So what are we talking about today? So, I have a three point agenda. The first thing is why YouTube? We’re gonna go into a little bit about that. The second thing we’re gonna chat about today is what kind of content should I create? ’cause I think that’s the thing that, is probably the big thing, is just like, okay, I want to do videos, but what should I actually do? Do I have to be a YouTuber? Do I have to, like, those are questions I get all the time.
So we’re gonna dive into that. and we’re gonna dive into not just what type of content, but how to find the right type of content, how to research it, and tools like that. So there’s gonna be very, a lot of strategy, but there’s also gonna be a lot of really tactical, stuff that you may probably haven’t seen before, hopefully. Â So. and then finally, we’re gonna talk about a little bit of YouTube video optimisation. So that’s like, how do you optimise your videos on your channels to, get the most amount of reach and those things.
So there are gonna be some real tactical things like that as well. So, give me a hands up if you guys are ready to, if you can still hear me, if you guys are ready to dive in. Â Awesome. Okay, so let’s get started. Â So why YouTube? So, we’re gonna go through a few stats here. I, Â I think it’s pretty obvious why people need to use YouTube, but you know, we’re gonna give you some interesting facts that you may have not have heard of or seen before. So, first thing is a lot of people think about, you know, I think a lot of us are, a lot of us speak English, obviously, ’cause I’m speaking English and presenting an it, but there’s, I know there’s people all around the world that use YouTube and there’s people from all around the world, even watching right now, or that will be watching.
So, the funny thing about YouTube is it is truly global. It covers 95% of, the internet population. There’s over 80 different languages. So whether you are singing in English or wherever, whatever country you are from or whatever your native language is, YouTube speaks your language.
So it is a really great place to, to utilize, especially in, social media or things like that because, you know, there are certain countries where different social media networks a little bit more prominent or not. But the nice thing about YouTube, is that it is a platform that cover, that will cover your country wherever you’re at. So it’s a really good place to build. the next thing is, we are increasingly using our phones more and more.
I know that we’ve probably been on our desktops a lot more, because of the pandemic, but you know, overall, YouTube users prefer mobile over desktop. So there’s more than 70% of YouTube watch time comes from mobile devices.  So that means that people are out and about, they’re on their phones when they’re, watching video. So it’s important to  consider that, like, what is the environment they are in when they’re watching that, that can affect from the way that you are mixing your sound because they’re on a, a device to how you film things, how you consider things, so how you zoom in, things like that.
So, it’s important to note that, you know, a YouTube user prefer mobile over desktop. So that’s really important. So you wanna make sure that your videos work well regardless of what device you’re on, whether you’re on a tablet or a phone or a desktop or what have you. So those are things that are important to, to think about  when we think about, YouTube and mobile traffic. This is a pretty crazy stat from 2019. it says that YouTube is responsible for 37% of all mobile internet traffic.
So that’s more than a third of all mobile internet traffic. So, if you’re wondering, do, is YouTube a place to be on and can I find an audience? You definitely can if you do the right things. Â Finally, this is a stat for us users. I tried to look for something that was a little bit more, European based, so I could be a little bit more, you know, throw it across the pond as they say. But I, I wasn’t able to find, great stats.
But that being said, this is the percent of us, internet users who use, who use YouTube as a Q3 2020. So you can see like there are a lot of 15 to 25 year olds there. Everything is close to 70% or above. So there, there is a really large reach you can reach every age group on, YouTube, which is really nice because, you know, there are different, social networks that skew a little bit older and, and younger, right? Like, Facebook probably skews the oldest, and then it’s Instagram next.
And then what skews the youngest is TikTok. But at the same time, there’s, everybody is going into TikTok as well. So, but that being said, the things to note is like, things like Instagram and Facebook do skew older now. So, so, YouTube is a place where, you know, there are still a lot of young audiences, so that, that’s also an advantage. Â And, here’s another stat on mobile alone in an average week. So, YouTube reaches more adults 18 plus during prime time than any any cable network does.
So, that is, a really important thing ’cause people are going to YouTube to consume content and, and to stream videos. Â and then finally, the one thing that I, what’s really interesting is, YouTube is one of the fastest growing, demographics.
YouTube is, is the, you know, the older, the baby boomers, the 50 to 65 year olds, and the 36 to 49 year olds. So, 75% of them use that u YouTube to embrace nostalgia.
68% use it to stay in the know, and 73% use it to access how to content. So, so that’s really important. If you, if you are a songwriter or a producer or an artist and you know that your, your, audience scales or, or skews a little bit more to those older audiences, then it’s, it’s good to know that you have a platform there and that you can do certain things that maybe if your audience was a bit younger, you couldn’t, so, there’s a lot of opportunity there as well. Â So finally, here’s the last little bit of stats, and then we’re gonna start diving into those type of things.
So, so YouTube reaches more US customers from the ages of 1849 than all the cable TV networks have gone. We already talked about that. after Netflix, YouTube is the most preferred platform for viewing videos, from 18 to 34 year olds. almost if you are in the us, almost 15% of YouTube’s traffic comes from the us, which means 85% comes from other countries.
So once again, if you are international, you can, or you are somewhere that isn’t, north America, there is a much bigger audience than for you. and most of the traffic is coming from non-North America. And then finally, only 33% of popular YouTube videos are in English. So if you speak a second language that is not English, or your native language is not English, you have an opportunity to be able to do, videos in, your, the language of your target audience or your best one.
So there, there’s a real opportunity there. Â So, the next thing that we, are gonna talk about…
creating finished songs from inspired ideas.
we all know those moments where you’ll be  walking along the road in the shower or on a train, you know, a cross country train or on a tube, and you boom. You have a,  a line for, for a, a, a, a lyric, you know, a line for a lyric, or you have a, a groove in your head. Or, or even sometimes it’s more vague than that. It’s a, an atmosphere for a song like a, a lust to create something, a kind of openness,  a space in which you want to paint and project something you feel this space to create.
