Auch diese Woche gibt es ein instrumentales Stück. Wie so oft, bekam es erst einen Titel, als ich die Datei abschließend gespeichert habe. Eine andere Idee, die ich diese Woche nicht in ein ganzes Lied umsetzen konnte, lautete übrigens “Hier kommt die Kartoffelfrau”.
(music by Johannes Schult 2015 Creative Commons by-nc 4.0)
This is a quick folk instrumental tune. The title came about when I set the music to the video.
#17 Gnomes Running Through the Forest
(music by Johannes Schult 2015 Creative Commons by-nc 4.0)
Scroll down for nice plots! Watch the video here!
This is a summary of the YouTube statistics of videos by the Vlogbrothers – Hank and John Green. The raw data were kindly provided by kitchensink108.tumblr.com. I focus on two dependent variables:
The data set already contains a few interesting variables:
The three latter numbers co-vary (all rank correlations > .7) with the total number of views, so looking at them all separately would be repetitive and boring. So instead I will look at:
Speaking of plots, most of the analysis will be graphical. This is pretty much a census, so there’s no need for statistical testing. Also, it’s all quite exploratory.
Here we go: Who tends to have more Views?
Here is the median view count for each brother: Hank: 256k, John: 286k, both: 347k. This means that 50% of Hank’s videos have more than 256k views, and the other half of his videos have less than 256k views. So John’s videos tend to get more views, but still less than reunion videos. You can also look at the means (M) and standard deviations (SD) – but there are some influential outliers that impede the interpretation of the numbers (Hank: M = 378k (SD = 537k); John: M =467k (SD = 1112k); both: M =367k (SD = 183k)).
This plot shows the view count changes across time. The solid line is a median band. It indicates how many views a video needs at a given point in time to have less views than half of the other videos.
Each gray point represents one particular Vlogbrothers video. When I add the linear trend (actually, it’s a log-linear trend), it becomes clear that newer videos tend to get more views:
And this is the same plot with some additional Nerdfighter-related dates:
Did the movie version of The Fault in Our Stars lead to fewer views? I don’t think so – this is mostly speculation, anyway. There could be many reasons why Nerdfighters might be watching fewer videos (CrashCourse, SciShow, Tumblr, jobs, kids). Personally, I think that the more recent videos just haven’t accumulated as many views from new nerdfighters who go through old videos (and from random strangers).
Here is another version of this plot, this time with separate lines for John and Hank:
My interpretation would be that the view counts of Hank and John didn’t really develop differently.
So far, so good. Now what about actual appreciation? When I look at the median values for Likes per View, Hank’s videos are liked by 2.3% of viewers. John’s videos are liked by 2.2% of viewers. Reunion videos are liked by 3.3%; Nerdfighters seem to like reunion videos!
Here’s the longitudinal perspective – again no clear differences between Hank’s videos and John’s videos:
Being liked is one thing. But how about the Likes per Dislike ratio? Here are the median values: Hank’s videos tend to get 78 Likes per Dislike. John’s videos tend to get 126 Likes for each Dislike. And reunion videos trumps them both with a median of 177 Likes per Dislike. Here’s the longitudinal perspective:
There were even more Likes than Dislikes during the past few years. This development occurred especially for John’s videos.
Enough with the appreciation – how about Comments? An eternal source of love, hate, fun, and chaos they are. The overall tendency (i.e., median) is that 0.5%-0.6% of viewers write a comment. Let’s look at the longitudinal perspective of Comments/Views:
The number of Comments per View has declined over the past two years; possibly due to the integration of Google+ and YouTube or the new sorting algortihm for comments.
Finally, here’s a quick overview of specific types of outliers. Videos that elicit a lot of comments are mostly about the Project for Awesome:
The videos with the highest view count all deal with animals:
The last couple of plots brings us back to the length of the videos. Here are the titles of the shorter videos.
