That nice radio interview? Upcycle it to video

Platforms for your audio, everywhere

I've had a little play with some new software. I took some audio from a radio show I did a few months ago, and added images and captions. Now I've got a nice video clip. 

The audio is excerpted from a lovely long interview I did with the great guitarist Gordon Giltrap, now based in the West Midlands. The full show is on Brum Radio's listen again page. 

Gordon tells a terrific story early in the interview; I found myself telling and re-telling it to friends. Gordon tells lots of stories, often in very compelling ways: take in a live show and you'll see what I mean. So I don't want to use too many of them up. But this was an lovely little tale, a nice candidate to embellish. I've put it up in this post, as a YouTube clip, after the jump.

A West Midlands YouTube chart - August 2017

New players? Yup. And Leshurr crushes it again.

This post covers a Radio to Go fixture: The Summer 2017 Chart for local acts' YouTube views. 

Up until last year I did this every six months. Workload and illness put a stop to that in February, but I'm back now.

House compilation rules are:

• The chart displays acts that are local to, or who have come the West Midlands
• Videos must be three years old or less
• The two most viewed videos go into the reckoning
• The numbers can change. One in particular is going up by tens of thousands a day right now, because it's so new: Lotto Boyz' Birmingham (Anthem). By the time you read this the numbers will probably need revising afresh. But by definition all totals will be out of date by the time I publish this. 
• Official videos preferred where possible: no wobbly smartphone live stuff.
• I do make mistakes. I miss things; please so sing out if you spot something amiss and I will it fix.
• Totals were checked early this past week.

So here's the chart, and I have a lengthy commentary afterwards. There's a LOT to digest.

Artists	Vid 1	Vid 2	Total
Lady Leshurr	Queens Speech 5	Queens Speech 4	67213030
Jacob Banks	Worthy	Love Me (with Wide Awake)	11810818
Jorja Smith	Where Did I go?	Blue Lights	5608426
Laura Mvula	Overcome	Phenomenal Woman	3262702
Lotto Boyz	Birmingham (Anthem) ft JayKae	Bad Gyal	3010731
Editors	Life Is A Fear	Ocean Of Night	2722388
Oceans Ate Alaska	Vultures and Sharks	Escapist	1842741
Mahalia	We The Generation (With Rudimental)	I Remember	1558944
Robert Plant	Rainbow	Turn It Up	985199
Tom Aspaul	Better By Your Side (with Aeble)	Do It Well (with Xyconstant)	833986
Claire Maguire	Elizabeth Taylor	Don't Mess Me Around	742472
Napalm Death	How The Years Condemn	Smash A Single Digit	647834
Tempa	Gimme Respect	Road rage	582753
Peace	Gen Strange	World Pleasure	576992
Tantskii	Storyteller	Storyteller pt 3	555374
Broken Witt Rebels	Guns	Georgia Pine	526214
Anaal Nakraath	Idol	We Will Fucking Kill You	348293
Call Me Unique	Time To Love		307020
Superfood	Mood Bomb	You Can Believe	274546
Ekkah	Last Chance To Dance	Small Talk	259050
Electric Swing Circus	Mamacita	Empires	220919
Swim Deep	Namaste	One Great Song And I Could Change The World	217659
Goldie	I Adore You	Prism	215673
Dapz On The Map	Oh My Days	Shinobi Pt1	209955
Dexys	Both Sides Now	Carrickfergus	194183
Stone Foundation	Your Balloon Is Rising	Beverley	159233
The Enemy	It's Automatic	Don't Let Nothing get in the way	125871
Beverley Knight	Middle Of Love	Marvellous Party	123927
Slick Don	BRAP	Feds	112523
Scott Matthews	Elusive	Let's Get You Home	104890
Jaws	Right in Front Of Me	What We Haven't Got Yet	90458
Magnum	Crazy Old Mothers		75535
Laurence Jones	Got No Place To Go	Touch Your Moonlight	74527
Jump The Shark	Robot Song	There's Always One	64292
God Damn	Dead To Me	Shoe Prints In The Dust	57479
The Twang	New Love	On The 24th	51672
Answer Back	She's into Rock'n'Roll	You've Got Me	49660
Rebecca Downes	Believe	Messed Up	49637
Harry and The Howlers	Hell In High Heels		46167
Truemendous	OTYL	L.I.S.P.	39314
The Wonder Stuff	For The Broken Hearted	Don't You Ever	33789
Lion Art and Friendly Fire	Run Away		33606
The Assist	Love	Tell Her How You Feel	29738
Ed Geater	Steady Strides (Enigma Dubz mix)	Don't Think	26854
Dissident Prophet	Human 2.0	Writing on the wall	24254
Tayla	Call Me Danger	Coming Back Around	24146
Johnny Foreigner	If you can't be honest be awesome	Le Schwing	23880
Cantaloop	Dig It		23597
Kioko	Tired of Lying	Deadly Roots	23103
Victories At Sea	Bloom	Up	21857

