If you go to YouTube and put the words "blues harmonica" into the search engine, with or without quotes, the following video comes up first:
It has more than a million hits. It's #1. It features Greg Taylor (not Greg "Fingers" Taylor) and a guitarist named Logan Black. It beats out Gindick, Shellist, Gussow, Christelle, Sonny Boy, Cotton, Hakan, Big Walter, everybody. Why?
I'll offer my thoughts after you offer your thoughts.
Last Edited by kudzurunner on Sep 05, 2015 6:52 PM
Hey- there's hope for me! I actually think I play better than this guy jamming over some dude chunking out chords.
I have no idea why this video has so many hits. Maybe because it's just a couple of dudes jamming and having a good time. Ain't nothing wrong with that. If I were in that room I'd crack a cold one and pick up my harp and blow. . .
These videos make you think about the abuse of "wailing notes". It's really too bad that the top 10 results aren't from top players or teachers. For kicks I searched "harmonica lessons". hmm.
I can't think of any reason for the high ranking other than maybe they're very adept at using SEO, keywords, etc. But really, that still shouldn't account for being the #1 return.
To paraphrase the late Art Linkletter, "kids like the damndest things." ---------- Marr's Guitars
Over a decade's experience designing, building & playing Cigar Box Guitars
Larry Niven, acclaimed science fiction writer, had his characters say it very well too: tanj. THERE AIN'T NO JUSTICE. For when pesky things like hostile aliens or black holes interrupted humankind's expansion into known and unknown space.
But think back 2 decades. There were virtually no videos and no youtube. Those of us who were struggling to make a mark back then just bumped along and did what we could anyway. This is kind of a microcosm though, for instance say you travel a ways from home for a scheduled gig, you arrive, say hello, set up, and management informs you that those new big screens have to stay on all evening. What possible benefit the sports announcers and crowd noise add to the experience of watching big screen tvs in a bar I have no idea. Yet we got paid half and sent back home without even hardly doing a sound check despite several people asking us why we were leaving. Tanj. Sometimes it's all you can say. ---------- http://www.reverbnation.com/jawboneandjolene
The harp player, Richard Taylor has only 4 videos on his own YouTube Channel, the most popular has only had 12,115 views.
It would appear that WCP Chooie is hosting the video for Richerd Taylor which has 1,033,230 views. Looks like Chooie has a popular gaming/paintball channel which gets a lot of attention by youngsters hence the high number of views. The high number of views would assure that this video would appear near or at the top of searches for "Blues Harmonica Solo".
We forget sometimes how totally those on this forum are in the micro minority when compared to the rest of humanity. Our view is hardly seen nor appreciated by the "citizens", so I'm not shocked or surprised about the reality, silly as it seems. ---------- The Iceman
Nothing attracts a crowd, like a crowd. By re-posting it here you also raised it's view count. Maybe it's attractive to hear what isn't someone of YouTube fame who has some things going for him and doesn't seem incredibly out of reach.
Tookatooka appears to be on to something here. If other related videos are getting that much traffic and giving the blues harmonica video a place to be seen in a sidebar of related videos it's likeyly able to get a lot of views from users who may not even be searching for "blues harmonica" but also assures it would be at the top for those of us who do search for it.
It may be worth noting that many of us are often probably searching for something more specific also, I would bet that many of us sit down with the intention to find videos of specific players, specific songs, or a particular lesson we remember watching and and wanting to spend more time working through.. So the search might look more like "gussow harmonica" or "third position harmonica" or "george harmonica smith summertime" etc...
I was also thinking of what can we learn from this guy? Maybe there's something to be said for the confidence of getting out there and being comfortable woth where one is in their own musical growth / journey or whatever you want to call it. But besides that the only thing is that his video has more views even though there are others who are and have done more / better / from a musical perspective, from a perspective of blues playing... It makes me curious to hear Adam weigh in on it with his thoughts.. What do y'all think of that?
Marine 1896: Your answer uses circular reasoning. My question was, Why, when you type in the words "blues harmonica," does that video, of all videos, come up? Many of my videos, after all, are headlined with the words "blues harmonica." (As in "Modern Blues Harmonica" and "Blues Harmonica Secrets Revealed.") At least one of them has more views than his. But it doesn't come up first. Why does his?