Not much to say here. And it seems as if Hank keeps making slightly longer videos than John:
That’s all. DFTBA!
PS a day later: I turned this post into a video. The initial text along with the analysis commands are listed in this Stata do-file.
Dies ist ein Lied aus dem Archiv, wie Kenner vermutlich anhand des Videos erkennen. Vor langer Zeit schrieb ich ein Lied mit dem Titel “Hugging Frogs”. Irgendwie kam ich auf die Idee, den Titel zu übersetzen und ein neues Lied (mit komplett anderem Text) daraus zu machen. Ich möchte damit gar nicht alle Pärchen, die öffentlich Zärtlichkeiten austauschen, anklagen. Es gibt nur manchmal diese Mischung aus Speichel und Amphibiengeräuschen, bei der ich an Frösche denken muss.
Ich weiß, eure Liebe ist neu und ihr mögt einander sehr
Ich weiß, eure Liebe ist toll und ich sollte mich nicht beschweren
Doch immer, wenn ihr in der Öffentlichkeit seid
Treibt ihr es für meinen Geschmack ein bisschen zu weit
Denn wenn ihr euch küsst, ist das fast so erotisch wie Frösche, die sich umarmen
Wenn ihr euch küsst, ist das fast so erotisch wie Frösche, die sich umarmen
(words and music by Johannes Schult 2015 Creative Commons by-nc 4.0)
This song was put together in a hurry. I had big plans but not nearly enough time. I wanted to make two songs, a funny one with lyrics and a moody instrumental – one would have been put on the left stereo channel, the other on the right stereo channel. I had no idea how to write such a thing, which was the first obstacle. Then, I failed to come up with any lyrics beyond two simple lines. Yep, the ones that are repeated below. Saturday came and went, Sunday came and I used the final hours of the evening to commit this recording, making up the song on the fly.
It’s a dirty job but someone’s got to do it
It’s a dirty job but someone’s got to do it
It’s a dirty job but it pays the bills
Cleaning gravestones at Père Lachaise
But when the next of kin do not pay it slowly turns into a messRest in peace while leaves fall on your grave
Rest in peace while birds shit on your grave
Rest in peace while tourists bring you flowers
Cleaning gravestones at Père Lachaise
But when the next of kin do not pay it slowly turns into a mess(words and music by Johannes Schult 2015 Creative Commons by-nc 4.0)
This song happened after I listened to the pre-Creedence Clearwater Revival recordings of Tommy Fogerty and the Blue Velvets. I wrote an instrumental song with lots of reverb on the lead guitar; after all, my vocals don’t suit the early 60s pop music style. The video has a different lead guitar track as I re-recorded it while filming. The title has no particular meaning. I just liked it.
PS: Since I installed a podcasting plugin, there are additional (albeit broken) links at the end of each old 52-second song post. Please ignore them.
(music by Johannes Schult 2015 Creative Commons by-nc 4.0)
Dies ist die deutschsprachige Idee, die ich letzte Woche erwähnte. Das Video hält zwar nicht, was der Titel verspricht; es zeigt mich beim Aufnehmen (angezogen). Das Lied begann mit der Idee für den Titel. Der Rest ergab sich rasch. Zwischendurch spielte ich mit dem Gedanken, ein etwas längeres Lied daraus zu machen, aber wie so oft nahte das Ende der Woche und wer weiß, ob die Pointe nach mehr als 45 Sekunden noch genauso prägnant gewesen wäre?
Nackt vor der Tür steht sie da, doch sie kann nicht rein, oh nein!
