A number changed.
I'd be lying if I didn't admit to fantasizing about this number over the years, and I don't think a single dedicated YouTube creator hasn't at some point. Yet, here I am, watching the numbers turn over. I feel...incredibly agnostic.
What is perhaps more interesting is how this number or metric changed meaning so many times. 6 years ago, when sitting at a table with Loopop and Andrew Huang (two incredibly inspiring music creators who had far larger platforms than mine at the time), I considered that this metric meant that I would one day have access to virtually unlimited music making tools. When a synthesizer or guitar pedal manufacturer had a new design, I'd be among the few to get to make music on it before it was fully released to the public.
Then, as the shelves of my studio became more and more cluttered, I realized that these tools actually did very little for my music or personal expression. They made good YouTube content though. I eventually realized that this content was akin to the output of a contemporary ad agency. More importantly, as my personality and beliefs trickled out, I began to feel the weight of this. I got legal threats from Behringer. I very publicly invited the largest music retailer in America to perform oral sex on me. I started to understand that being an "influencer" would come at the expense of my autonomy. The "YouTube Benn" would have to differ from the person my friends and family know. There's nothing wrong this, generally speaking. When a creator exists in a sub-genre or specific hobby demographic, their critique of the system itself isn't typically desired. When I want to find out more about a telescope mount I'm considering buying, I don't particularly care to learn about an ethical problem within the supply chain. Product reviewers are valuable, it's just that, after a lot of trial and error, I learned that I do not possess with restraint or patience to be one.
I incorporated as a non-profit so there would be no personal incentive from YouTube revenue, Patreon memberships, or sponsorship windfalls outside of the increased growth of the channel's scope and projects. I would no longer be able to look at an endorsement in a way that linked to the comfort of my retirement decades from now. Virtually every person I was close with in the social media world thought this idea was risky and potentially pointless. Ironically, I agreed with them. The channel would probably stagnate with the majority of my viewer demographic, but there would no longer be a path to follow or ceiling to hit my head on.
It was really tough for a while. I'd put 100% of my time and budget into answering a question or exploring a difficult topic only to see viewership numbers that were a fraction of what a synthesizer review video yielded. But in this lull I began to learn how to sell ideas, when to approach something lightly, and when to be as serious as possible. I started to understand the delicate balance between making a video for the purpose of getting views and making a purely selfish video that few people will actually want to click and watch.
That's when the ceiling really blew off. ADHD drug shortage, Ghanaian scammers and witchcraft, a 45 minute video essay on post-capitalism, etc. The channel's subjects and content lost all predictability but remained cohesive through the mutual exploratory voyage myself and viewers would take together. That's when I found my flow and truly started enjoying being a YouTuber.
I'd love to assume that the individuals making up this massive 7-digit number grew to this size because I'm likable, funny, or intelligent. The truth is, it's far more likely that the x-factor for this channel's growth is a musician and high school dropout proving that the thing preventing viewers from exploring difficult topics or following through on a weird idea is hierarchical and intangible. If this flawed person can wake up in the morning with a hair-brained idea and spend their free time pursuing or researching it, what's stopping you? Perhaps my value to my subscribers is providing an antidote to some of their imposter syndromes. I could come up with theories all night, but the point is:
This community is full of musicians who are more skilled at music production than I am, scientists with more useful research, engineers with far better code, and personalities that are far warmer, funnier, and approachable than mine. What we all have in common is the desire to build a spotlight that we can use to explore the darkness, and the desire to share our findings with one another. Sometimes that darkness hides something playful and innocent like a bird song or microphone trick. Other times it is hiding more serious things like tools an oppressive government is using against its own people or the failure of an economic system.
Somehow this journey of mine allowed me to be where this diverse group of curious and motivated people congregate, and that alone eclipses whatever joy or validation I could take away from an arbitrary landmark number of YouTube subscribers.
It's a big, impressive, and unfathomable number. But it's also the only thing that has changed on this channel between last week and today. My agnosticism about reaching 1,000,000 subscribers is not because I'm unwilling to recognize the accomplishment, but because I've already been far more proud and impressed by the community associated with it.
I wanted to thank everyone who has supported me on this journey.
And now that I see how much I just freestyle-rambled into this post, thanks for reading.
Back to work!
This week I embark on a journey across America to record infra/ultrasonic noise pollution around large data centers in hopes to create or contribute to an acoustic health standard that can be used by local governments for zoning near residential areas. Of course, this will tie in to a video project that I will hopefully have out in early February.
