A cappella on YouTube
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This week's topic: A group has the best chance of succeeding in competition if its material is fresh and new to the judges and audience. Therefore, it is not in a competing group’s best interests to have its performances posted on YouTube or other public websites.
True: There’s nothing more impressive than when you see a great performance for the first time. The second time around it’s familiar, you know what to expect, and you’re just waiting for your favorite parts. By a third or fourth viewing, you’re no longer dazzled with even those favorite parts, and you’re starting to notice all of the flaws in a performance.
Such is the life cycle of an a cappella song or set. A good set is, by and large, best-received on a first viewing. It’s the surprise song choices, the surprise movement, the surprise solo moments, and surprise sparkling arrangements that really make a set shine. If you put all your material out there for the judges, the audiences and other competitors to see before you ever take the competition stage, you’re doing yourself a real disservice. The judges may not be as dazzled, the crowd won’t pop as loud, and if you really are good, you’re opening the door to the competition to steal your best stuff.
False: There’s nothing like catching an a cappella act live. No longer restrained by the poor audio and unclear visuals, seeing a live performance is wholly different than seeing a video of the same thing. Therefore, an a cappella group has little to lose in putting it’s material on a video service like YouTube.
Furthermore, putting your material out there on the web will only help broaden your audience. In the grand scheme of things, that is a very good thing—it means more people coming to your shows, more invitations to perform, better CD sales, and more notoriety in general. In the frame of a competition, garnering a following through YouTube can win you fans before you hit the competition stage, and get a crop of people you’ve never met to cheer you on.