My relationship with youtube is a never ending tug of war over what I want to do, and what an algorithm is telling me I must do.
As an artist, I want to create things in this world that strike at my emotional core, those things which I believe move others as well: it is a desire to put something in this world, that has artistic integrity, that holds true to a vision, that speaks to me, and that I am compelled to share with others.
That is, for me, what it means to create. And while I can play guitar and sing and act and write, and have dabbled in oil painting...I choose, at this moment, to express myself through the medium of music and music videos, using AI as my medium to create, through Luma Vale, and through youtube and soundcloud.
But in order to feel a sense of satisfaction, I must find my audience. I need to connect. that's the handshake, between those that make art, and those that consume it. And at Youtube, that means, I must create shorts.
Shorts are, by design, dopamine hits. that is it. You have less than 60 seconds to create a vision, and that's far too long before people swipe away. Realistically, you have to hook them within 3 seconds. 3 seconds! And if they're not hooked, and they swipe away, you don't get the performance metrix for youtube, and the algorithm stops distributing your short. that's the punishment you get for trying to make something artistic vs. as Gemini likes to call it, "sticky". Those that watch shorts, are trained, if I may, to swipe fast and keep moving. That's not enough time to absorb and consume nuance, artistry, beauty, meaning, or substance.
and if you don't make shorts, you don't get the organic audience.
And it is this dynamic that forces me to have to think about creating dopamine hits, little bits of back scratches, as opposed to art and message. and you know what? that's not really what I signed up for.
That's the tug of war. does that make sense?
and so i am now a factory clickbait maker. And it is neither satisfying, nor compelling, nor really at the core of what I am trying to accomplish with Luma Studios.
But i"m trying. I'm trying to find a balance within myself between what the shorts wants, and what I want.
this is my latest attempt. I'm curious to know what you think, and f you struggle with this same thing. Is this 'sticky', and yet, does it have artistic relevance, both at the same time?
How do you find your audience?
