Why I'm going onto Patreon

Hi Guys!! Well , now that my youtube channel is about a year old, it has been quite a surreal  journey. If you had told me 12 months ago (just before I started the youtube channel) that I would be starting a channel on Youtube that would grow to over 8k subscribers in less than a year, I would simply have laughed at you!! I remember starting this channel initially as a piano tutorial channel to teach beginners. I soon learnt, after just 2 videos, that I really was not into the idea of shooting piano tutorial videos. Having not been classically trained myself, I felt that my teaching methods may not be that popular as my methods despite having been useful to quite a few others, are very "out the box" and I am sure that many "proper piano teachers" would have a problem with my methods!! I also felt to stale and boring doing these presentations and my gut feeling was to do the channel in a more fun way which was more in line with my personal goals and passions. I feel you can give more value to the world if you are happy and fulfilled and following your true bliss!!

The game changed after I went to see Gary Numan perform in the Royal Albert Hall here in London. I woke up the next morning and was so thrilled with that performance and I somehow decided to make a video review about the concert. To my surprise , that video got hundreds of views in just a few days and loads of positive comments too.!! It was exciting and I was happy because I was very dubious about being on camera and criticism can be really painful when you are just starting out. 

The EUREKA moment occurred when I release my 5th video entitled, "Depeche Mode WITHOUT Alan Wilder". This seemed like an obvious topic for me to talk about as I am a huge Depeche Mode fan. It was also obvious that no Youtuber (at least not to my knowledge) had made a video delving as deeply into the subject as I have. The video seemed like a "no brainer", I mean, SO MANY people feel that Depeche Mode have lost their "edge" since Wilder's departure so it seemed like the obvious video discussion topic. This was the video that really got the attention of the Youtube community. I got hundreds and hundreds of views within the first week and the positive reactions and praise I received was humbling and mind-blowing at the same time. I had opened "Pandora's box" and the Depehce Mode fans were onto me in a big way!! To cut a long story short, I have grown very fast and it has been an overwhelming and joyful experience. The channel now has several different segments: 

*"Piano & Keyboard Artist" which is the review section of the channel where we discuss artist related pianos, keyboards and synthesisers.

*"Geek Talk" where we talk deep and geek about everything technical relating synthesisers and music production. 

*"Rising Star" focuses on education and tips for independent artists to help grow their influence, fanbase and achieve success.

*"The Fletch Files" is a satire/parody segment dedicated to Fletch and his adventures!! It's very silly but I get to express my inner child through this series!!

The highlight of my channel has been the "Depeche Mode Album review series" in which I have started to review all Depeche Mode'd albums in Chronological order.  These reviews cover not only the albums from my perspective as a fan but I am also able to draw on my knowledge as a music, producer and singer and I and able to give a very in-depth analysis of these albums from the compositions, structure all the way through to the production techniques, vocal approaches as well as reverse engineering the sounds. I do believe that these album reviews are the most in-depth album reviews ever conducted by any Youtuber.  I have also managed to interview legendary photographer Brian Griffin regarding his photography for  the album covers for the first 5 Depeche Mode albums. Brian is now a regular guest on the channel and a subscriber favourite.

The channel has also taken me to Bristol to interview the Band "Mesh" and I also went to the Synthfest in Sheffield to do some interviews. The channel has grown and the subscribers are loyal, supportive and awesome. I am loving it!! 

Now that the channel is taking the role of a nearly full time career, I am at a crossroads. I never liked the idea of "crowd funding" as to me it always felt like begging for money in away. After having run this channel now for a year and seeing the positive response from my community I feel no shame is asking for support as I feel that my channel is offering value to my community. 

I've set up 4 Patreon tiers. They are very straight forward and transparent. This valuable support will help provide the necessary resources to help me grow this channel and take where I know we can take it!! Your support will help me to focus more time and energy on the channel as well as make the trips to interview the artists/producers that my subscribers keep asking me to interview. 

My Members know that I am always eternally grateful to them whether they support me financially or not.  I look forward to 2020 and I look forward to making the Vaughn George Channel, your "GO TO CHANNEL" on Youtube!! 

All my gratitude, onwards and upwards!!

Vaughn George