Some conclusions? Just a few

This chart raises almost as many questions as it answers. There are big changes. New tech has barged in and upset the applecart - again. It also shows how videos are consumed, with massive impacts on this chart.

We're looking at two universes. I'm really not sure if the same measurement criteria apply: one sector racks up numbers far, far in excess of other genres, and in many cases these do not chime with Spotify numbers or sales patterns.

So it's a different game, again. We've always had record company 'assisted' numbers - that's just an extension of chart-fiddling practises from last century, and I'm pretty sure that's always affected this chart at the top end. But there's more going on. As usual, the new stuff comes out of left-field.

Brum Grime - the BIG new factor

First it was underground. Now it's in the open, with truly startling numbers. Brum Grime is huge. Interestingly, Walsall's favourite son Goldie, now doing different things, places below the current hot male acts (JayKae, Dapz, etc), who have racked up sensational viewing figures.

Towering above everyone is Lady Leshurr, whose two most-viewed videos do better than the rest of the chart put together. Interestingly, her recent Queens Speech videos are made in bright sunshine or with well-lit backgrounds, and they use lots of cute post-production. They do better than her newer, darker, but still successful Unleshed series.

Leshurr hasn't stopped growing her numbers, unlike some of the mega acts that have preceded her at the top of the chart. Her already vast totals show a 40% leap up from last year. I strongly suspect that the vast majority of her viewers are female, in sharp contrast to her less successful male counterparts. There's a couple of reasons for this.

So who is looking at what? And where?

I do think the numbers need to be taken with some caution - Grime videos, especially from blokes (the overwhelming majority of videos, if not by viewing numbers), might just be made for smartphone consumption. It's certainly statement music. The only time I hear Grime, unless I tune in to 1Xtra or something more specialised still, is on smartphones played by spotty white boys on the bus or the train. I also hear it from amped up sound systems in muscle cars. So, yes, it's on the radio and online, but essentially it's underground... just with massive numbers.

There may be, too, a different consumption pattern to that of conventional music videos. The density of Grime lyrics makes for repeated visits; that's generally not the case with 'straight' music videos. A Grime video is an end in itself; a straight music video is normally a sales tool, made to sell a record.

Boys are still boys (sigh)

Interestingly, Grime shares values with old school Metal: Leshurr apart, it's largely young men with attitude protesting an unfair world. Sometimes those protests are entirely justified. But often our boy is just bragging, or even lecturing, with his heavy mates, all blokes, all on the bad side of town, or looming from a muscle car with blackout windows. Where women are present, they tend to be adoring girlie types wiggling in the background. Oh dear.

Fine, if that's what you want, and a lot of people do. Me, I've seen all that just a few too many times, in Grime and elsewhere. Hard Rock used to be a particularly fertile ground. 
  

Elsewhere? Not good news

Meantime, over in video-as-promotional-tool territory, things are rough. You can knock up a video on an iPhone, and many people do - it works great where the groove or the rhymes are the heart of the project.

