Why Music Reviews on Youtube are Bad (A Comprehensive List of Music Analysts to Follow Instead)

As platforms like Youtube, Patereon, and Steemit grow content creators have been maturing from run-of-the-mill offhand reviews to vastly more methodical and analytical essays. In the instance of film there are no shortage of popular Youtubers such as Every Frame a Painting, Now You See It, Channel Criswell delivering intricately written pieces analyzing everything from how to stage characters, composing movement, and fucking chairs.

Music analysis however has remained saturated by low-effort vlogs and bland text-book style lectures.

Perhaps it says something about the ways people consume music that makes TheNeedleDrop's signature rambling in front of a camera for 10 minutes so widely emulated. In fact assigning an asinine and often tentative rating has become the main spectacle for not only Fantano and other reactors/reviewers on Youtube but essentially all major publications. Any lean analysis has taken not become an entree in the 5 course meal but breadcrumbs to the main course of cumshotting clickbait quicker than a 16 year old boy who thinks Sky Ferria is an artist for posting her tits on an album cover. One look at the comment section of any Needledrop review and you'll find the majority of comments are about the rating itself. Any mention at the actual analysis is more like commentators lapping up the post-ironic semen stains of a reviewer jerking himself off by talking in circles and making forced memes for half of the time it would take to listen to the actual album just to get top comment. Go watch any top music reviewer and you can sum up their 10+ minute video in 2 sentences or less. I'm not joking when I say putting an album cover with a rating in comic sans would be a more coherent approach to this style of review.

On the other side of the coin are academics on Youtube whose approach to analysis is about as dry as the dusty old textbooks they've learned from. Still you have to give them credit for making it so superfluously intricate when all they did was basically copy and paste what they learned from school. It strikes me that being a musician means constantly striving for the cutting edge of your craft instead the presentation feels like watching a 5 hour lecture about how old pendulum clock works. Unwind the melodies, unscrew the rhythms, uncoil the progressions. Fantastic! We understand the parts, why they fit together, and how they function. Slight problem, Teach. I don't see any motherfuckers lining up to wear pendulum clocks on their wrists. The real shame is that really music theory is the furthest thing from boring I can imagine. Which is a shame when music theory has the potential to be as relevant and useful than ever. Why would you ever waste your time watching 20 minutes of dicking around in Sibelus or a DAW stumbling around a concept that can be said in 1.

Point in Case:

• 12 Tone
  The ASAPScience of Music Theory. One of the most underrated channels and resources for music theory.

• Sideways
  In terms of the raw potency of their writing and understanding of the music concepts discussed in their videos few can hold a candle to Sideways's essay style videos.

• Ongaku Concept
  Phenomenal analysis of game and anime music. Joshua's approach to breaking down music theory but still making it relevant to how the piece works conceptually is exceptional.

• Adam Neely
  The most popular but also one of the best music analysts on Youtube. Adam's highly conceptualized approach to the vlog-style has given him the moniker, "The VSauce of Music Theory."

• Waveform
  Despite focusing on sound design Wave Form has some of the best execution and most worthwhile writing to be found in the medium.

• Major Third
  Like a cross between Ongaku Concept and Sideways. I've learned something incredibly valuable from each and everyone of his videos.

• Studio Hyperion
  My channel is an attempt to merge the cutting edge of Youtube Reviews and the level of depth in the writing of analysis in theory, production, and performance. Key word to remember right now is attempt.

All this is to say popular Youtuber's couldn't or even haven't tried to make more analytical content. Nerdwriter's forays into music analysis have all barely skimmed the surface of what makes a piece of music work. You know, maybe that's just what the masses want. But to me that strikes me as not just a disservice to the audience but themselves as artists. To better understand the importance of music analysis more we must first realize the inherent difficulty of analyzing music. Stayed tuned for Part 2: Chaos, Meaning, & Music. Or don't and in which case fuck you.