Comments (75)
You do you. Very well. Thank you for that 😄
yes plz
Congratulations,Ben
Benn, you are a gift to humanity and we are blessed to witness you go down any and every rabbit hole. Please take care and keep nurturing the courage to do your own thing. <3
Love.
I believe I started following you on YouTube from your gear review videos. I'm not a music guy. There are a bunch of songs I like but I watch relatively little music stuff on YouTube. I think I first saw links to your videos while watching Technology Connections, although I believe it was one of Alec's many videos on old time sound recording. But I love a good analysis video, and your videos were that, even if they were analysis of things I didn't understand and wasn't really interested in. I became a Patreon supporter after you shifted to doing analysis of important things regardless of how well the topic meshes with other stuff you've done. It's possible that I only started watching your videos after the shift. I usually don't really check on when videos are posted. I do feel like it seemed like you made that shift really quickly after I subscribed.
Got on patreon just to follow you, 'cause your likable funny and intelligent.
Thanks dood
Thanks for the heart beat.
Yes!
Well deserved milestone man. Your videos are the perfect blend of educational and entertaining. I love hearing your name pop up in many other people's videos, too. Anyhow, congratulations!
Thanks for the post Benn, it’s nice to know your take. For whatever it’s worth, this engineer and high school dropout loves your tangents on supply chain issues or social impacts in the middle of a video. I loved it when you hit the brakes on an AMAZING video to talk about the Zapatistas. I love watching your videos because of those tangents, that passion, your approach, and personality. I’m stoked that you’re enjoying this new era of your YouTube journey, because I am SO here for it. Heck, I joined Patreon just so I could follow you on here and get insights like these. Thanks Benn! You rock, my dude!
that was one of my favorite things recently too! I couldn't believe I had never heard about the Zapatistas, and it was so interesting. I've learned so much cool stuff from Benn's channe. it's no big surprise that he was a teacher
Congratulations on the milestone.
Thank you! You are a kindred spirit in multiple ways to many of us.
Be positive by being positive.
Congratulations Benn. Thanks for everything you do.
This world needs you. Don't overthink it too much and keep doing what you love.
That is a very wordy way to say thank you.
I'm a video, 3D animation, audio nerd who found your videos a few years back during Covid when you tore apart some audio equipment, and only subscribed to your patreon more recently after endeavoring to 'hinder some undesired surveillance'. I've never found a person (much less on YouTube) who so closely matches not only the disparate nature of my interests but who always delves so deeply into them, while remaining singularly motivated and disconnected from financial motivation that would bias the information. That aspect is an absolute necessity in my eyes and it's a shame it's virtually non-existent regarding the vast majority of creators. I fell backwards into Electrical Engineering despite dropping out of school. I'm currently working at a Oil and Gas company in the greater metro area of Denver and we've recently been absolutely inundated in Data Center design. I've always been averse to Data centers since 2016 when I first discovered Bitcoin and blockchain tech and now I'm begrudgingly help architect the destruction of society. A very faint (almost imperceptible) silver lining is all the data centers we create utilize only 28kW to 35kW 480VAC HVAC units with no water cooling whatsoever, but I assume that will change. I can only imagine the infrasound hundreds of these could create, especially given plenty of data already exists showing anecdotal impact on human subjects from SPL studies from heavy electrical motors. If there's ever any data you may be curious about, please feel free to DM me. Ive never said this to anyone before, ironically or otherwise, but it would be a personal honor to aid even in the smallest way to one of your future studies or projects. Thank you so much for what you do.
I too am begrudgingly a part of the Data Center ecosystem. I electrically test switch gear in a plant that almost exclusively builds for data centers. There is no end in sight with the contracts we get from the Oligarchs.
I joined and I think I put you at that number. Maybe... I also just subscribed obviously.
So no plans to piss off the akai fanboys again.? Haha.
i'm a journalist in Minneapolis. The ICE watch community? Fans of yours. Were you to post more anti-surveillance content, we are watching closely. Know that you are a community resource.
Congrats, and well deserved. The depth you go into is such a welcome contrast from the trash in the mainstream media.
Proud to be here. For me, it's salve to my soul to witness someone who's brain seems to brain like mine. A lot of those with whom I'm closest suffer from problems that come from being friends with someone who acrues extraneous knowledge like it's going out of fashion and always has an upsetting fact about whatever product/manufacturer/philosophy etc they're in to recently. You're a reminder to me to not be afraid of myself and to not clip my own wings in order to sit close to the median or modal way of perceived behaviour. You're a treasure Benn. My patreon dono is always some of the best spent money from my budget every month. Keep on being you unapologetically! We are so here for it! You've put in so much work! Mad respect for that. 1,000,000 is so deserved! Legend!
