Ola Leaves Randall, And Everyone Else.
Todd Simpson
Jun 29 2019, 08:57 AM
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As you all know, I"m a big fan of how Ola Englund has gone from a "Youtube Guitar Guy" to a Professional Youtube Guitar guy with his own brand of Guitars etc. I just heard today that he LEFT RANDALL AMPS. Yup. Had his own signature amp, called the "SATAN" and now he just abandons Randall. He also abandoned Strictly 7 guitars for another builder and then abandoned them to create the same guitar under his own brand, and abandoned his first touring band Six Feet Under to join a more local international touring band, (I don't know if he has abandoned them yet) I am always pitching him as an example of how to "Make it" without leaving your bedroom basically. Then going from bedroom player to international touring guitar guy, which is sorta every bedroom players dream. It seems now he just sorta shoots the bull doing FAQ videos and it seems to be working. Maybe that's the final stage. Get to scale and make belch/fart FAQ videos and that's it. But that seems so ... sad.

I gotta say though. Just zero loyalty to all of the vendors that helped him get to where he is sorta strikes me as odd. I don't know what his big game plan is, but he must know what he is doing since he's one of the most successful youtube guitar guys ever. Him and FLUFF went pro starting from just making vids in their bedroom.

I tend to be more loyal to folks/brands that support me. Maybe that's just not the way to go. But that's just me. I'm a loyal guy. I 'm still trying to learn from Ola as I'd love to make the kind of money he makes. It's a process. I wonder if he will abandon his own brand of guitars?

So here it is, 80,000 views on a video of Ola eating a pop tart. Yup. He eats a pop tart and gets nearly 100k views. Then mentions leaving Randall who gave him a signature amp. Is that really the goal? Get to scale and just make pop tart belch videos? Does this make anyone else a little sick?
So now he just pitches his "pay" channel, membership thing on youtube which are just more belch, fart, watch him play video games, etc. Maybe that's all there is to life. If that's so, then it's not the life I'd want. I unsubbed him today. Not that it matters. Just such a sad end.

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Mertay
Jun 29 2019, 12:41 PM
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The money is earned from the teens in music business smile.gif

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yoncopin
Jun 29 2019, 01:31 PM
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I think he's just a saavy businessman, abandoned may be a harsher word than I'd use. Those relationships with companies are about business and as much as it may feel like "family" sometimes, there don't have to be hard feelings to move onward and upward. Given how fast the "creator" business seems to move I think change is necessary if you want to grow and reach a broader audience. He's evolved from a guitarist-only channel to more of metalhead nextdoor vibe and that has obviously attracted a very large audience. I don't watch as much of his content anymore but I'm not his target market and he seems to be entirely conscious and focused on what he's doing.

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klasaine
Jun 29 2019, 02:38 PM
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"Official" product relationships/endorsements are for a contracted period of time. Who knows how long the contract was for, if there even was one - ?
If they're not 'official' relationships, everyone comes and goes as they please.
This works both ways. When you're an artist with hits or a sideman playing with a popular artist, you get discounted and even free gear, ads with your photo, free namm passes, etc. As soon as your popularity wanes - they cut you loose. That's biz.

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Todd Simpson
Jun 29 2019, 08:50 PM
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I guess he will pull an Eddie Van Halen and make his own Amps as well as guitars which he will get to keep all of as well. I guess that's really what it's about. Getting to scale and abandoning everyone that got you there and then pulllilng an EVH or ZAKK WYLDE and just declaring your own brand which you keep all of and have it built by the same indonesian factory that was making the old stuff. Call me sentimental, but I'd honestly like to have a relationship with a company that has some history. But maybe that's just naive. Look at Misha Mansoor. He has not kicked Jackson out of bed yet, but he sure kicked pro tone pedals to the curb and now has his own pedals built by MXR and he now shows pictures of his Lamborghini on his instagram feed and is now asking folks if they think he should buy a porsche for track day. These guys are pro so pro is as pro does I guess.
Todd

QUOTE (klasaine @ Jun 29 2019, 09:38 AM) *
"Official" product relationships/endorsements are for a contracted period of time. Who knows how long the contract was for, if there even was one - ?
If they're not 'official' relationships, everyone comes and goes as they please.
This works both ways. When you're an artist with hits or a sideman playing with a popular artist, you get discounted and even free gear, ads with your photo, free namm passes, etc. As soon as your popularity wanes - they cut you loose. That's biz.

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Kristofer Dahl
Jun 29 2019, 10:13 PM
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Although I don't follow his channel closely - from your description this does not necessarily sound like a dick move against his fans.

On the contrary, if he spends less of his time working for the big companies and more on interacting with his most loyal fans (ie via paid channel or free farting/burping youtube videos) - that sounds amazing to me!