But that doesn't quite work for rock, folk, jazz, dance or indie. The past five years or so have seen less new videos being produced by acts at the lower end of the chart. Those videos cost, and times are tighter than ever. And there seems to be a slackening off of viewing figures for Indie and Rock; some big names are sliding down, or have even slid off this chart. Take a look at last year's chart for a comparison. And on the more current front, some of our hottest and most tipped new Indie outfits, who didn't make the chart, are scoring numbers that are, frankly, embarrassing.

Winners? Look at the astonishing Male/Female splits. 

Take a bow, Lady Leshurr, Jacob Banks, Jorja Smith, Mahalia, Lotto Boyz, Tempa and a few others... Lower down, I'm delighted to see some pals like Harry and the Howlers, Ed Geater and the (big-time) return of Electric Swing Circus making inroads. 

But take a bow, women artists: it's not just Leshurr's contribution that makes the views by gender split so interesting.

In this list we have 14 female or female-fronted acts, 36 male or male-fronted. Now look at these totals:

Views for Female acts	79,517,768
Views for Male acts	25,983,582
Average for Female	5,678,941
Without Leshurr	946,518
Average for Male	72,766

So, while the field is still dominated by blokes numerically, the reactions to their work is dwarfed by reactions to Female or Female-fronted videos. Even when you strip out Leshurr's extraordinary numbers, which you really should not. Lessons to be learned, maybe? 


The improvers

You want more? Big improvers on last year are shown in these two breakout charts, sorted by percentage and numerical increases respectively.

Artists	% difference		Artists	Difference
Electric Swing Circus	1294.07		Lady Leshurr	20,012,294
Jorja Smith	605.24		Jacob Banks	7,205,217
Laurence Jones	183.34		Jorja Smith	4,813,180
Jacob Banks	156.44		Lotto Boyz	3,010,731
Claire Maguire	113.93		Laura Mvula	1,465,363
Dexys	101.48		Mahalia	663,679
Beverley Knight	90.03		Tempa	582,753
Stone Foundation	81.65		Claire Maguire	395,405
Laura Mvula	81.53		Goldie	215,673
Mahalia	74.13		Dapz on the Map	209,955

So that's it. Lots to glean from a chart, which, while imperfect, still has trends to digest. I wrote over a year ago about the rise of female artists in the region. It's still going on. 

And if I missed you out, holler. 

More music business posts on Radio To Go

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I still do stuff on Brum Radio, a volunteer-run internet station. It's online here; download the Brum Radio app here. My Brum Radio page is here; scroll down for all the shows. 

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A West Midlands YouTube Top 50 - August 2016.

The 8th bi-annual Radio To Go video survey

Late August. Time to check who is doing well on YouTube. There are interesting conclusions to be drawn:

• The enduring appeal of some music genres
• A huge generational distance between different sets of fans
• Maybe suspicious increases in numbers - you'll have to work that one out for yourself, but the numbers are there
• A changing of the guard near the top. 

We still have the same leader as in February, but the appeal of her format may be on the wane. Details after the jump...

Hitting New Heights: A West Midlands YouTube Top 50: February 2016

BIG changes at both top and bottom of the 7th YouTube chart

Lady Leshurr on top; Laura Mvula and the Editors on the foothills.

Every six months I tot up YouTube numbers for local acts: the two most-viewed videos in the past three years, strictly defined. The totals let me do a bit of basic analysis - who is piling on the views? Who's made the biggest percentage improvement? 

A statistical health warning applies: I do this chart on my own, out of curiosity. It's perfectly possible I have missed your act. If so, please tell me and I will instantly rectify matters. 

There's some spectacular results to be picked out of this. 

A West Midlands YouTube Top 50: August 2015

Here's the sixth bi-yearly local acts video views chart: who's making YouTube waves?

I do this ranking every six months. The exercise is starting to build up some long-term analysis potential. There's some interesting straws in the wind. I think YouTube viewing numbers are increasing overall, based on a rough analysis of upwards trends for many on the chart. But there are some caveats...

