I think at the early stage its hard to tell how good you are doing compared to other channels - maybe they had more friends on face book - that extra 15 subs is going to make huge difference now but in 4 years it doesn't really matter.[DOUBLEPOST=1455961075,1455960917][/DOUBLEPOST]Also check this out, I think it might be possible to do, I havent read it but it might save you a lot of hassle
https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/2657964?hl=en-GB[DOUBLEPOST=1455961277][/DOUBLEPOST]ooo. It looks like you can change your channel name in the channel settings - if this is really the case then you can just rebrand your channel - anyone who thinks "omg how crap" won't watch but you will be able to draw on an existing audience.
Maybe do some videos about it - ask opinions and stuff - explain why you need to change - hopefully don't alienate people.
I know you have a lot of dead subs but that's going to happen to every channel, so why worry about it, what are you going to do start a new channel every 6 months?
anyhoo, hope this helps.