KRUMBCO - Creative by Jordan Krumbine
  • KRUMBCO
  • Videos
    • Subscribe to Krumbine
    • Webcams (a video chat collab series)
    • Animated by Krumbine
    • Behind the Final Cut
    • Caffeine (a self-made feature film)
    • Portfolio
  • Emergency Creative
    • Blogs
    • Short Stories
    • Wattpad
    • Books on Amazon
    • Comics by Krumbine
  • Caffeine: A Feature Film

The Answer is not YouTube

4/13/2011

Comments

 
Hey, don't look at me like that. Just because I told what the answer wasn't, don't expect to tell what the answer IS. Shit, that's just being greedy. And did you ever stop to think that maybe it was all this running around, demanding the right answers that got us into this situation in the first place? The pain, the agony, the unrelenting neurosis .... really, it's all your fault.

.... seriously, you should know by now not to argue with me.

With great power comes great responsibility. Who would have thought that a phrase pulled from a comic book could have become so cliched?

I'll speak in more cliches after the break. (Probably not. Or maybe yes.)

I once wrote that repetition was funny. I once wrote that repetition was funny. Think about it. Think about it.

Please?

YouTube is waning. Or maybe it's our interest in YouTube (and by our interest, I mean mine). Or maybe it's just another phase, not unlike the ones that have come before. Or maybe it's how YouTube has gone increasingly (and embarrassingly) corporate. Or maybe that's just an excuse we make up when we get frustrated that our videos can't crack a hundred views. Yeah, it's THEIR fault.

The theory behind the Krumbination Ning site (which still exists, although I don't know why .... probably because of laziness) was to recreate a pre-corporate youtube environment where a front-page feature meant getting real exposure and the videos belonged to real, creative people. It was a good idea that lacks what all my ideas lack: money and motivation.

What's really interesting, however, is the timeline that I find myself pondering. See, way back in '04-05 (and Middlebrook can attest to this) I had my own website called Wacky Movies. Obviously, this pre-dated youtube when video was still a bit of a challenge to get right on the internet. Well, that's what I did. I used the resources I had and made my internet shows (or iShows as I wanted to call them before I got hit with my very first Cease and Desist .... good times ....)

I think if there was any definitive reason why myself or Middlebrook never really made it big on YouTube, it was because we were busy doing our video thang on our respective websites and we didn't transition to youtube until some of the bigguns had just started gaining their footing. Or maybe I'm just fishing around for something to pin the blame on again. At any rate, the point is that I was doing my video thing before and during the YouTube genesis--and it all started on a personal website.

Then came my first YouTube channel which eventually became my second YouTube channel. I fought hard for partnership, putting so much stock in more visibility and better discoverability, that it didn't matter how saturated YouTube was become--as long as I got my partnership, I'd be happy.

Well, then I got my partnership. And I won't lie, it's a nice achievement. But at the end of the day, guess what? YouTube has become so over-saturated, that partnership doesn't amount to anything. Anything more than custom banners, that is.

Over the past year I've grown more and more disillusioned with my space on YouTube. I experimented with Krumbination, trying to discover some of the lost magic. And this year, I find myself hurling towards a destination that I can't yet see, I think I'm finally noticing YouTube in my review mirror.

It's started mundanely enough: I've stopped monetizing my videos. And really, isn't that what partnership is about? With no ads, where's the point? And yet, really, are those damn pop-up ads anything more than a nuisance? They certainly don't deliver any kind of worthwhile paycheck. And for everyone who is still holding on to fantasy/pipe dream of partnership, even as I write this, YouTube is opening the partner program up on a trial basis, letting anyone monetize their videos. Maybe that's the way it should have been from the very beginning.

But that still leaves us (more importantly: me) in an empty place. I thought YouTube was the answer. I thought is was the venue I needed, the repository I craved, and the source of community that I desired. Maybe it was never any of those things. Maybe I'm foolish to even be looking for something that fits the bill.

But in respect to my timeline, I'm right back where I started. It's not called Wacky Movies, but it's my personal website. Point of fact, actually, right before my partnership app was approved, I was planning on putting all of my attention on horbawrong.com anyways. My little way of saying "screw you, YouTube". Maybe that's what I should have done all along.

I've got a lot of questions and even more theories, but if there's one thing I know without a doubt, it's that YouTube is not the answer.

Stay creative, kiddos.
Comments
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture

    KRUMBINE.NET
    Jordan Krumbine's Blog

    The anguished musings of a jack-of-all trades creative professional based out of Longwood,  Florida. Find out more about him here. You know, if that's your 'thing'.

    Most of my production music is original but if I need something extra-special, I usually get it from AudioNautix.com:
    Picture

    Picture

    Jordan Krumbine's Seminal Works
    (Jordan's amazingly creative webcomic. Click to read.)


    Books by Jordan Krumbine:

    Picture
    Max Nebula and the Time-Tripping Damsel in Distress by Jordan Krumbine
    Religiously Roasted Every Goddamn Day -- a novella by Jordan Krumbine
    Explorers of the Unknown: Vampires! a novel by Jordan Krumbine
    BORC-9: a story about a boy and his trash can. A children's novel by Jordan Krumbine

    Jordan made a feature film, too? You betcha.

    Picture

    Archives

    February 2020
    November 2019
    October 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011
    August 2011
    May 2011
    April 2011
    February 2011
    December 2010
    November 2010
    October 2010
    September 2010
    August 2010
    July 2010
    June 2010
    April 2010
    March 2010
    February 2010
    January 2010
    December 2009
    November 2009
    October 2009
    September 2009
    August 2009
    July 2009
    June 2009
    May 2009
    April 2009
    March 2009
    February 2009
    January 2009
    December 2008
    November 2008
    October 2008
    September 2008
    August 2008
    July 2008


    RSS Feed

    Google+

All content © 2009-2021 Jordan Krumbine (unless otherwise noted)
Photo used under Creative Commons from jm3
  • KRUMBCO
  • Videos
    • Subscribe to Krumbine
    • Webcams (a video chat collab series)
    • Animated by Krumbine
    • Behind the Final Cut
    • Caffeine (a self-made feature film)
    • Portfolio
  • Emergency Creative
    • Blogs
    • Short Stories
    • Wattpad
    • Books on Amazon
    • Comics by Krumbine
  • Caffeine: A Feature Film