seems perfectly enthusiastic while recording they will always seem bored or bleh in the final. It’s a weird phenomenon and I don’t have the necessary college degrees to explain why.
The problem comes in when vloggers don’t really do the necessary self critique to figure out how much they need to turn it up during recording in order to come off as properly animated in the final cut and wind up just turning it to 11 at all times.
A lot of them are putting on an act. One tell to either Babymetal or Lindemann reactions is when they see/hear something completely unexpected, they react immediately with the song. Then you know they’ve seen it before and acting. If it’s genuine, there’s a pause while they process what they saw. Then they react. Some reactions are fake/rehearsed.
There is a sweetspot in showing you’re emotions too, though sometimes you’re dumbfounded. When Julia Nilon, vocal coach, heard Jinjer the first time she couldn’t process and burst out in laughter. It’s okay to me if its authentic, the acting up makes me click out real quick
I haven’t read any of the above replies, so forgive me if any of this is redundant.
So, for me, the line about “I’m so nervous this music is going to suck” kinda started the video off on a bad foot. We all know, especially here, that probably most of the music you’re going to hear on the Spotify top 10 probably does suck. At least according to our likes.
But does that need to be said? Especially if you’re creating/maintaining a brand?
There were a couple of other comments like that throughout the video that just seemed… off. Especially for you, @JoshFossgreen, you don’t come off as a “this shit sucks” kinda guy. I just kinda feel like if you were talking about this music with your buddy or significant other around the dinner table, like, rail on that shitty music. But for a BassBuzz branded video, I’m not so sure that works. For whatever that’s worth.
I’m going to bypass the rest of the questions, because other than that I thought the video was OK. Not one of your best, not one of your worst (mm, maybe that might actually be your worst BassBuzz video, but only for the reason above), but OK.
@JoshFossgreen, it was apparent to me that your takes and comments were honest, candid, and you DID feel like you were talking about your pop music concerns with your buddies. You were being real, and I was fine with it.
Humans aren’t upbeat and hey-ho all the time. And many YouTube vids sure as hell are not based on reality: They currently tend to have over the top “performances” by dubious YT celebs in order to grab eyeballs, i.e., the “popcorn”-type videos mentioned earlier.
Bottom line, the kinds of videos you put out should serve your intended goal(s). Do you want to promote yourself as a teacher, to sell more B2B lessons? Or do you want to achieve something distinctly different, reach different/more diverse audiences with your vids?
On another note entirely, please consider that most people here would very, very likely appreciate it if you would flex your phenomenal teaching skills to produce a follow-on course to B2B. Or at least more lessons using the tried and true format you created for B2B.
Just as with music, successful bands and artists might have a loyal following, but if they only release one album in their careers…well, it leaves fans wanting more. A lot more. And it doesn’t really matter how many singles they put out, because a well done album is more than a single experience; it’s a journey. And Buzzers really love you as our trusty guide.
This is the only Bassbuzz video published that I have ever skipped and didn’t click on. When a new one is released it’s like someone delivered a box of truffles.
“Is bass dead?” sounds like something an algorithm consultant may recommend, but doesn’t resonate with me as a topic. Too over the top to click on.
Whenever you comment on music, it’s somebody’s favorite artist, and if the first comment you make is negative, they will be done with you period. You need to build trust before you can criticize.
