2018 Summary & 2019 Plans
Summary of yet another year of building and plans for the year ahead.
2018 was an exceptionally busy year for me – I got married and moved twice. It was also an exceptionally disappointing year in terms of YouTube, where models that I consider some of my best ones went pretty much unnoticed.
The first half of 2018 was taken entirely by preparations for my wedding and it’s a miracle I’ve managed to build anything, especially something so complex as my Kenworth T600 truck. Needless to say, a model that spent 3 years on my workbench generated little interest and scored a little over 100,000 YouTube views. In general, YouTube has somehow managed to disappoint even more than it did last year, especially when in the second half of 2018 I’ve taken a trip do Denmark to film the famous original Legoland. Two days of filming resulted in two videos, one covering most of the rides, the other (which has taken 7 hours straight to film) covering all of the Miniland. I would have never bothered filming if I knew that the resulting videos will barely get any views. There must be something wrong with me, because if someone spared me the cost of a trip to Denmark and buying Legoland ticket with just a single video click, I would watch the hell out of it. But apparently I’m the only one, as YouTube audience prefers to stick to clickbait, drama and Minecraft/Fortnite videos. I’ve enjoyed my time in Legoland tremendously, but in terms of filming the entire trip felt like a total waste of my money, and seeing the results I’ve decided to basically give up filming any LEGO events and exhibitions from now on. Why bother when nobody’s interested?
The rest of the year was no better in terms of YouTube viewership. My Porsche 917K and Renault FT-17, two models that have taken plenty of work and money to complete due to their unusual colors, and two models with the most elaborate videos I’ve ever done, have scored some 200,000 views in total. And it’s not the numbers themselves that are bad – what worries me is that after the initial wave of interest, the videos pretty much stop being watched by anyone. I don’t know how YouTube works these days but it appears perfectly possible for a video to score 100,000 views and just stop there. I’ve always thought that once a video is online it will continue to get views at however slow pace, but this is apparently no longer the fact. Needless to say, it’s not exactly encouraging.
The YouTube question became even more complicated in late 2018, when famous and well-loved AdRev began targeting some of my videos because of their soundtrack. Funny thing is, I was using soundtracks I’ve legally purchased and paid for, but AdRev didn’t care even when shown my license. This led to a situation when e.g. a video with a single song got flagged by AdRev for four separate copyright violations and when I’ve tried to discuss the claims showing the license I’ve bought, AdRev threatened to take the whole video down. When I brought the matter to YouTube’s attention, I was told that flagging one song four times is perfectly normal, and besides I’m on my own because YouTube let’s AdRev do whatever it pleases without interfering. It’s an interesting legal case, because AdRev is effectively denying me the use of a product I’ve paid some $120 for – one would expect they should at least return my money, but I guess not. So I’m not severely limited in what songs I can use in my videos, and YouTube and AdRev together are really taking the fun out of making videos.
Anyway, I’ve only managed to complete 10 MOCs in 2018 and only 3 of these were on my to-do list, the rest sprang up spontaneously. This is, of course, not a great result, but then again – try building while getting married and having to move twice. I’m hoping for better results this year, especially since every single of the 12 models on my to-do list is already being worked on. Yes, even the A-10 and ORP OrzeĊ. Additionally, thanks to a cooperation with the LEGO company, there may be something very, very special coming around August.
This year you can expect my KV-1/KV-2 project to most likely be available as a MOCHUB product, or at least a Rebrickable plan that you will be able to purchase. The building instructions for my Mustang G 350-H should also become available as a book around this summer. And undoubtedly some spontaneous builds will happen, as usual – I just can’t get rid myself of these. I hope you will stick with me and enjoy the stuff to come.
Happy 2019!
Paul