"Virtually every person I was close with in the social media world thought this idea was risky and potentially pointless. Ironically, I agreed with them. The channel would probably stagnate with the majority of my viewer demographic, but there would no longer be a path to follow or ceiling to hit my head on. " Yet through this, you came to (IMO) your most important work and I am loving everything you're putting out into the world. Thank you!
Huge congrats Benn this is an amazing achievement!
i'm probably at the bottom end of the spectrum of technological aptitude/inclination amongst your followers, but it seemingly hasn't prevented me from enjoying all you have to offer! Congratulations on 1M supporters/fans/follwers... and can you tell me either here or privately how I can make a donation to your nonprofit? there's a little story behind my monetary expression of appreciation that I'll share with you privately ✨😉✨
Benn, from the bottom of my heart: THANK YOU. It was 2 massive life changes ago that I first discovered you and your music has always been a constant and a comfort to me. It was by complete happenstance that I found your YouTube channel about 10 years after first discovering you and learned you were so much more based than I expected. I greatly appreciate the care and effort you put into your art and will happily follow your videos and music in whatever direction they go.
Thank you - seriously, your work has helped make the ideas and concepts that I understand and can communicate but ultimately I come off a bit…intense sometimes lol. If on your travels you go thru a state that has the most data centers and the newest one they are planning to restart a nuclear power plant to power the newest one… Happy to help in whatever ways we can!
It's the honesty Benn. That's why were all here, we're all just looking for a little honesty in this sick world and you genuinely have a lot of it. Keep up the great work!
I liked your gear reviews, but the stuff you've done since then has been next level. Bravo!!
Congratz, dear Benn, on reaching this arbitrary but very well deserved milestone. I'm proud to support such a talented person with such a big heart
"...personalities that are far warmer, funnier, and approachable than mine." Strong disagree, Benn, if you at all meant to put yourself down with that comment . I joined your channel/Patreon years ago because I loved your music, but I stuck around because you're funny and a very thoughtful person. n=1, I know, but after your first few "mad science" videos, I knew your channel was wickedly underrated. The success here was earned, and I think the good community that surrounds the channel is a mirror reflecting back how nice you are and your ethics and values. Apologies, (I keep editing this comment lol!), I guess the only thing to be weary of is "audience capture": that you need to be true to yourself, and not change yourself or your values to try to appease this larger audience. Thanks for making so much great art over the years!
I was surprised to see this notification. Like "Wait, Benn's channel DIDN'T have a million subs or is at 10M now?!?"
Reading this makes me feel like I'm weird or rare, for liking you for pretty much all of the reasons you listed, including that you have an interesting personality & point of view, which I really respect. I believe sponsored videos literally are only ads, and to see someone who actually is willing to share the dark things about any particular subject, it means a lot to those of us who do need that in their life. I love every video you've done on just about any subject. It's the way you tell the stories, it's how hard you obviously work on them, and the pure curiosity that is often present. I don't watch videos just for the information from who you consider to be better at some of these things, I watch because I appreciate your specific take on whatever it is, and it's just cool af that it covers such wide ranges of interesting things. Anyway congrats on reaching this arbitrary number. I hope more people continue to discover your videos/work and fall in love with it just like I did.
First started watching when I needed an in depth review of Falcon. I have loved following along for the journey, and the rigor and honesty you put into everything you do. Excited for the future!
Really appreciate your perspective and courage to continue speaking out against flock and all of the other police state bullshit. I wish I had heard about meshtastic before ICE was breaking down doors and killing people. Keep doing what you're doing, and thanks from Minnesota.
I noticed your new subs number this morning while watching yet another awesome, engaging video from you... nobody is more deserved of more subs than you in my subscribed channel list... and I tell all my friends and family (more than once, they've reminded me).
When I was a kid I had a lot of interests. By high school I was a guitar musician, I built tuned oscillators, I made my first computer from a schematic in popular electronics, and I wrote my first hello world. I loved all these things but I could only really pursue one as a career. I chose coding and 50 years of that has left me very satisfied. However, I still long for those alternate choices in many worlds cosmology. I regret not following your path but fortunately there is you Benn. Whatever you do, whether you succeed or fail, is endlessly satisfying. Congrats. Go wild! Break stuff and wake people up! I'm here being inspired like everyone else.
thanks for your videos you make know it is hard work but we as viewers enjoy it so much
A wonderfully self reflective acceptance speech, Benn. You seem to have a unique and innate intellectual clarity, tightly coupled with an enviable attitude and ability to just get up, go out and do it. Using those talents to pursue your curiosity and your passions, your diverse content continues to amaze, motivate and inform in very satisfying and entertaining ways. I suspect that many of your other million subscribers and patreon supporters share in my feeling that we kindred spirits on many levels and find connection across a long list of interests. Sharing your brilliance as a YouTube creative seems your very best way to be in the world. You have reached your audience numbers the old fashioned way: you earned them, along with my deepest respect and admiration.
