My mini-documentary about a local band hit 2 million views last year - now it gets 12 a day

I shot a 10 minute doc on a garage band from Austin called The Rusted Tires back in 2022. It blew up on YouTube for about three weeks, got picked up by a few music blogs, and I felt like a big deal. Fast forward to now, and the video gets maybe a dozen views a day, mostly from people looking for guitar tabs. The band itself broke up six months after the hype, so even they don't promote it anymore. I spent like 40 hours editing that thing and now it just sits there. Has anyone else had a project that peaked fast and then totally flatlined?

3 comments

3 Comments

emmaking2d ago

and dude the worst part is when you know the video is still good but the algorithm just moves on. like my buddy made this killer edit of a local punk show from 2021, got 150k in a month, now it gets maybe 30 views a week. but you watch it and the editing is solid, the audio is clean, its still a legit piece of work. the algorithm just decides your time is up. i swear youtube is like a really flaky friend who only calls when they need something, soon as you don't get them those first day numbers they completely ghost you.

charlies372d ago

oh man I feel this so hard. I made a 5 minute skate edit of my friends in this warehouse district in LA back in 2019, got like 80k views in the first week then it just dropped off a cliff to like 20 views a month now. hurts to see it sit there collecting digital dust after all that work editing.

taylor9572d ago

but isn't part of the fun just making something cool in the moment? like yeah the algorithm moves on but 80k people saw your work and that's pretty rad. not everything has to stay popular forever.