Rontana: Yes, I'm quite sure that the search terms chosen by the uploader make a difference, although they don't usually make a determinative difference. But I'm convinced that the video title I chose for one of my own, "Mississippi Blues Harmonica," made a huge difference.
As far as video internals go, I think that the filming, which focuses quite tightly on the harp player--who is a decent player, but in no way exceptional--gives your average MOR player or aspirational beginner a lot of pleasure. I remember when I played pretty much like Greg Taylor. I thought I was pretty good--and I was, just as he is. I still had a long way to go, though, and I dimly sensed that. But I was playing some solid, idiomatic lip-pursed harp--as it he. The video is pretty much one long harp jam, with a reliable, compliant, and solid guitarist. It doesn't give the viewer any particular easy moment to turn away. I suspect that most people who watch it end up watching it most of the way through.
Those are the internals. But I suspect its success are driven more by externals than internals.
It's probably all down to the initial sharing profile. If the host shared it well through social media to start with then it would have had the start that's needed to get its numbers up, then Google will prioritise it as it's already being hit hard. From then on its all down to natural searches and reposting in blogs, forums etc which all adds to Googles perceived importance of the video.
this mostly explains it... the key words are the key factor, but since there are many with those key words a number of other things figure in that have to do with the person who posted it.. including likes on their channel, how long they have been around etc...
Extremely interesting data, walter. I'd long suspected that the title was the single most important factor in YouTube search ranking, and the research you've flagged confirms this. Here's the gist from that article, copied and pasted........ __________________________________________________________
First, note that keywords in title tag is the most important YouTube ranking element in their search. According to the analysis results, it has around 82% importance.
This is crucial, because the first thing that the YouTube user will see in the search results is the title tag of the video. Keywords are also bolded in the title tag, indicating their importance.
The next important factor is "number of years as a YouTube member," at 16%. YouTube just started in 2005, but with the exponential growth of video owners and some just-created channels for spamming, one of the best factors to use for checking user trustworthiness is the length of membership.
Old members tend to be authoritative because of their experience and reputation as YouTube video owners.
The third most important video ranking element in YouTube search is the number of favorites for that specific video. A higher figure here indicates that the quality of the video content is high.
This is also a more reliable measure of quality than "likes" or the "star" system because YouTube users are actually "adding" the videos to their own channel if they tagged them as a "favorite."
The last factor with an importance value is the number of channel subscribers for that video owner. Along with age of membership, a high number of subscribers is a good indication of being an "authority" and a trusted source of information.
Surprisingly, "number of comments," "number of likes" and "total channel views" did not turn out to be factors in the YouTube video search ranking. Why? Perhaps YouTube does not trust user engagement factors too much.
User engagement only comprises an estimated 2% importance in YouTube video ranking system. It is obvious that:
YouTube might not be trusting factors that can be manipulated easily (for example the "likes," "number of comments" and "total channel views." This will prevent spammers from promoting their video to the top of YouTube search results using artificial methods.
YouTube places more trust in the "authority" of the video owner by determining the number of subscribers as well as the number of years as a YouTube member.
Recommendations to achieve the best video ranking performance in YouTube
Based on the data analysis results, it is recommended that you do the following:
1. Create original and high quality video content. This will increase the number of users that will add your videos as their "favorites." This will also increase the number of subscribers to your videos. Both of these factors can have a significant effect on how your video is being ranked in the internal YouTube search.
2. Stay longer and consistently submit videos to YouTube. This will attract more subscribers in the long run, and while you "age" in YouTube, it will earn you some reputation and authority that will help your videos to rank better in YouTube search result.
The real/exact algorithm used by YouTube is not publicly known or published. The analysis results and recommendations discussed in this article will be a good start to help you effectively promote/market video in YouTube.
Last Edited by kudzurunner on Sep 06, 2015 5:18 PM
The other thing to do is make friends with 'mega stars' and get them to post your video and link back to you. I watch a fair number of gaming videos, and the guys and gals who do those videos do several things I haven't seen harpers do much of. First, they form networks on YouTube and have a site that links to all the members videos. For instance, let's take the good folks at Yogscast. It's a group of mostly 20 somethings who all did gaming videos. They seem to have looked for other people who were really regular about posting and banded together and gotten some shared office space. They've got a shared site, although they also have their own individual YouTube channels as well. I started off watching 3 guys who did videos together and eventually became fans of most of the other teams. They do lots of crossovers, so they show up on each other's channels all the time, which gets you to know them and visit each other's channels.