This and making music, of course. (Best way to be)
I really appreciate you posting this. In 2008/2009, I was a middle schooler with a budding YouTube channel ranging from YouTube Poops and street skateboarding to satirical skits about ICE raids in my neighborhood. My mother who immigrated from a Central American country deleted my YouTube channel and all the progress I had made up to that point after discovering I made a dick joke on another friend’s YouTube page back when it was more of a social media platform like MySpace. Although I reuploaded the few videos I had backed up, I mostly gave up on it. I watched on the sidelines as becoming a YouTuber quickly formed into a lucrative endeavor for adult-age content creators so I refocused my energy into playing guitar and making art. Fast-forward 15 years, I discovered your YouTube channel during the tail end of a ChatGPT-fueled research binge about modular synthesis and I realized your totally different approach to this topic in comparison to other gear review/studio engineering channels. Not only did it relinquish me from yet another gear-acquisition phase, but it also inspired me to express myself online despite having no college degree or any aspirations to build social currency or income as a result. Your videos remind me of the way I looked at YouTube in its early years. I don’t have anything against creators making a living using their platform but let’s just say in all the years I have spent in the YouTube sphere of influence, this is the first Patreon I have ever subscribed to.
As a dual dropout (both HS and conservatory) professional musician, occasional record producer, piano tuner and rebuilder, and flight instructor, I’m feeling a kinship with this community. I’ve only scratched the surface on content to date, but I feel like I need to bring my full cognitive resources to each video, and I look forward to the challenge of truly digesting what’s being presented here. After 2.5 years of intensive flight training, I’m back to work, back to learning the Tuba, and ready for more intriguingly complex essays on this wild world we live in. Thanks!!
Awesome! Very well deserved. Your video on LoRa pulled up a memory of buying hacker magazines off the shelf. 2600 was a great source of info but your videos do a better job explaining.
What a journey so far! Let's keep climbing and diving. Thanks and congratulations 🫶
Congrats on the number! Well deserved. I subscribed because I found your videos to be well researched and presented, and because it seemed that our values aligned. I wanted to support your passion of doing the type of thorough research that I'd like to be done in the world. I didn't know you were a high school dropout (until this post), and knowing so makes no difference to my decision to subscribe. I also think we are all flawed in some way. Thank you for following your passion and doing what you believe is right, and sharing it with the world! 🙂
Congrats dude, I have learned so much from your content that is hard to put into words, but I will attempt to below because I feel compelled to and it’s not necessary fitting for discord or the forum. I dropped out of college for alot of reasons, traumatic childhood and whatnot, and I wanted so badly to focus 100% of my efforts on music. that was about 10 years ago. I thought that I needed to do it to the exclusion of everything else. The past year Ive been in therapy and working on myself and in that time I discovered your channel as well. It has been of utmost inspiration seeing the diversity of your content be an example that its allowed to be a dynamic individual with varied interests. I felt guilty for any time spent not making music or practicing, and having that reminder that I dont have to be one dimensional and I can spend time learning about science and technology if I want to, and I never would have came to that conclusion without seeing you doing what you do. I guess thats simple to put into words, but thanks dude. I look forward to whatever you do next and I am very thankful for the contribution your content has had in my life and for the broader world at large.
Congratulations!!! Truly well deserved. I’m a final-year law student in New York focused on information privacy, cybersecurity, and AI, and your work has had a real impact on how I think about this field and why it matters. But it’s not just me. I’ve circulated your video among my peer students, professors, surveillance-focused nonprofit directors, federal judges and clerks, and government attorneys who have the discretion to take it one step further than all of us. I truly feel your videos are helping build the foundation for meaningful change. I’m grateful for the work you put into this, and I genuinely believe it’s making a difference. I’m excited to help carry it forward in the future!
