I'm very pleased with myself! A video I shot a while back of the Cleveland branch of the School of Rock covering the song Waiting Room by the band Fugazi has just hit a million views! I know there's plenty of videos that have tens or even hundreds of millions of views, but... I'm one guy who traveled from Kansas City to Cleveland with a bag full of cameras and another bag with tripods. I shot this with eight cameras, solo, edited it all, put it on YouTube and have seen this become popular enough to be watched a million times. I managed to capture when it had exactly 1 million views: Here's the video:
It's a hit! Hopefully, all those kids (who I'm sure are all adults by now) realize that all negative comments are just people being jerks, and that the majority of people who watched it LOVE it!
Thought people might be interested in what a million views pays. Although I shot this years ago, I didn't get around to uploading and monetizing this particular video until April 5th 2020. Here's how the viewership built: ... And here's how much revenue it generated: This is cumulative, since April 5th, 2020. This is not all of the revenue, as the majority goes to the original songwriters who have a copyright claim. They get somewhere between half to 2/3 of the advertising revenue. I see this most strongly in one of my videos that is a shred contest, with no actual melodies being played. Far few views of that one generates a lot more income. I'd like to do a deep dive into the differences between the two, but I can't really do that with the version of YouTube Studio that I have on my phone. By the way, YouTube (actually Google, and now Alphabet) deposits money directly into my bank account, and issues a 1099.
About three of the kids featured in the video have commented on it, saying how much fun it was to do this. All of them are still pursuing careers in music. Unlike far too many YouTubers, I read every single comment posted on my videos. Constructive criticism is welcome, but moronic stuff like "This sux!!!!" is deleted, along with anything that's primarily about the attractiveness of underage girls. I put these videos up because these kids are exceptional performers.
It's one of my favorite of my own videos to rewatch. Phenomenal energy, and that particular location has one of the best vocal programs I've ever heard.
Congrats @Chris DeVoe on the 1 Million viewers ...and hope the bucks start rolling in for you and so many here on the SH Forum soon!
Chris, I have a few questions about the videos. Do you own them, or does School of Rock? I know you shot them, but that doesn't mean you retain ownership. With minors in the video, I assume they had to sign waivers to be allowed to be video taped, as part of attending School of Rock? thanks!
I was not paid by the School of Rock to shoot them, so it doesn't fall under "work for hire" rules. As I mentioned earlier, the original songwriters retain ownership of the music, which is why I only get roughly 1/3 of the advertising revenue. I don't know the details of the sync rights negotiation that YouTube made with music publishers, but the Content ID system recognizes virtually every song I put up, and collects royalties from advertising on their behalf. To be allowed to participate in the "Performance Program" every parent signs a form agreeing to allow cameras. In essence, I'm no different than each individual school, or any individual parent or student putting up a video. The only difference is that I do a better job of it than somebody holding up a cell phone. In general, both the kids and their parents are happy when I show up to shoot. Plenty of parents have used my videos of their kids for the application process for competitive entrance music schools, and have even asked me to set up custom YouTube channels with my collected videos from their kids School of Rock career. I'm especially proud that a number of my favorite kids got into programs like Berklee.
In almost every case, songwriters and performers don't mind their songs being covered, and some have actually posted comments on my videos:
I got an email from YouTube about how my channel has performed over this last year: Over the past month or so, I've been putting up a new video every single day, and it's really seemed to improve viewership numbers.