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Todd Simpson
Jun 30 2019, 03:55 AM
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Agreed smile.gif I don't think he's being a D##K against his fans here. He does seem to be heading towards D##K with his vendors/builders though just a pinch. At least it looks that way. Maybe I put to much on Loyalty. As I said, perhaps it's just me being naive. After all, pro is as pro does and he is a Pro. He makes a living doing belch/fart/just the tip/faq vids these days. I gotta give him credit for navigating the ever changing world of social media and making a living off of it.
I guess I'm just a bit let down by how it's all sorta happened. I have held him up as an example of how to "Go Pro" for years. It seems that going pro means something very different than I hoped it would. Either way, it's working. He's making farting/belching/burping videos for fans who pay money every month just to see him pass wind. It is kind of amazing. A bit sad in a way, but still amazing.

He is the gold standard by which bedroom metal heads seeking to go pro are sorta measured in a way. Even Angel Vivaldi has started doing more bodily fluid sound stuff in his vids and I mentioned that ola was to blame and Angel agreed.

Todd

QUOTE (Kristofer Dahl @ Jun 29 2019, 05:13 PM) *
Although I don't follow his channel closely - from your description this does not necessarily sound like a dick move against his fans.

On the contrary, if he spends less of his time working for the big companies and more on interacting with his most loyal fans (ie via paid channel or free farting/burping youtube videos) - that sounds amazing to me!

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Todd Simpson
Jun 30 2019, 07:58 AM
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Agreed. He's laser focused on the belch vid market and folks are paying premium rates to watch his "premiium" belch vids. You gotta hand it to him. He's navigated the rough waters of social media like a pro. Dignity is evidently vastly over rated and under paid. I can still remember when his channel used to actually be about music.

To wit, keep an eye out for my new stick the tip belch premium patreon channel where I"ll just sorta ramble on about whatever and steal audio samples of bodily noises from Olas Twitch feed. smile.gif Get off my lawn you darn kids!! smile.gif


QUOTE (yoncopin @ Jun 29 2019, 08:31 AM) *
I think he's just a saavy businessman, abandoned may be a harsher word than I'd use. Those relationships with companies are about business and as much as it may feel like "family" sometimes, there don't have to be hard feelings to move onward and upward. Given how fast the "creator" business seems to move I think change is necessary if you want to grow and reach a broader audience. He's evolved from a guitarist-only channel to more of metalhead nextdoor vibe and that has obviously attracted a very large audience. I don't watch as much of his content anymore but I'm not his target market and he seems to be entirely conscious and focused on what he's doing.

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Todd Simpson
Jun 30 2019, 09:54 AM
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Ola sorta Explains himself in this vid as he is evidently getting some comments much like the one that I raised in the original post. He mentions that Washburn and Randall both got bought out by bigger companies and then both of them sorta started to suck. Not making any new stuff, being a big pain in his butt etc. So he sorta focuses on charging a membership fee for people to join him in Discord and play FPS games with him and such. He does mention that it's much easier to create content now andI can see that. he just sorta turns on the camera and shoots the breeze. It's working. He's earning a living just talking to camera and playing video games. Gotta at least respect that.
Around 13:25

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Rated Htr
Jun 30 2019, 11:08 AM
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First of, what he did has more to do with the way digital marketing (my area of study) has impacted businesses than anything else.

As musicians, we all think that the way to make money nowadays from our art is either to do band tours with little cost and sold out arenas, or to have sponsors who back us up to advertise their products.

The thing with youtube is that it's shifting that game around. The globalization is allowing us to get access to many more people without having the costs it did back then.

Plus, he has originated a lot of brand equity to his name. This means he has a recognizable brand to his fans (much like Rob Chapman has) and therefore, he can capitalize on that. He doesn't need the big companies as much as he did before.

Furthermore, the tendency of big companies are to demand promotional videos our focus on their stuff for a period of the video and it's getting to a point where it pisses off people since back then, we got the occasional banner to click the X and now we have paid promotions included on the videos.

This way, he can still get the high pay offs he got from previous deals, while getting more money since he owns or his part of the companies and isn't force by marketing rules to change his videos in any shape or form.

Regarding the farting/belching videos, that's just what happened when you have brand equity. When you're unknown,you can have top production, top quality and all that and it still might not be enough because the market is full of people who can offer what you can most of the times.

We used to enjoy low res quality youtube videos and now we complain if a thing isn't in, at least, 720p. People have to invest in microphones, studio settings, great cameras to do the bare minimum to compete with everybody.

When you get to pass the rat race, you can start to tone it down because people are coming back for you. A great example of that for me is Jonathan Young, another youtuber. If you see his first videos, they lacked some quality because he didn't have the gear or skills to pull it out. Than they got better, he started getting a following, than he started doing what he really wanted to do no matter what and people followed him more and now, his videos are a curve ball.

Sometimes they have great quality, sometimes he is just abusing green screen or after effects to make a comic point.

Those are my two cents on the matter, I personally think Ola is a very smart entrepreneur.