The headline? Laura Mvula still rules – just. But I think that she's going to be overtaken on the next chart by another spectacularly talented Birmingham woman who plays by her own rules. You may not have heard of her yet. But you certainly will.

A West Midlands YouTube Top 50: February 2015

If you don't know already, you'll be amazed at what goes over BIG from our patch  

February 2015 is here, so here's this blog's six-monthly roundup of West Midlands artists, ranked by viewing numbers on YouTube. There's a couple of surprises, and a fistful of impressive new entrants. 

This is statto heaven, and you can pick out seriously interesting patterns if you compare results over the time I've done these charts: links to earlier rankings are at the bottom of the post. 

Winners, losers, runners and riders after the jump.

A West Midlands YouTube Top 50, as of August 2014

The 50 must viewed West Midlands acts; Laura Mvula is out on top. And look at all the death metal....

Every six months, I research the most-viewed numbers for local acts on YouTube. It's a weird kind of chart: at the bottom, people who have pulled in, seduced and nagged enough views to get past the cut-off point; at the top, BIG acts like The Editors and Laura Mvula. I've done this for long enough for some trends to emerge, although I would never lay claim to this being a comprehensive index of popularity. There's just too many wildcards. Scroll on down to the bottom of the post for caveats and analysis

But first, congratulations to the new leader....

Now, the basic rules...

• West Midlands acts, who are still involved locally, only. Tax exiles excluded.
• Proper videos only: smartphone and fan clips are out, official vids are in.
• The two most-viewed videos uploaded within the past three years are counted.
• Minimum total is 10,000. 
• No live videos unless specifically commissioned.
• Only one version of the song - no remixes.
• No videos of full albums ripped to YouTube with just one image to try to score ad revenue.

Now, here's the chart. 

More analysis afterwards, if you're interested...

