My KOTW is an Indiegogo campaign. Yeah, I know it’s different big whoop wanna fight about it?
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Player Piano is an independent YouTube channel from composer/pianist Sonya Belousova and Director Tom Grey featuring music videos in which classical musicians perform innovative arrangements of popular songs and soundtrack themes. Past and upcoming videos include arrangements of “Kaneda’s Theme” from the classic Anime Akira, the themes from Tetris and Street Fighter, “Happy” by Pharrell Williams, a Halloween Video titled Ghost Waltz, and Doctor Who. While being 100% INDEPENDENT is exactly how we want to operate, self-funding the videos at the quality we want to deliver is challenging.
The Economics of YouTube Videos:
Here’s the thing, we are a brand new channel. We don’t yet have millions of subscribers or get funding from companies, etc. Where once YouTube was a place for creators to get a start, these days all the major media companies are pouring millions in to take over the digital space. Unlike a few years ago, it now is a lot more difficult to get something independent up and running. Many people have asked us why we’re doing a crowdfund if we make money from the ads on videos. Well the average video ad pays us about $1 per 1000 views (after YouTube and Music Publishers take their share). That means that even if a video reaches 1 million views, we are only making approx $1000. Now the average Player Piano video costs about $7.5 to $10k to produce (scroll down to see costs of our Street Fighter episode as an example). You can see that the ad supported business model doesn’t work well for someone just starting out.
We have a long-term plan to make Player Piano self-sufficient. In order to get to the point where we’re able to continue to make even bigger and better videos, we need to keep a consistent release schedule and build the audience. We love what we do and hope that you do too! We’ve worked hard to make sure we have some killer perks, like the Pinball Piano giveaway or filming ‘On The Spot’ at your house. But even a $5 or $10 contribution helps. If everyone who watched our Akira video contributed $5, we’d be able to make consistent awesome videos based off your favorite songs and soundtrack themes for a year!
Meet the Pianist!
Sonya Belousova is a composer & pianist. Originally from St-Petersburg, Russia, Sonya is the winner of multiple international competitions. She is also a recipient of the Russian Ministry of Culture Award, one of the most prestigious Russian awards. Films with Sonya’s music have premiered at film festivals across the globe, including Cannes International Film Festival and Tribeca Film Festival. As a pianist Sonya can be heard on various soundtracks and records, including the Showtime series Dexter. She made her YouTube debut working with Tom on the web series Cosplay Piano on comic book legend Stan Lee’s YouTube Channel “World Of Heroes”.
Tom Grey is a producer and director who has been working in online video for the past couple of years. In 2012, he had the extreme honor of working directly with the original “geek” himself, Stan Lee, when he was brought in to produce and direct content on his web channel “Stan Lee’s World of Heroes”.
During this time, he and his production team mastered the art of micro-budget filmmaking with hits such as Stan Lee Parkour, Superhero Speed Dating, and the Cosplay Piano series — which was where he first met Sonya. He will soon be directing a live-action short film based on The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina Of Time.
Tom and Sonya are extremely excited about launching Player Piano, their first independent creative venture!