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jstcrsn
Jun 30 2019, 12:03 PM
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the vast majority of people watch to escape . What ever they do all day , they need to relax with someone they know ( even if they don't know him ) if he has figured that out , kudos

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Todd Simpson
Jun 30 2019, 05:29 PM
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I've been a fan since day one. Bit less so recently but I'm not his target demo as someone else mentioned. No doubt he is a shrewd businessman. I posted a video where he talked about why he has changed to what he is currently doing and it explained a lot for me. Glad I saw it Now that he has achieved "scale" (size) , he can really do just about anything as long as folks find it entertaining. He charges folks to play video games with him these days and does'n't do much that's very serious, but hey it's working for him. There is no way to deny his enormous audience and financial success.
Then again Youtuber PewdiePie is also wildely successfull. Hmm..
To wit 8 MILLION PLUS VIEWS for a story about breaking his A$

QUOTE (Rated Htr @ Jun 30 2019, 06:08 AM) *
First of, what he did has more to do with the way digital marketing (my area of study) has impacted businesses than anything else.

Those are my two cents on the matter, I personally think Ola is a very smart entrepreneur.

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Kristofer Dahl
Jul 1 2019, 08:00 AM
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QUOTE (Todd Simpson @ Jun 30 2019, 08:58 AM) *
Agreed. He's laser focused on the belch vid market and folks are paying premium rates to watch his "premiium" belch vids. You gotta hand it to him. He's navigated the rough waters of social media like a pro. Dignity is evidently vastly over rated and under paid. I can still remember when his channel used to actually be about music.

To wit, keep an eye out for my new stick the tip belch premium patreon channel where I"ll just sorta ramble on about whatever and steal audio samples of bodily noises from Olas Twitch feed. smile.gif Get off my lawn you darn kids!! smile.gif


I hate to admit it but I think I am also in the business:

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klasaine
Jul 1 2019, 10:42 PM
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Honest reviews.
I would love to see a negative review of a piece of gear, sent by the manufacturer, from a pro yt reviewer.

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Todd Simpson
Jul 2 2019, 03:21 AM
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If you can't beat em join em!!!!! smile.gif I may have to make some of these myself.
Todd
QUOTE (Kristofer Dahl @ Jul 1 2019, 03:00 AM) *
I hate to admit it but I think I am also in the business:

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Kristofer Dahl
Jul 2 2019, 07:41 PM
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QUOTE (klasaine @ Jul 1 2019, 11:42 PM) *
Honest reviews.
I would love to see a negative review of a piece of gear, sent by the manufacturer, from a pro yt reviewer.


Yeah that is true.

You can learn to recognise a negative review though - ie when the youtuber leaves out his/her personal opinion on certain crucial aspects of the product.

QUOTE (Todd Simpson @ Jul 2 2019, 04:21 AM) *
If you can't beat em join em!!!!! smile.gif I may have to make some of these myself.
Todd


I am holding my breath for your coming fart video Todd!

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Todd Simpson
Jul 2 2019, 08:55 PM
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Indeed smile.gif I may have to use the three pillars of youtube eyebal traffic.
1.)Bewbs2.)Belching3.)Bull###T
Those 3 elements seem to control the view count.

Sadly, many smaller content creators have been "demonitized" by youtube of late. Leaving oly the mega creators (like Ola and Pewdipie) along with paid content creators like CNN, ABC, etc. So youtube is transforming in to a streaming version of cable TV with a few channels for "local talent". It was inevitable of course.

Content creators are starting to move to platforms like Instagram for video distribuion which keeps things brisk as many videos are about one minute long per the old strictures before IG started it's Video vertical option. IGTV.
I was happy to see that Ola made an actual Guitar Video recenty featuring all of his killer DIME guitars. I did notice the view count of the teaser on IG was quite low compared to his more laser focused Fart/Belch content. It's rough to be sickened by the needs of the audience one is trying to service, but such is life in the big city smile.gif
Here is the Vid. One of these is the "Holy Grail" Southern Cross Guitar. These run as much as $10,000, yes 10k each. Only 100 were ever built. I'm an "Ibby Guy" but I'd give most of my internal organs and blood for one of those.

Todd
QUOTE (Kristofer Dahl @ Jul 2 2019, lon02:41 PM) *
Yeah that is true.

You can learn to recognise a negative review though - ie when the youtuber leaves out his/her personal opinion on certain crucial aspects of the product.



I am holding my breath for your coming fart video Todd!

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jstcrsn
Jul 3 2019, 02:13 AM
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QUOTE (Kristofer Dahl @ Jul 2 2019, 07:41 PM) *
I am holding my breath for your coming fart video Todd!

top tier dad joke

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Todd Simpson
Jul 3 2019, 04:19 AM
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Holding my nose for everyones upcoming fart vids! smile.gif

QUOTE (jstcrsn @ Jul 2 2019, 09:13 PM) *
top tier dad joke


Already at four thousand views!!!! We have unlocked the secrets of youtube!!! It's about flatulence folks!!!


QUOTE (Todd Simpson @ Jul 1 2019, 10:21 PM) *
If you can't beat em join em!!!!! smile.gif I may have to make some of these myself.
Todd

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Kristofer Dahl
Jul 4 2019, 12:02 PM
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QUOTE (jstcrsn @ Jul 3 2019, 03:13 AM) *
top tier dad joke


hehe I think I am dad jokes guy 😂

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