Hi bud, i only have 17 subs haha so my advice is somewhat limited but that's doesn't mean i haven't been around you tube and seen sites grow. So i do understand a little the way it works.
Like gaming channels , cover channels are trending but are highly competitive, there may be a lot searching for it but at the same time there is lots doing it which isn't always great for you. There are things you can do to change this however like actually changing the type of channel you have. I don't mean stop doing cover songs but find away to do them in a different manner than others. This way not only will you come up in searches for a cover channel but you will also come up in searches for that style and this would obviously be a keyword description.
Another question you have to ask your self is what you do offer that other sites don't ? why should someone watch your channel over another ? find this out and then amplify it. With yours being music i for sure would find some kind of odd or personal thing you can put into your channel. Most musicians or successful ones have something about them, this is one of the main reason some make it to the top. It can be a great thing but with many its a weird or odd things that works. For example there is a person who opened up a channel for the PS VR and when i first saw him i thought what i peculiar man but i actually find my self watching him more and more and his subscriber count has rocketed within a few months.
Remember when your doing cover songs, people want to see emotion ? they want to see the story of your song in your eyes, face and body language. So many cover song channels on you tube just sing over an image, i click straight off if i come across these. Even animations are better than still images. I'm not sure what you use bud but i would deffo make videos with you in it, and i would deffo sell the song and its cover. There's also another question you want to ask ? are your covers just rip off of the original artist ? many don't like these and wish to see their favourite songs done in a different style.
Another tip i have noticed is don't be afraid of bad or negative hate towards your channel. Invite it just as much as you invite all positivity, channels don't work like forums where negativity is bad for the community, at the moment that is. If they like your channel they will return, if they hate your channel they will again return. In fact in many ways if someone hates your channel they will go out of their way to share this hatred around the net which in return is promoting your channel either way. People make their own minds up , they may say to their mate that it does sucks but then come back later that evening and watch your videos. I imagine you get people saying you suck lol, even if your fantastic. I would encourage this to a degree even let them argue in the comment section a little bit. High channels feed off this, i know of one high channel that actually uses a separate account to make up a comment which may cause controversy which in fact is their own post on their own channel. They will then pin the comment to attract the trolls which in all honesty feed you tube with its success. So don't be afraid of this and help it grow just as much as positive on your channel. In advertising their is no such things as bad publicity its all the same.
Honestly i know my stuff i have a massive 17 subscribers hahahahaha... up to you if you take any advice, No problem if not just wanted to give some help.
Kind regards
Dadrules
Hey buddy!
First off: a ginormous THANK YOU for taking the time to give me so much in-depth feedback! I really REALLY appreciate it
You know what actually? For this awesome act of kindness I'll hapilly go and ad 1/17 of your sub count to what you already have! ;-)
You say A LOT of very reasonable things.. But there is one thing I have to point out though. It is clear in your comment, that you haven't visited my channel xD It's completely okay, it's not something that I would expect you to do, but it would have saved you a bit of writing time...
I always make videos (never just upload a picture with music) , and I've worked a lot on showing emotions through my face and body language. I even just spent 500$ in a new camera to up my vid quality as much as possible, and I do have a bit of studio recording gear. Also, I hardly ever make a cover song the same style as the original - my main thing is actually creating acapella arrangements as different from the originals as possible, but I've also done some Disney songs, some accoustic, home-arranged covers of Drake, and a lot of collabs with other channels. I know that I am still not the only person who does these sort of things, but it certainly narrows down the field (which is probably also why I have four top results on acapella songs).
What you say about haters is pretty well thought through though (haha funny word constellation). Somehow I feel like I already knew the point of what you wrote before I read it, yet I have never thought it through in that exact manner that you present it in. I don't really get hate comments though... I have one single out of about 2.000 comments overall. I do get dislikes from time to time though! :-D But I guess those can be used as a discussion topic in the comments as well, even though it might not be as effective...
But hey buddy - thanks! You really did a good piece of work in your comment there! Good luck with your channel
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This is really good. For a guy with 17 subs, you give good advices.
Another thing you can try is upload something a little bit different than what you normally upload. Since you do music covers, try to upload reviews or tutorials or something new to your channel like collabs or acapella. Don't be afraid to experiment.
Haha, thanks for the tip! I already try to vary my content as much as earthly possible. My latest videos consist of 1) a collab with a piano-guy, 2) a vlog-thingy about the new year, 3) a Minecraft parody song made as a collab with a Minecraft channel, 4) an acapella + kazoo cover of an EDM song and 5) an acapella cover for a cover contest (in which I actually got in the top 10 of 600 contestants! :-D )
So I would say I try to do different kinds of videos to vary my content
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In terms of collaboration. One of the simples ways to network is to have a good eye on a small channel whose growing fast. When a channel is still small, they're more likely to listen to you, have the time and be thrilled that people like their work. I've never done collaborations yet because I wanna prove to myself that I can get to 10k subs on my own, but after that I'm going to do my best. In the mean time, I've made friends and reached out to other like minded Youtubers when they were still small.
To get their attention. Comment on their channels, and share their work on social media, and of try to get to know them personally. A general rule is if you're the smaller channel by a big margin, you should do most of the work in terms of setting a collab. Try to do most of the planning for them, because after all, it will benefit you more than them.
Awesome advice, thank you!
I am very lucky when it comes to collabs... Lately I've befriended some pretty big channels (like, relatively big... big compared to my own at least) whom I am doing collabs with. I've got 1 5k subs channel, 2 10k sub channels, 1 19k sub channel and 1 24k sub channel... I am doing my best to do these people justice, and I do get a bit of benefit from working with them. I also do try to keep and eye out for smaller but talented channels, as they can bring just as many creative ideas and awesome content to the table - even though you don't benefit as much view/sub wise from them. The smallest channel I've collabed with has 57 subs and the biggest has 19k - so there's wuite of a span there xD
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Here's a special trick I use.
Think of what you or other people would type in the search bar when you're looking for a video that relates to what you've uploaded.
Like when I uploaded a Dishonored 2 gameplay. ofc it's common sense to put "dishonored" , "dishonored 2", and your channel name. After that, I add tags like "best game of the year" or "steam adventure game" "steam stealth game", "best bethesda games", etc.
Thanks for the tip!
That is a bit harder to do with music though... I think the tagging possibilities are a bit more limited in my 'line of work' ;-)