You often get that, when watching films or listening to other music. It is a gateway into this space where we can feel a, Â a need to create. and in that space, we often get little sparks, little ideas, little subconscious flurries, which I’ve learned very much to, to trust and listen to.
So, this couldn’t be more important for me, and I hope that it, proves to be really transformative in your writing.
you’ve often heard me talk about the importance of feeling an idea coming from somewhere authentic and true.
What do we do though when we have those feelings? This is what I want to move forward from trusting that moment into how do we then nourish those into fool songs? Because we, as songwriters, we’re really, only songwriters when we have songs finished.
You know, an idea is an idea. It takes, dedication and craft to turn that into a fully finished song and then on into recording and production and everything else. Â But how do we take from that moment? You think, oh, I like that baseline, or, oh, I’ve got this wee melodic hook in my head, or a feeling, and you’re, you know, you’re in the shower and you got the wee moment. How do we, you know, how do we, turn those ideas into songs? Get them out of our heads and into our hands, and then into people’s ears?
 So, igniting sparks and trusting hunches,  your flashes of inspiration come from your unique melting pot  trust. When your subconscious presents an idea, it gives you immediate authenticity. This is something that is so deeply important to me. and the first thing often people will think is, well, what if the idea is a baseline? That sounds a bit like Billie Jean. Well,  this, at this stage, I don’t doubt it.
It’s a melting pot. There are lots of influences. That is a palette that is your past, present, and future, all bubbling away there in the background. people would call it your, your muse, your inspiration. Elizabeth Gilbert talks about, these moments actually coming from another place. And ether and ideas for novels and books and films and songs are already out there waiting for someone to transport them. However you perceive it. When that voice inside me speaks, that is not my moment for doubting it.
I do not think, oh, that’s a bit like, or that’s a this. What I’ve learned to do is absolutely accept the idea if it’s from that place, that feels authentic and immediate, it’s in the shower or staring out of the window, of a train, or, or walking or, or in the studio, you know, playing the guitar. That can happen. You know, it’s, as Somerset mon used to say, you know, he could only ever write, when he was inspired when his muse came to him, but she seemed to have a habit of coming to him at nine o’clock every morning when he sat at his desk.
So, you can encourage these moments, you really can encourage these moments, but it’s the moments I’m talking about rather than how we encourage them when you have that moment, trust them because that, this is a cross section of, this is from your palate, your melting pot. Your deep subconscious has thrown this up. Â And that is enough for me to trust that it’s an immediate spark of authenticity, something that’s come from me, rather than come from a place where I’m thinking, this will be the next big thing, or this is a sound that they’re looking for on radio.
All of that can come later when we have a song. Â But this is not the moment to try and craft. This is a moment of creation, Â and it’s absolutely the time to trust that creation. Â So, what does it do for us when we trust this, this moment?
Really listen to our deep subconscious, those moments. You know, what is it that, what what that I’ve noticed looking back now  that has given me, such value from trusting that voice, and I’ve realized what it is. It leapfrogs doubt for me. Leapfrogging doubt is a massive, massive aspect of moving forward with a creative idea. As soon as you have a creative idea, there will be  a voice that says, oh, no, people will think it’s rubbish.
Or, or, or, I won’t say that out in the room, or, or, it probably sounds a bit like, or what’s the point of doing it? Because it sounds like it’s too big a production. You, there’s a million reasons not to, that can pop into your head. But if it’s come from somewhere deep in me, I just don’t indulge that. I indulge, the feeling is strong enough that voice inside me is strong enough. It’s a warm rush of creative energy that, that is strong enough for me to leapfrog that doubt.
 Because as I’ve written here, overthinking is the enemy of starting songs.  This is not the time to doubt your ideas.  There are times to question ideas and improve ideas, and then edit ideas and craft songs later, but this is not the time.  This is absolutely the time to trust that that has come from somewhere, deep inside you, and to grab it.
And if it feels good, then feel it more.  If it feels good, feel it more. Indulge in it. Absolutely submerge yourself in this, and bring it out of you. ’cause as I’ve written here, overthinking is our foe and over feeling is our friend  really feel it.  If it’s a baseline, if it’s a lyrical idea, if it’s a, an emotion. As so much of this will stem from emotions or certainly, cross over into deep emotion,  actually really feel it and really indulge it, and let that turn that tap on.
 What is it that’s making you feel? If you’re, if it’s a groove, if you’re in the, you know, walking along, you go, Ooh, and it’s making you feel something, indulge that feeling. This is a time to absolutely light it up. Like literally  completely immerse yourself in that and, and have faith. Do not get into what is this? What’s the point of doing it?
It’s an uptempo and I’m only meant to be writing mid tempos for this artist, or something like  all of it. This is my experience and all the songwriters that I know that I’ve spoken to about this, and some of them great, great songwriters, go mostly with the craft later, and they can write to briefs and all that other stuff.  But the real cream, it comes from these deeply subconscious moments where something is thrown up into their, conscious thought, feelings, emotions, and it springs forth, and they facilitate that feeling,  because no one knows if a great song is about to be written.
 We just do not know at the point of creation if it’s going to be good.  We just don’t. So stopping at that point to think, is this any good? Is an absolutely fruitless exercise. In fact, the only fruit it bears is rotten. It stops you in your path.
 So we really don’t want to think, is this great yet? Or is this going to, will this end up, will this end up, you know, a great finished song? Or, so we don’t need to get there at that point. No one knows if a great song is about to be written. Great, great songwriters don’t know if they were about to write that next fantastic song they started and they  focused in on that feeling that they were trying to channel.
