Too bad more young people are not interested

[gramophone-georg]

I just want to change the demographics on my channel!

Perhaps a silly question but a sincere one nonetheless: Why even worry about it? If it's music you like then put it out there.

[gramophone-georg]

"So, the idea that older people might not "accept" black artists is, for the most part, a thing of the past. No person in his/her right mind would judge anyone by the color of their skin. The push back comes from the comparison to real talent and character...

I see what you're saying and you make good points. I think the difference is that Rap and Hip-hop have historically been about the struggles of living in the US being black, while the race of the popular performers of color of the past was hardly mentioned.

Also the way you "define" music is extremely subjective. For one, harmony, melody, acoustical instruments and vocals are in fact present in hip hop. Lyrics are absolutely an expression of emotion and they can be beautiful ("beauty is in the eye of the beholder" as they say). In a sense a computer IS an instrument and is just as hard and in some cases harder to create good music with than with a traditional instrument. I find it funny when people claim it "requires no skill", I would love to see someone unexperienced with digitally producing music try and create anything good in the span of a month.

And again with the generalizing. Eminem does not use auto tune, never made "711" tracks, and often uses "real" instruments in his music alongside masterfully produced partially synthesized instrumentals. Rap and hip hop often includes and samples music of other genres like jazz, R&b, soul, reggae etc. Repetitive lyrics, sexist lyrics and lip syncing is present in a plethora of genres.

A few artists/groups that I personally enjoy; A Tribe Called Quest, biggie, Nujabes, Dreamville, J.Cole, Polo G, Cordae, Joyner Lucas, Logic, and the list can go on. There are genres of music I don't like, but I will never deny that it is music, that it can't be meaningful or that people can be passionate about it.

Martin

It also has to do with what's become familiar. Lots of people don't like Japanese opera, but Japanese people sure do. Likewise, Yoko Ono is an acquired taste, but lots of John Lennon fans forced a listen.

Not to pick on the Japanese- it's just two examples I thought of.

But seriously- lots of todays "kids" are familiar with and like things like Steely Dan, Emerson Lake and Palmer, CSN and sometimes Y, disco, funk, etc. Why? Their parents or grandparents listened to it- it was their era. Maybe the grandparents listened to the Beatles or the Stones.

My parents' era was "crooner" and "doo- wop"... yuckola. (just my opinion). But my grandparents and great aunts/ uncles all graduated in the 1920-40 era. Growing up, I was exposed to TONS of this music, and being in NYC and then Ohio didn't hurt. Even though all my buddies turned their noses up at it as "square" it wasn't unusual for me to be listening to Hendrix, Sly and the Family Stone, The Brothers Johnson, or The Dan intermixed with Tommy Dorsey or Bernie Cummins.

Guess what I'm saying is that the further back in history your music travels, the older your demographic is likely to be. I would imagine that the music audience on YT is going to be older overall, anyways, due to copyright laws. Youngins ain't going to find their current faves there, and, this being the case, it's not likely they'll stumble across the sort of music WE enjoy. It's not available where they are. If it were, it might be attracting a younger demographic.

[BillH_NJ]

And even among those of us in the older demographic and in this group, there are those of us whose primary interest is not in popular music from 1900-1930. I do listen to some, although probably not what would appeal to most, but focus my listening on opera and classical music. That is true for music on tape, LPs, and CDs as well. That these genres are not the most popular with most collectors is reflected in the value of most operatic records in all formats and from all decades of the 20th century.

[Curt A]

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[CarlosV]

I just want to change the demographics on my channel!

If you search you tube you will find hundreds of groups of young people doing swing music, charleston and similar pop dances from the 20s and 30s. This means that the music reaches young people and there are many that enjoy it. The quest is how to expand the audience of your channel, today probably composed only by forum members (averaging 120 years of age ). Advertising is always the default path, but it normally involves spending money. It would be enlightening to learn how the APS will fare in its action to close that gap: Instagram pages and Facebook ads are the right way to go, in my view.

[epigramophone]

We have a number of young people on this forum who are not only interested in early machines and records, but are also acquiring the repair and restoration skills which will ensure the future of our hobby.

At 73 my age has no bearing on my musical tastes. I grew up in a household where classical music was the norm, and it has always been my main collecting interest. As a teenager in the 1960's I had no interest in the Beatles and their many imitators with their boring "Yeah Yeah" music. I was more interested in traditional jazz which was enjoying a resurgence at that time.

