Ryan Narciso Uses YouTube to Create a Fanbase
As if juggling university studies and an extra curricular activity isn’t hard enough, try entertaining over 5,800 subscribers on your YouTube Channel each week. Ryan Narciso of British Columbia, Canada does just that. His voice has been heard by thousands by having over 457,000 video plays. He has numerous videos posted ranging from covers to original songs.
“I’ve been singing all my life,” Narciso said in an exclusive interview with FanBolt. “My parents say that I learned to sing before I could even talk.”
According to Narciso, his father directed a rhythm and blues choir and his mother was a member of the choir as well. Instead of being stuck at home with a babysitter, Narciso’s parents brought him to the practices.
“One night, I surprised my mom by humming one of the songs the choir had been rehearsing, from my stroller,” Narsico said. “From then on, I never stopped [singing]. I never took any formal voice lessons, but my dad is a musician as well, so I was lucky enough to have him teach me a few things.”
Not only does he use his voice in the YouTube videos that he produces, he can usually be seen playing an instrument as well.
“I first picked up the guitar about six/seven years ago,” Narciso said. “My dad taught me a couple chords to get me started, but after that, I learned everything on my own. I started taking formal classical piano lessons when I was five, and was not a fan of it. I quit when I was 12 and only started to pick it up again two years ago. I love it now! I always enjoy learning other instruments. I taught myself how to play drums as well, but I wouldn’t say I’m good at it.”
When Narciso decided to start taking his music seriously, he said he struggled to get his music heard. In search of ways to make his way onto the music scene, he decided to turn to YouTube.
“One day, I was looking up some of my favorite songs on YouTube and stumbled across a video of David Choi covering “I Don’t Wanna Miss A Thing” by Aerosmith,” Narciso said. “I noticed that he was receiving thousands of views from people around the world. I thought to myself that I could be doing that. The next day, I created my first account and uploaded my first video. About fifty videos later, I was able to gain almost 20,000 subscribers. However, on January of this year, my account got suspended. I covered a couple songs owned by Warner Music Group and apparently they didn’t like that I was doing that. I was just doing what everyone else was doing and to this day, I don’t know why they singled me out. So, for the past three months, I’ve been trying my best to regain what I had lost. Thankfully, a lot of my old subscribers and even some new ones found me again.”
At first, Narciso was nervous to receive responses from his listeners and “expected that there would be some negative comments.” He said when he first read the criticism, he was a little discouraged, but after a couple months of growing as an artist, the critiques did not seem to bother him as he was used to them.
“It helps a lot when I see my viewers defending me for me,” Narciso said. “You have to have thick skin when you put yourself out there because not everyone will like what you do and that’s fine, but some of those people won’t be so nice. I feel that I please the majority.”
Regardless of some of the negative criticism he may receive, Narciso said that it feels amazing to have had so many positive responses from over 457,000 video views and 5,800 subscribers.
“On my old account, it took almost a year to get that many subscribers,” Narciso said. “On my new one, I got that many in less than three months. I’m so blessed to have my viewers and I try to thank each and everyone one of them everyday!”
Having so many viewers is not an easy task to take on. Narciso sets a lot of time aside to plan, practice, perform, record and edit his videos.
“The first thing I do is record audio and video of me singing the melody with a primary instrument (usually guitar or piano),” Narciso said. “This is the most important part of the process because everything is surrounded by this one take. On a good day, I’m able to have a good performance in two or three takes, but sometimes I spend hours doing this. It can get frustrating sometimes. After I finish that, I record other instruments and harmonies around that first recording. Amount of time varies depending on how many instruments I want in the mix. Then comes about an hour of mixing to make sure the instruments and voice blend together nicely. Once I finish the song, I convert it to mp3 and move on to video editing. I sync the final mp3 with the videos I filmed while recording. That takes about an hour to two hours. All together, it roughly four to six hours of work.”
On Narciso’s YouTube Channel, fans can also see acapella videos where he records himself singing different parts of a song and records it separately. When that process is finished, he pieces the different parts together into one video with an incredible outcome.
“Recording an acapella video takes more preparation,” Narciso said. “All the parts I sang in ‘A Whole New World’ were arranged by my dad before I even started recording. Plus, you have to practice before filming because the singing parts are much more difficult. When I record with instruments, I just start playing whatever comes on the top of my head.”
Narciso tries to post at least one video a week, otherwise, he feels as if he is letting his subscribers down if he does not.
“I try my best to prove that they subscribed for a good reason,” Narciso said.
Musically, his goal is to get as many people as he can to listen to his music. Narsico said that he would love to break into the music scene and is working very hard to do just that.
“Music is much more than a hobby to me,” Narciso said. “I feel like this is what I’m supposed to be doing my whole life. If I can play my music and just get enough to get by, I’ll do it.”
Most of the videos on his YouTube Channel are covers, but there are some original songs as well. Narciso said that he can get inspiration for his music and lyrics from virtually anything.
“Something as simple as walking down the street or watching the sunset can trigger an idea for a song,” Narciso said. “But I find my best songs are the ones I write from life experiences. They seem more personal and more from the heart. I always pick experiences that other people can relate to as well.”
Narciso will be taking those life experiences and turn them into his first album, which he is currently recording. He hopes for it to be completed and released in the fall and is “very excited to share it with everyone.”
Videos of his cover and original songs can be viewed on Narciso’s YouTube Channel http://www.youtube.com/ryannarcisomusic
“I just want to say thank you to everyone who has listened to or watched one of my videos,” Narciso said. “Especially to the subscribers who keep wanting more! As long as you keep wanting more, I’ll keep making more!”
Article By: Kimberly Gallagher
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