Benn Jordan: “I will get burnt out by YouTube. It’s gonna happen…”
“I’m not gonna quit writing music. I’m not gonna let that happen.”
Image: Benn Jordan via YouTube
Musician and YouTube-based music journalist Benn Jordan has discussed his future as a content creator and how it will, eventually, burn him out.
On YouTube, Benn Jordan, also known as The Flashbulb, shares insights into his music production process, offers tutorials, and provides commentary on various aspects of the music industry. His account, at the time of writing, has 340,000 followers. On the latest episode of My Forever Studio, a podcast where guests run through their dream studio setup, he reveals that his time on YouTube might end sooner than we think.
“Yeah, I will get burnt out on YouTube,” he admits. “It’s gonna happen, you know, like, I’m gonna quit at some point.”
Despite this, he remains passionate about his music career, stating emphatically, “I’m not gonna quit writing music. I’m not gonna let that happen, because I know how these things build up.
“I think the reason why so many people, you know, tap out is because they over monetize their own craft, and then it becomes a job, and it becomes. And they wanna retire from working, whereas I don’t wanna retire from making music. I love it. I wanna retire to make music.”
Acknowledging the risk of over-monetisation leading to artistic compromise, Jordan mentions being inspired by Charlie Cooper, a member of the band Telefon Tel Aviv, who passed away in 2009.
“The late Charlie Cooper from Telefon Tel Aviv… He waited tables while Telefon Tel Aviv was in their height.
“And he did it because he didn’t want to monetize Telefon Tel Aviv as his primary source of income because then he would be more likely to write music that would be a pop hit than writing music that he actually wanted to write, which is such a logical, great way to look at that.”
He lauded Cooper’s approach of maintaining a separate job to preserve artistic integrity, emphasizing, “I’m okay with writing music for ads. It’s not really selling out as long as I put my art here and then have my service on this side.”
“Yeah…money and art just don’t really mix very well.”
Listen to the full episode below:
Also in the episode, in which Jordan dreams up a fantasy brutalist studio in a forest, the musician defends usic tech collectors. He estimates that “more than half” of gear owners “are not really making music on it…They’re just collecting it and playing with it.”
“They just buy the software, they play with the knobs, they listen to it for a second, and there’s no shame in it at all,” he adds.
My Forever Studio is a weekly podcast where guests musicians and producers are invited in to dream up their forever music-making space anywhere in the universe, or beyond. Sound easy, right? Here’s the catch: They must craft their dream setup using only six coveted items. Plus, no bundles are allowed!
Find all episodes on MusicTech.
