Creator Voices: MayTree
May 16, 2022 – minute read
MayTree is a five-member acapella group that formed in 2000. The group has been collaborating with various artists and participating in numerous albums, as well as earning awards at international acapella competitions. The group launched its YouTube channel in 2014, and lately has been focusing on making videos that showcase how their voices can become one harmony. We asked them to reflect on their YouTube journey and share some of the lessons they’ve learned along the way.
We started our channel when our manager suggested that we should upload our videos on YouTube. We first started uploading some cover songs, and have been exploring various types of music, including short and catchy sounds to original sound track medleys. Throughout our journey, we've learned a couple of lessons that we would like to share with you.
Plan to have fun, don’t plan for planning’s sake
When we first created our channel, we did not have a concrete plan or firm direction on how we wanted to run our channel. We wanted to have fun with music and share our fun performances with the broader community.
So without further ado, we started our channel and have been sharing videos of our performances, cover songs, vlogs and everything else. In the course, we saw a lot of encouraging comments from our fans - some told us that our music reminds them of memories from the past and some even said they fell in love with the genre of acapella thanks to us! All these comments kept us motivated to move forward and continue to find new goals during our journey to share the best of our music with them.
MayTree is now working on an album which will be released globally. We are also planning to have more time to communicate with our fans around the world, both online and offline. Also on YouTube, we will be creating content that might make some people nostalgic and also some content that might be more hip and futuristic. Please stay tuned!
Learn from others, but don’t focus on others
When we first started livestreaming on YouTube, there were not a lot of viewers and it made us very skeptical about running the channel. We often compared ourselves to others who were doing much better in terms of views and subscribers, and put ourselves under tremendous pressure and stress.
However, we realized that focusing too much on what others are doing did not help us enjoy music as much as we did. There were fun parts about running the channel - we could interact more closely with our fans on the livestream who were actively showing their support and love, and the sense of connection always encouraged and inspired us to be more creative. Also, our team became even closer to each other while brainstorming for ideas for new content that only we can do - we could really understand each other better and build a better harmony, making our journey even more enjoyable.
When performers or artists are enjoying what they are doing, they can pass on that positive energy to the viewers. Of course, it is important to be good at your performances. However, you also need the positive mindset and mood to make others enjoy your videos as well.
Keep challenging yourself
When we started creating content for our channel, we did not get a lot of views nor reactions. It was okay, as MayTree focused more on offline concerts and live performances. However, with COVID-19 hitting us so hard, we felt bereft because of the exact same reason. All of our performances were being canceled, and we were left with little or no chance to share our music.
Instead of despairing about the situation, we decided to use our spare time to focus on what we can do better and it on YouTube. In the beginning, we did not see a lot of growth on our channel. However, as we continued to look for new, fresh ideas, we came up with sound effects and theme song covers which were loved by so many people around the world. With iPhone sound effects and Squid Games Medley becoming a huge hit, our previous videos, which did not get a lot of attention when they were first released, were also “discovered” and became very popular among our fans as well.
Thanks to people who tuned into us and showed support, we now have more than 4.2 million subscribers. We would have never imagined so many people could love our channel back when we started our channel, but we will continue challenging ourselves to create better harmony and bring together more people around the world with our music. We really hope to be able to meet everyone in person in the future, and be able to vibe with them. Please stay safe and well until then!