Anfangs war sie noch in Eile, doch jetzt steht sie hier schon eine Weile
Nackt vor der Tür
Nacht vor der Tür
Nackt vor der Tür steht sie daIch schau aus der Ferne zu ihr, wie sie dort steht vor der Tür
Sie schaut sich unruhig um und klopft an die Tür
Nackt vor der Tür ist sie nun doch sehr erbost
Nackt vor der Tür des FKK-Damenklos
Nackt vor der Tür steht sie da(words and music by Johannes Schult 2015 Creative Commons by-nc 4.0)
This came out when I forced myself to write a song in English earlier today. I currently have a surplus of ideas for German lyrics. Let me rephrase that: I have one idea for a German song waiting to take shape. I had zero ideas for an English song. I’m not really sure about “Never the Right Time” right now, so it should be fun to revisit it at the end of the year. Will it be one of my favourites? Will I denounce it? We’ll see.
It’s never the right time to have children
It never feels quite right just yet
The perfect moment always seems to be three years from nowAt 18 you’re still in school
At 21 you want to be cool
At 24 you’re looking for a job
At 27 you’re heading for the top
At 30 the two of you break up
At 33 all your online dates suck
At 36 you’re not sure you found the one
At 39 half your life’s already goneIt’s never the right time to have children
It never feels quite right just yet
The perfect moment always seems to be three years from now(words and music by Johannes Schult 2015 Creative Commons by-nc 4.0)
The Brandos want your money in order to make a new album. I want a new Brandos album to happen. So, indirectly, I want your money. I will elaborate this below, but for the impatient tl;dr folks: I suggest you go to https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/365667282/the-brandos-new-studio-album and give the band your money. Thank you!
The Brandos are one of my five favourite bands in the world. I admire and enjoy they music ever since I saw them live in Stuttgart back in 1995. So far I’ve attended 19 of their concerts. Some were hot (Winterbach 2006), some were accompanied by snow (Stuttgart 1998), some were loud (Stuttgart 1997), others were simply sonic bliss (acoustic gig in Stuttgart 1996). The band awed (“The Keeper”), the band rocked (“The Light of Day”), the band folk-rocked (“My Father’s Gun”), the band stayed true to itself throughout the years. The music tends to be serious. You find dark stories and moody characters galore (look no further than “Hard Luck Runner” and “Partners”). Then again, the lack of stainlessness in our lives (bonus points for anyone recognizing this reference) is also reflected in a manner that moves your heart (“Over the Border”) and gives you hope (“Hard Times”) – and if all hope is lost at least solace (“My Friend, My Friend”), sometimes even redemption (“Hallowed Ground”). The Brandos are equally sincere and passionate, which is what sets them apart from ordinary (classic/guitar) rock bands. I backed the project earlier today. Now I will “Pass the Hat” to you.
The current crowdfunding effort is unlike most other musical Kickstarter/Pledgemusic/Indiegogo projects, because the value of the rewards does not match the price tags. The majority of album campaigns are basically presales in disguise. The Brandos offer a new single (with exclusive bonus tracks) for $25. Commonly, one gets the whole new album for that money and then some. The band is not trying to fool anyone – what is offered in the various options is what you get. The Brandos get the money needed for a proper record. My impression is furthermore that successful funding would facilitate the album production and make a late 2015 release a realistic possibility. Most of the money will benefit the recording process of the album. Only a small share will be needed to fulfill the various rewards.
From the point of view of the band, this is about covering the album production costs (partially or completely I don’t know). The label is going to take care of promotion, manufacturing, and distribution. (These three jobs will be handled external firms, I know; but the label provides the infrastructure and, hopefully, tour support.) From the point of view of the fans, backing the project feels more like a donation than like a trade. It’s certainly no bargain. However, the backers can enjoy the feeling of gratification when the new album is made, because they stood up for good music. Because they made their “Contribution”.
The time frame is short. Right now – with 19 percent funded – it doesn’t look too good for the project. (Funding on Kickstarter is all-or-nothing.) Yet, with more than a week left, it’s still possible to reach the goal of $25.000. “The Last Tambourine” has yet to be dubbed. There need to be 820 more fans chiming in with $25. Or 200 willing to contribute $100 or more. The Brandos have been under the radar for most of the last seven years. Reaching their old audience is a challenge. Hopefully, the band or the label can bring the project to the attention of radio stations that used to play the Brandos. More importantly, though, the current campaign could benefit from some additional options, I think.
