If you had an office meeting with some label folk to show off your music, how impressed would they be if you hit play and they heard an ad for SquareSpace?
“Oh, just a second,” you’d say, “the song will come up after this ad.”
According to U.S. National Library of Medicine, the average person’s attention span in 2000 was 12 seconds, then in 2013 it dropped to 8 seconds. Imagine what it’ll be in 2015. And you’re okay making anyone sit through a five-second pre-roll ad?
In the latest, “The Monthly Missive," written by the wonderful Sophie Benjamin (you should totally subscribe), I came across a screen grab of a music video from former Paramore drummer Zac Farro. I used to cover that band a bit in my Buzzgrinder days, so the nostalgia factor kicked in and I was intrigued.
"He’s been living in New Zealand,” wrote Sophie, “and making music under the name HalfNoise.”
At this point, I’m hooked on the story alone; he used to play in a popular band and now he’s living in New Zealand, and making music! This I have to hear!
So I click the link which, as a side note, is something that’s a damn miracle on the internet. If you can get anyone to click anything you’re a genius. A 5% click-thru rate? You basically rule the internet.
When someone clicks, they have an expectation. "Click here to listen" means you click, then listen.
But that didn’t happen. Instead I got this:
This is no fault of Sophie of course, or Zac. This is “the machine” at work. There’s a jillion people on YouTube, so you better make sure your music is there!
It is fantastic that this video was discovered on YouTube, and it found its way to my eyeballs, and that I clicked, but then I saw Kim Kardashian (whom I also have no problem with, but I wanted to see Zac). Instead of writing about Zac, though, I’m being a grouchy internet nerd ranting about “user experience.”
Look, there is no shortage on new videos and songs to watch and listen to. This was definitely not the only “new song!” link I clicked that day. But every five second “road block” like this adds up. Twelve of those a week is one minute, which is then four minutes a month. That’s 48 minutes a year. For ads. It adds up for fans, it adds up for busy music writers and editors, it adds up for A&R folk.
YouTube is making piles of cash because you’re pointing all your fans to their site, along with a million other bands doing the exact same thing. So if you haven’t noticed, the internet is getting very noisy.
That five second ad at the beginning of your song might not seem like a big deal to you, but people are sitting through a lot of five second ads these days. There are ads on Hulu, Spotify and Pandora, and even some music blogs have some obtrusive ads these days, too. And with more people accessing content on their mobile devices, that “it’s just a five second ad!” excuse ain’t gonna cut it.
There are alternatives, like Vimeo and Wistia. Upload there, embed your video on your website or Tumblr, and send that link around. Include some back-story, a link to buy the track on iTunes, or ask for people to join your email list in exchange for a free download.
Yes, you can do that on Youtube, but it’s hidden behind a “SHOW MORE” link. That’s because YouTube wants visitors to focus on the right-hand column of videos filled with cats, explosions, and Vevo ads for bands much more popular than yours. YouTube doesn’t care about your music – they care about a visitor watching more videos which serve as a vehicle for more ad impressions.
That Head and Shoulders slogan, “you never get a second chance to make a first impression," makes perfect sense. If someone clicks to listen to your music and another song starts playing (because it’s a Vevo video) that’s damn confusing.
There are no ads on your albums (I hope). So why are we okay with ads on music online? It’s the price for “free video hosting,” I guess, but at what cost?
Seth Werkheiser is the quiz master of metal trivia at Skulltoaster. He’s also the founder of some music sites you may have heard of, including Noise Creep (2009) + Buzzgrinder (2001). He’s anti-Facebook, anti-clickbait, and anti-growth hacking. You should most definitely follow him on Twitter. Yes, right now.
