i knew this was going to be a long process when i decided on it, but it seems to be working. that's growth month over month since i put the youtube site up at the beginning of the year. keep in mind that there's another week in july, so the curve will be up by the end of the month. i'm projecting a nice growth rate that is leveling off around 1.2.

i don't know how long i'll be able to maintain that growth rate. but, if it continues a few more months i can start expecting over 100 hits a day. if it continues to this time next year, i can expect closer to 200 hits a day. that's a lot of hits, and i'm skeptical myself, but the approach i'm using is additive so it's not out of the question.

see, here's the thing: i understand that youtube hits are not a measure of legitimate interest but a measure of marketing reach. people with a million youtube hits don't have a million fans, they have a million-hit marketing apparatus behind them. i'm an independent artist, so i'm mostly relying on trolling youtube to generate hits.

it's actually a win-win because i produce the kinds of comments that people like: smart and provocative. they generate responses and keep people engaged.

but, it's a numbers game - especially with the nature of the sound. get as many hits as i can and hope a few are interested, sort of thing.

i've had a few videos go down, but most of the comments will remain in place permanently. well, all of the comments will remain in place so long as the videos are up. so, the more comments i produce, the more hits i generate. or, so goes the logic. the growth can't be permanent. but, looking at the growth that i'm getting, i have every reason to think the bar is potentially set quite high.

and that's what i wanted. i'm mostly marketing my oldest stuff right now because i'm still "only" generating about 70 hits a day. it'll be another three months before i even get to my second demo, and then another seven after that before i get to what i'd consider more substantial recordings.
if the growth rate keeps up, i could be generating upwards of 200 hits a day *when i start promoting my more meaningful work*.

the idea was to emulate the kind of marketing that used to exist in the 80s, before everything got bought out. word of mouth growth, slowly, over time. one of the great things about this, and one of the reasons the 80s produced such a wealth of substantial underground music, is that it allows the artists to evolve as they're generating an audience. by slowly building up to my more mature works, i'm also emulating that artistic evolution.

i guess this post is bragging that my evil plan is actually working. i'm a bit of a bond villain...