Act	Video 1	Video 2	views
Laura Mvula	Green Garden	That's Alright	3,430,303
Oceans Ate Alaska	Clocks	To Catch A Flame	3,382,885
Editors	A Ton Of Love	Formaldehyde	2,718,723
George Barnett	Swimming Pools	Where The Devil Sleeps	1,692,727
Peace	Wraith	Bloodshake	1,453,203
Swim Deep	Honey	King City	1,415,754
Lady Leshurr	Look At Me Now	F64	1,036,487
The Enemy	Like A Dancer	Saturday	682,505
Napalm Death	The Wolf I Feed	Breed To Breathe	554,960
UB40	Blue Eyes Cryin' In the Rain	-	506,326
Robert Plant	Rainbow	Promo for Lullaby and the Ceaseless Roar album	490,817
Electric Swing Circus	Penniless Optimist	Everybody Wants To Be A Cat	425,283
The Twang	We're A Crowd	Mainline	210,817
Anaal Nakraath	Forging Towards The Sunset	Todos Sono Humanos	201,473
Dexys	Incapable Of Love	Nowhere Is Home	158,533
Templeton Pek	Wake Me Up	What Are You Waiting For	144,720
Jaws	Toucan Surf	Surround You	129,905
Mahalia	Let The World See The Light	Goldrush (with Ed Sheeran)	98,134
No Americana	Washed Out Summer	Wax Poetic	95,834
Troumaca	Lady Colour	Layou	93,191
Scott Matthews	Myself Again	Virginia (Guild Lounge)	75,282
Soweto Kinch	Help	A People With No Past	71,739
Superfood	Superfood	Bubbles	68,880
Claire Maguire	Paper Thin	Whenever You Want It	52,607
The Wonderstuff	Planet Earth	Oh No!	45,047
Musgraves	Last Of Me	So Sophia	43,651
Midnight Bonfires	Lights Out	Exhale	43,243
The Traps	Calypso	The Honeydrip	39,560
Destroyers	Hole In The Universe	-	37,042
God Damn	Heavy Money	I'm a Lazer, You're a Radar	29,402
Hanging Doll	Carnival Of Sin	Sacred and Profane	26,774
Rebecca Downes	Basement Of My Heart	When I'm Bad	26,449
Mistys Big Adventure	Aggression	-	25,001
Goodnight Lenin	Wenceslas Square	Record Store Day '14 promo	22,858
Malik MD7	I Bear My Soul	Skooled By	21,326
ADO	Power	Waterfall	19,339
1 Eye	Mr Bailiff	-	18,830
Stone Foundation	That's The Way I Want To Live My Life	To Find The Spirit	18,290
Broken Witt Rebels	Call Out The Sun	All Worn out	18,189
Ali Campbell and Radio Riddler	Purple Rain	-	18,176
Dumb	Dive	Retina	17,495
Erica Nockalls	Cut Them Out	Manikin	17,056
Boat To Row	Tightrope	Grassmarket	16,116
DC Fontana	Abbesses	Pentagram Man	16,067
Old Dance School	Swifts and Martins	Chasing The Light album promo	14,874
Bluebeat Arkestra	The Chillr	Ghosts	13,663
Victories At Sea	Future Gold	Stay Positive	13,112
Xova	9 Lives	Just Want To Be Famous	12,810
Brothers Groove	Treat 'em Mean	My Guitar	12,279
Friendly Fire Band	One Drop it Like It's Hot (Sam Redmore mix)	Welcome to Holland	11,340
Don't take this too seriously... Now, I realise that, chart rankings aside, this is major geek territory. But it's also very interesting. The chart itself should be taken with an industrial-grade pinch of salt. Why? Well, because YouTube counts aren't precise; I've seen figures go DOWN in a six month period. And the mechanism is generous to those with the tools and the chops and the money to make snappy videos. Don't let the 'accessible to all' vibe fool you: YouTube works best when you've got a slick package to push.  So people who don't play that game lose out by this metric. Soweto Kinch has two 'straight' videos in the chart, but he's also all over YouTube doing some fine rap battles, cut live and raw. But there's so many of them that the impact is diluted. YouTube can be hyped. Dig around, and you'll find outfits who will give you views for cash. I don't think that applies too much at this level, but it just might be present here or there. Look at the top, and there's evidence aplenty of big record company support.  Except that George Barnett doesn't have that support, and he's up there, and with a rotating repertoire at that. Everybody else mainly leans on their same two biggest videos. So don't let them tell you it can't be done.  Trends and patterns Putting the four series of rankings together over the two years (February 2013, August 2013, and February 2014) you can start to spot some rough trends. A lot of bands - not all - seem to surge forward, and then... run out of steam. That's sad, but inevitable. Others sit on the chart until their videos get past the three-year cut off point, and they have nothing to replace it with.  It's also fascinating to see how some underground genres have big followings: Look at the string of death metal and black metal bands. Equally fascinating is how loyalty can apply - or not apply - to older acts with fresh videos. There's UB40 and Robert Plant doing very nicely, thank you. Dig around and you'll spot others who aren't doing so well.  Progress? Finally, two more geeky charts, looking at how acts have prospered, both in terms of increased numbers and increases by percentage, Here's the top 15 winners for each:
Percentage increase Number of views increase UB40 95.42% Laura Mvula 613,046 Mahalia 60.73% Editors 596,451 Dumb 41.20% Oceans Ate Alaska 455,242 Superfood 41.15% George Barnett 374,687 God Damn 38.03% UB40 247,233 Jaws 34.85% Swim Deep 238,246 Brothers Groove 29.28% Peace 142,765 George Barnett 28.43% Lady Leshurr 69,264 Editors 28.10% Electric Swing Circus 56,334 Laura Mvula 21.76% Mahalia 37,079 Broken Witt Rebels 20.99% The Enemy 34,947 Swim Deep 20.23% Jaws 33,570 Troumaca 17.59% Superfood 20,082 ADO 15.69% Dexys 18,910 Oceans Ate Alaska 15.55% Troumaca 13,937
And if for some reason I'm missed anyone out.... yikes! My bad. Drop me a note through the blog contact page, and I will fix things.  You want more? See more music business posts
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