As for today's "music", the atonal noise of talentless charlatans masquerading as composers and the relentless "Thump Thump" of disco pop will, like all worthless fads, eventually fall out of fashion. Let us remember that the early jazz which we collectors so enjoy was once dismissed as "the devil's music".

[alang]

A big part of musical enjoyment comes from what one is used to and what memories one associates with specific music or sometimes just specific tunes. When I grew up, Elvis and Rock'n'Roll were just considered oldies, the Beatles were splitting up, Woodstock and Flower Power had introduced the new popular music trends. For the longest time I liked only Rock'n'Roll, then Elvis, then more modern Hard Rock (which wasn't very melodical I guess). That music spoke to me because it was wild and aggressive and my parents didn't like it. Many years later, when I got into 78s first and later into phonographs, I started listening to things that I would have never listened to in the past. Some music I still didn't like, other I found acceptable, and some I actually enjoy now. Most of my listening happens while driving, and my memory stick shuffles through anything from Billy Murray, Caruso, Blues, Swing, Andrew Sisters, to Elvis, Beatles, CCR and even AC/DC. Drives my wife and anyone else riding with me absolutely bonkers, but it works for me

You can find music that was unacceptable to mainstream at that specific time in any era. Sex, violence, and inappropriate language happens in Vaudeville, Blues, Jazz, Rock'n'Roll, Hard Rock, Rap, Hip Hop and probably other genres. People of color became successful not only with "white" music, but also by signing about their lives, hopes and struggles. The environment, norms and taboos change, but the fact that young people will try to both imitate their parents, but also rebel against them and try to distinguish themselves is happening in an ongoing cycle. Teenagers in the 50s were just as convinced that they would be different as teenagers are today. And it is true, young people have a fresh viewpoint and do change the world, but they also grow up, become older, and will make similar experiences with their own children and grandchildren. So what's the lesson to learn? We don't have to like everything, but we should accept and tolerate that different people and different generations have different tastes - neither good nor bad, just different. And the beautiful thing with this hobby is that it allowed me to experience and understand this by learning from history.

Andreas

[howardpgh]

I follow the 78 rpm related Facebook pages and there seems to be a lot of young people who collect and study the music. The most fascinating one to me is Ramona Baker who must be in high school or a college freshman. She researches the pioneer recording artists and plays ragtime piano. She also draws funny illustrations of the artists and she dresses the part as she also collects Victorian and Edwardian era clothing.
As for me (65) I'm more familiar with the likes of Johnny Hamp, Ted Weems, Nat Shilkret and Don Azpiazu than I am with the Beatles or Pink Floyd. I started collecting when I was in grade school.

[phonogfp]

I follow the 78 rpm related Facebook pages and there seems to be a lot of young people who collect and study the music. The most fascinating one to me is Ramona Baker who must be in high school or a college freshman. She researches the pioneer recording artists and plays ragtime piano. She also draws funny illustrations of the artists and she dresses the part as she also collects Victorian and Edwardian era clothing.

Ramona just happens to be on the APS Outreach Committee!

George P.

[gramophoneshane]

I just want to change the demographics on my channel!

I don't think that's possible, or at least it's something you have very little control over.
You'd either have to do something outrageous to make it go viral (leave Britney alone, bite the head off a squirrel or whatever), or just get plain lucky.

Some of my videos have only 43 views in over 10 years, but my "Civilization" video by Danny Kaye and the Andrews Sisters has over 467,000 views and is the "17th all time most commented Australian music video" on YouTube.
It only had a couple hundred views for a long time, then the Fallout 3 video game was released and it suddenly got hundreds of views every day, and mostly by teenages.

I've never uploaded a video on YouTube thinking about view counts or who was watching them.
I've just uploaded stuff I like, or think is unusual or funny, or even just plain awful.

I've got 10 videos with over 100,000 views, and not one of them I would have predicted to have more than a couple hundred views.
All of these songs are from the 1940's and 50's, so that era is obviously more popular with the general public than earlier recordings.

I'm with gramophone-georg and think why even worry about it and just enjoy sharing your collection.
There's really nothing you can do about who watches your videos and how many views they get, short of putting a baby on the turntable or a masturbating monkey winding the machine lol