They also serialize it. It might be easier in gaming to have a story arc than it is on harmonica, but they've gotten pretty good at leaving cliffhangers that leave you coming back for the next episode.
They also have a pretty regular release schedule that they keep to.
They also interact with their fans in the comments a lot and do a lot of good natured ribbing back and forth.
Several members of their group have over a million subscribers. Not a million hits, a million subscribers. For making videos where they play games.
Now contrast that with a site like this, in his own way Adam has done some of this. His lesson videos are serial, in a way, since they take you through a series of lessons. He doesn't leave really strong hooks to draw someone back for something specific in the next video though. That could be as simple as saying, tune in next Tuesday, when I'll show you how to do an acrobatic triple tongue-blocked overblow with the harmonica held upside down and me standing on my head! (They often bank a few videos for when they are going on vacation to get released while they are away.) Adam has a deep catalogue, but not a constant release schedule.
He's got site, which does a nice job of both facilitating conversations with his 'subscribers' and getting people to his own URL. This site may actually beat the Yogcast as far as getting people back to the main site. (I usually just watch their videos on YouTube). Something as simple as putting an invitation to the site at the end of each video might work. I know it's got links to his music, but I think this site probably does a better job getting harmonica players attention than harmonica/blues fans, which is a much wider demographic.
We have crossovers, but mostly of the Hohner variety. Adam has his lessons and he has his performances, but he doesn't have a lot of videos where he invites someone else on Skype with him to banter back and forth. Of course, part of the reason the Yogs can pull that off is they have a network of several people with lots of subscribers each, so there is pretty even quid pro quo going on. In harmonica terms it would be like having collaboration videos fairly regularly with Christelle and Jason and Cotton. Here, the Yogcast has an advantage. They are a ragtag bunch who are all in on being YouTubers. They seem to share some living and working space and none of them have the commitments of other jobs or (I think) any kids or spouses (2 of them were a couple but they broke up...), but they are focused almost exclusively on being YouTube sensations (they do do some live coverage at conventions).
So, consistent video posting, networking (one of my friends gave game blogging a shot, and we lent him a song for his intros, but he didn't stick with it. He maxed out at about 15 subscribes), interacting with the fans, and cliffhangers,...
Those are all things harpers could do, but they take a lot of work on top of just staying sharp musically. Gamers have a leg up because most of the time they have game content on the screen instead of having to have good quality video taken. They can freestyle pretty easily and the game circumstances take care of some of the rest.
(Hope you don't mind the comparison Adam. You've actually done a lot of the things that a lot of other harpers really should be doing, but there are always ideas out there to poach.) ---------- Nate Facebook Thread Organizer (A list of all sorts of useful threads)
Jinx, you're funny. I think you're assuming that the grounds of this entire thread are jealousy on my part--puzzlement, jealousy, and dismay. Nothing could be farther from the truth. My own success on YouTube remains a source of surprise and wonderment to me, and I've never really understood why a handful of my videos have done so well, where others--including others where I've featured the work of top blues artists like DuWayne Burnside have garnered few views.
This thread was simply an inquiry. Hard as it may be to believe, I don't spend my days watching top YouTube blues harmonica videos and trying to figure out how I can game the system to beat them, or growling in a fury that they've "beat" me. That's the point: I've watched very few of the videos that come up when you perform those searches--although I've seen them, as still frames, at quite a few random moments, especially when I search "blues harmonica" and then select for "uploaded this week," a parameter which makes them all disappear. But I know I'm not alone in wondering, for example, how Rebecca Wenger--somebody who can barely play, and who has only uploaded one blues harmonica video--ended up with a million views.
Thanks, Nate, for thinking this through so thoroughly. Truth is, I'm long beyond the phase where I'm actively seeking to create new YT teaching videos. I'm mostly just interested in learning a few new songs and having fun with The Blues Doctors. Oh--and looking back, now that it's over, and trying to figure out how YouTube actually works.
Last Edited by kudzurunner on Sep 07, 2015 5:29 AM
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