Here is the song link: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_w9taH8Kkvw" rel="nofollow">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_w9taH8Kkvw</a><p>Quick background on the project: I'm a full time programmer and I love making rap music. I see a lot of humor in the profession/industry, and thought it would be fun to combine the two.<p>In terms of monetization, I currently am doing the following:<p>1. Paid sponsors: depending on the level of contribution, they could get a shoutout/posting in the YouTube description, or an annotation on the video<p>2. Donations (<a href="https://www.patreon.com/stdoutrap" rel="nofollow">https://www.patreon.com/stdoutrap</a>)<p>3. Swag gear (in progress)<p>I am also toying with the idea of getting proprietary beats and making an album (I've gotten a few comments from people saying they would buy an album).<p>I would love to get some feedback on:<p>1. How to get more exposure (currently post on HN, IH, dev.to, Twitter)<p>2. Song topic ideas<p>3. Monetization ideas I am missing
Don't buy beats. There is no real correlation for quality and cost, and part of the fun is making a beat. Your time and money will be better spent either learning mixing and mastering (which you already have good fundamentals), or getting time with a studio to record/mix/master, which should only be done if you already have a fanbase to support the cost.<p>1. Getting exposure
Right now from that video, you are a faceless rapper with no real incentive for a fan to subscribe, or follow on social media. You should either look into making a cheap music video that attaches a face, or some visuals to the track which allows you to address the audience after the video for what content and notifications you can get at each social media channel. After that, as long as you keep up the quality, and can maintain some degree of a regular content posting schedule (1x a week/month/quarter), you can build a regular audience.<p>2. Song topic ideas
If you want to stick with the tech theme, stay with it. I think this song came from a 'write what you know' place, so you can do more with it i.e. more workplace/professional annoyances, or any other common shared experience for your fanbase you are trying to build. Be relatable, and write what you know.<p>3. Monetization
You already have a patreon, and are working on swag. That's already what high level youtube/musicians do as the endgame, unless you see yourself having appeal for concert/performance settings at a convention or something. If you want to build more fast songwriting skill, you could sell short songs on fiverr or something for a bit of cash and forcing yourself to keep working on your talents. Focus on your fanbase first, and worry about monetization later. I don't think you are at a critical mass yet where a delay in a monetization route means lost money.
It's a cool idea that you're pursing, and it looks like they're gaining popularity!<p>For more exposure, I think that your videos would benefit from some kind of visual performance, most people would much rather watch an unknown rapper in a video than a blank title template...<p>Here's some ideas to make your videos get more exposure:<p>- [1] Pretend to do a conference talk with power-point presentation, this would be a hilarious satire, as it's extremely relate-able for programmers.<p>- [2] Cartoon animations of what you're describing (this would be time-consuming though)<p>- [3] Weird face-filters, like the deep-fake kind, you could make celebrities rap in different parts of your song.<p>- Cool programmatic visualisations (you're a programmer after all)<p>[1] <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gA-NDZb29I4" rel="nofollow">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gA-NDZb29I4</a>
[2] <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LlU4FuIJT2k" rel="nofollow">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LlU4FuIJT2k</a>
[3] <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UwiagqaX4fA" rel="nofollow">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UwiagqaX4fA</a>