Add a new cheap option – say $5 – with, for example, an (early) download of the new song that is going to be on the single. This won’t be enough to reach the goal but it might create positive vibes (as fans generally like to support their favourite bands) and bring in at least some more dollars. Bandcamp could be used to fulfill the rewards without too much hassle.
Add more music to the options / more options with (more) music. My first thought here is that there have to be various live recordings – mainly audio, but possibly also on video. As an exclusive reward for maybe a hundred dedicated Brandos fans, a sub-perfect sound and production will deter no one from the band. The easiest addition could be a download of the “Live at Loreley” album (which has been out of print for some time). The album has two bonus tracks from other concerts – those two shows (one from 1987, one from 1998) would be something I’d love to hear, even if it were a quick rough mix. Throwing one of them into all the available options is likely to convince anyone who is hesitant because they feel they don’t get enough rock for their money. There are, of course, many other shows I’d love to revisit – early gigs, rare live cover versions, more Irish songs played by the whole electric band etc. A fan once gave me a recording of an unplugged show from 1995. It’s only Dave and Scott Kempner – and the duo sounds marvelous! Hearing those stunning versions of songs like “A Matter of Survival”, “Partners”, “Cheyenne”, and “Walking on the Water” will make any Brandos fan drool. Offer ten different shows, each for $30, and who knows how many dedicated fans will get some or even all of them.
Speaking of unplugged performances: A video of Dave Kincaid performing an acoustic version of a Brandos song of the backer’s choice would be a very tempting option for me – and probably for other fans, too. I’d set the price tag at $500 – maybe even $400. And maybe offer acoustic Creedence Clearwater Revival cover versions for $600 per piece.
Another attractive option could be access to unreleased demo recordings. “My Way to You” from before the first album was used on the “Contribution” compilation album; “Partners” is supposedly the initial demo version of the song. What about other demos of songs that were rerecorded for the (first couple of) albums?
The one thing that might annoy potential backers for which I have no remedy the necessity of having a credit card and a Kickstarter account (the latter one is free and can be deleted after the project has ended – and the chosen rewards have been delivered).
Finally, if you like the Brandos but not the available options because you’d want the new album itself and then some: The new album will be widely available thanks to Blue Rose Records, so you can quickly buy it for, say, $20 once it’s released. A ticket for a Brandos concert will cost you about $30. Now imagine a $75 option that contains the single, the album, and a concert ticket. Sounds good, right? The only catch is that you will be paying $25 now, then $20 when the album comes out and $30 when the band goes on tour. On the bright side, you don’t have to pay everything upfront and in case the tour schedule doesn’t fit into your calendar, you can actually save the money for the concert ticket. What are you waiting for? Go to Kickstarter and give the band your money!
How about this: Instead of buying me a birthday present, support the Brandos with your money. It will make me happier than a pair of socks. And you will even get a Brandos single at the end of the year! My birthday is in the summer, I know. Who cares? I want a new Brandos album to happen – and you can help!
This is one of those tunes that would never see the light of day if I weren’t forcing myself to post a song every week this year. I put this one together while I was in Norway (under the influence of Wobbler and Änglagard). It’s all digital instruments, 100% programmed, blatantly defying the traditional prog approach. Am I satisfied with the “song”? Nope. The one thing that “rescued” the track was actually the title. I know where the second part will be headed (conceptually) and I hope it will make the dilettantism at least a tiny bit ironic. Anyway, I found it terribly difficult to fit all the different moods into just 52 seconds. No wonder there’s so few single-length progressive rock tracks out there.
#11 The Bittersweet Progressive Rock Opera (Part 1)
Jag skulle vilja spela i en progressiv rock band
(words and music by Johannes Schult 2015 Creative Commons by-nc 4.0)