VIDCON 2017 - Notes

Hey everyone, I thought I would post my VidCon 2017 Notes on my blog here for personal record and if anyone is interested. Enjoy!

THURSDAY JUNE 22

1. Edutainment Panel

• Teaching = Sharing Experience

• Enthusiasm for a topic is contagious

• Explore possibility of connected with much younger audience in Composer Cafe

• Male/Female ratio is around 90/10 for most viewers! WOW

• Explore more of beauty connecting with education to reach female audience

• Teach what you would want to tell your partner over dinner, or someone with no experience in the field you are teaching.

• Make it engaging for anybody

• You’re essentially dating your audience

• Thumbnails

• Ask a question

• Use for bait (not click bait but actually bait)

• People WANT to be educated

• Collaborate outside your medium

• When teaching humanities, you are teaching critical thinking

• Tie your education to the real world

• Encourage Curiosity

• Ad revenue is not reliable but Brands are very interested in promoting education

II. How To Turn Your Channel Into A Business

• You MUST use affiliate programs, get’s you paid for your products you use

• ex. amazon.com

• Make money with Speaker fees

• Don’t think of your revenue as purely a “YouTuber”, use YouTube as a vehicle to spread your business

• **THE NEW CURRENCY IS INFLUENCE**

• Get a team of those you trust around you (family, spouse, friends) and utilize their skills

• 50/50 Content

• Half is what is trending and profitable

• Half is your passion

III. Music Panel

• DISTROKID - $20 a year?! Check that ish out

FRIDAY JUNE 23

1. Lighting Workshop

• 3 Point Lighting Basics

• Called “Triage” or “Interview Lighting”

• Terms

• Key, Fill, Back

• Types of Lights

• Tungsten

• Bright, focused

• Hot, need gloves to handle, heavy, tend to explode

• Wide range of prices

• power hungry, do not last

• Fluorescent

• not super hot, nice diffusion

• fragile

• bulbs filled w/ gas? no not really

• inconsistent light temperatures

• LED

• Affordable

• Power efficient

• Portable but battery is short lived

• plastic, cheaper housing

• cheap lights cause bad color temperature

• No Light

• sun is bright! but inconsistent

• most inexpensive option!

• Practical Light

• light fixture used in shot

• adds ambience

• Black Wrap

• matte black surface cover (tape or cloth)

• used to absorb the light rather than reflect

• Light temperature

• Sunlight 6500k white/blueish light

• Tungsten yellow light

• Always use a white balance!

• Use a sheet of paper for white balance reference

• Diffusion

• Scatters the light

• makes shadows softer

• Final tips

• raise lights 1-2 ft above subject’s head

• stay at least 1ft away from Background

• always diffuse light when possible

II. Buzzfeed Digital AF

• If you are creating content, create A LOT

• make content native to specific platforms

• Use your successes and follow up with them

• Promote “intellectual curiosity”

• using sites like Tumblr, Reddit, TubeFilter

III. Competing with Goliath

• Be hands on with Merchandise

• do limited time sales

• use a local business

• Content = Your Lifeblood

• Audience should be there for your UNIQUE content

IV. Copyright Panel (Hosted by Copyright Alliance)

• Copyright Alliance wants to help the creator and the user

• Copyright does NOT protect ideas, it DOES protect the expression of ideas

• protects original expression

• do not have to register to be protected

• “Fair Use” is always Case by Case

• nonprofit or commercial?

• is it transformative?

• Fictional or factual?

• How much are you using?

• Does it cause harm to the market?

• DMCA

• acts as a bridge for the copyright owner and perpetrator online

• YouTube Content ID is NOT DMCA

• Strike = from DMCA

• No Strike = from Content ID

• Equivalents

• Facebook = Audible Magic (3rd party)

• reportedly not as reliable

• Scenarios

• Film/Game Footage being used

• content must be about the footage

• must rise to the level of criticism

• Song Covers

• 2 Copyrights: Recording & Publishing

• Check “YouTube” - “Create” - “Music Policies” for current song info

• Have an offensive plan in mind when creating covers

• Education

• Are you commercial?

• Are you taking from another educational source?

• “Right of Publicity” is not the same as copyright

• Check out “Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts”

SATURDAY JUNE 24TH

1. Music Chat w/ Peter Hollens

• There is a difference between Mastering the Craft and Mastering the Art

• For Peter: 90% of funds go back into business

• Contractors: Arrangers, mixers, vocal editors, 3 video teams

• Infrastructure: 3 Offices

• For Peter: 98% of time studying the business, 2% was creating

• find the balance

• First 18 months

• made $30,000 total before taxes

• swindled by a Multi-Channel Network

• most came from sales on iTunes and Amazon

• Self taught businessman, recording engineer

• Always leverage new technology

• Utilize your inner circle

• you are only as good as those around you

• DON’T PAY ATTENTION TO NUMBERS, YOU WANT THEIR ATTENTION

• BE A PART OF THE CREATOR REVOLUTION

• This is not what I dream of or what I want, this is what I DO

• Peter: working on at least 32 songs at once?!

• Need at least 1,000s of hours of work and communication to build the trust in the brand

• To be a modern day musician, you are:

• a community manager

• an entrepreneur

• your own agent

• Value Knowledge and your relationships over money

• Utilize Patreon, DON’T rely on Ad Revenue

• For covers - you want it to get flagged by Content ID!

• Figure out where you are blocked, and learn how to tear down the road block. Then tackles another and another and another

• PERSISTENCE IS KEY

#VidCon #YouTube #YouTubeCreator #Notes #Music #Musician #Education #Copyright #Lighting #Video