When I spotted this video title, it made me laugh so I had to watch…
Mark Adams, who runs the Moonrunner Music channel on Youtube, is the perfect example of someone who runs both a music-themed and artist-themed Youtube channels with the intent of simply sharing what he learns in a low-key way. Based in Cary, England, Adams has worked as both a musician and an artist. (To his credit, he has painted a handful of pub signs along the high street of Bruton, and this writer owns another one of his paintings).
Adams initially launched his Moon Runner channel to sell electric guitars imports, and eventually, the channel evolved to his interest in creating videos mainly for his own enjoyment and for friends. His video topics range from “How to Spot a Fake Strat” to more amusing videos like the one above.
“Admittedly, I’d love to make better quality videos. I enjoy making them, as it presents an opportunity to upload songs, riffs and tabs for friends and such, but for anybody to view, really,” he says. “I think the popularity of videos on Youtube can be hit or miss. ‘Spot a Fake Strat’ is a bit click-baity. I don’t know how the Youtube algorithm works these days, but I always make sure to fill in the tag section in relation to the title.”
The robotic voice in the “10 Guitar Riffs to Get You Kicked Out of a Guitar Store” is saying, “You have 2 seconds to comply.”
“I should have said 10 seconds,” Adams says with chagrin. “I’d slowed my voice down in Reaper, thinking I’d emulate ED209’s voice from Robocop.
“And yes! I get plenty of weirdos and negative comments! Either people like what you do, or they don’t. Same as in real life. I’ll either ignore the trolls, or if I can think of anything funny to say, then I’ll say it. Usually, I ignore them, as they want a rise, after all. I’ve got my own inner critic—so that’s enough. Of course, I always take constructive criticism on board.”
“I don’t make any money from Moonrunner at present, but I am getting around 30 new subscribers monthly. I see it as being primarily nice just to have recorded videos as a kind of journal. I think there are so many people doing music and well-produced music that much of it just gets lost in all that YouTube offers.”
Adams runs an arts/crafts tutorial channel that is up to nearly 5K subscribers with nearly 1 million views in total. “It’s surprising what you can do with an elastic band and a hamster-powered video camera!”
When he’s not busy making videos, Adams enjoys collaborating with other musicians online, worldwide via Kompoz.com. “There are some fantastic musicians on there!”
Recommendations for prospective Youtubers, free on Kindle Unlimited:
YouTube Secrets
Crushing YouTube