Really glad to hear someone is doing this in their daily lives. So many of his videos are so important and on such important topics, they are the perfect thing to help some people understand a complicated subject they don't know much about, or even if they do. Benn is a great teacher, which isn't surprising considering he used to do that
Congratulations, Benn; and thanks! I'm encouraged by this number—it's a measure showing that there are still large numbers of media consumers that value truth seekers and truth-telling content. "Let's see what's out there. Engage!" https://www.facebook.com/netflixgeeked/videos/180559376420658/
We can be described by what we do but we are defined by the choices we make. The technocratic dystopia is no longer pure fiction or on the distant horizon. It was a collective, self-fulfilling vision of what's to come should we simply shuffle forwards in self interest and comfort. We have to choose the uncomfortable paths or the choices will be made for us.
Thanks for what you do!
I simultaneously both want to be Benn Jordan when I grow up and would like Benn Jordan to adopt me and be my dad (I am one year younger than Benn Jordan but shhhh don’t anyone ruin my dream dammit. )
I'm sorry, I've already been having this dream. Get your own 😂😂😂
A musician composes and shapes experiences. Was once at a conference in Chicago with software developers and UI/UX designers in the audience, and the professor asked who played an instrument. Almost all the developers raised their hands. But I think he meant something deeper than just playing an instrument. Most developers I know who play music are also explorers, curious, experimental, always trying to understand how things work and how they could make things better. That same mindset shows up in their code, their design, and their art. It’s really inspiring to see you step away from being a product influencer and move toward something more meaningful and nonprofit-focused. Though I do admit the products are fun to see once in a while, especially when you show what they can do. Congrats on hitting a million subscribers, and more importantly, on using that reach with intention. Keep up the great work.
You deserve each and every one of those subscribers. The amount of work you put into each video is incredible. Everything is well researched, clearly laid out and interesting. I original "subscribed" as a Patron for grabbing some audio files and interesting videos about synths. Now I'm a Patron to support your objective research and informative videos.
Congrats! But surely 1,048,576 is a better arbitrary number ;)
You are very humble and very inspirational... congratulations Benn. Very much deserved.
Love you and your work man - shining light onto obfuscated and uncomfortable truths. Uncompromising integrity to pursue answers in an era of propagandist overload, unjustifiable relativist techno-ethics, and incoherent media that has saturated our consumption. Your videos tickle my ADHD with satisfying depth. Keep it up homie 💪
yay, arbitrary number. but yeah we love you for who you are and what you do.
Came for the music; stayed for the science and social commentary and I am more than satisfied to be one in this particular million.
Congratulations Benn, your content of all kinds is both enjoyable and inspirational to me! It’s been great seeing you progress through the science and politics of things, and I hope that number helps provide a bigger lever with which to move the world.
Been a huge fan of your musical output since the early 00s, and of your YouTube journey from your “Benn and Gear” days. Watching you reinvent yourself time and again has been a huge inspiration. Thank you, Benn!
I think that illustrates pretty well the fact that you’re on the right track and being one of the million i can proudly tell you: thank you so much for sharing mate, keep creating 🫂
Autodidactic polymaths who aren't objectively dickheads are pretty damn rare. Keep going, you inspire a lot of the right people, and piss off a good cross section of the skin walkers. Osu!
Congrats Benn, and thanks for taking us on your journeys! To me, an important value of your content is how you demonstrate success (by whatever measure) without conforming to the fit of institutional straight jackets. That’s not easy, and having you as an inspiration helps. It’s something I hope to be able to instill in my kids and also in my students, but the latter is becoming harder with each new cohort unfortunately. Keep up the good work and let us know if you’re ever in NL!
Heck yeah, man. Thank you for forging ahead even when you were unsure about it all. If anything, especially then. I think you're right on the money pinpointing the value you bring, but you also have a fantastic way of sharing what you discover that is engaging as it is informative. Learning can be a slog sometimes, and you cut through the noise rather effectively. For what its worth, congratulations on one subscriber milestone. I know I'm proud to be part of the first million. Even more, congratulations on community you've built. Funny how the treasure really is the friends made along the way.
Congrats, but you are an inspiring music creator as well. Thank you for sharing your thoughts and ideas. I love your combination of an electrical engineer on one side and the musician on the other side.
I mean, when one of the best gear channels, Benn and Gear, decided to not be a gear channel I went "OK, I guess it will be more about music production, and hey, I need that". I was entirely unprepared for the outpouring of raw subversive genius this channel has become. Congratulations on having the channel be more you, being freer, and yes, also getting that number.
It's been very inspiring to see someone with similar interests as me explore such creative and interesting avenues, and do so with an...ethical framework that I reasonate with. Also really into recording birds now. Shits so fun. Thank you for doing what you do!
Your interests, values and content are all amazing. Big congratulations to what you've managed to build! It's inspiring and gives me hope that society will land on its feet.
Thank you for pivoting to doing good work and upsetting the right people.