Introducing #MusicVideoGolf — Fresh Music Tracking via YouTube
I listen to a lot of new music on Spotify. Since I work on a computer all day (and most nights) so there is a good chance I’m listening to music, especially curated playlists. I primarily listening to Alternative Rock, so finding indie bands before they get big has become a fun challenge for me.
I noticed recently that if you view the video view count on YouTube, you can get a better sense of the popularity of a single song. Spotify does provide play counts on each song, but not everyone is on Spotify. On the other hand, the entire world is on YouTube and play counts in my unscientific opinion can be used as a proxy for popularity.
So, finding these new bands with great songs would result in a low view count on YouTube, just like in golf where the lower score wins. So, I’m calling this adventure, #MusicVideoGolf, where you can show your prowess by posting screenshots of a low view count on Twitter or Facebook with the hashtag #MusicVideoGolf.
There are a few rules:
- The video must be uploaded by the artist (not a fan) or on Vevo.
- Lyric-only videos don’t count.
- Still-frame videos are allowed only if marked Official and uploaded by the artist. Not everyone can afford to produce a video, but an upload of the audio can help the artist.
- Alternate videos (live version — unless official, acoustic version) can’t be used.
These rules are here just to avoid someone uploading there own video of a hit song with 2 views.
It’s also important that the songs be really good. As in future hits good, not just some obscure artist from the suburbs of Cleveland.
Below you will find some screenshots of my recent finds as of 8/8/2017. You can follow my new songs in this playlist:
Winner — I don’t think I’ll ever get any lower than this. Even though it says 19 views, it was really 12 when I viewed it last week. Haiva Ru is one to watch.

This song by Trella was one of the motivations for this article. I was shocked it had such a low number of views.


Solid song by Social Contract.

This one technically violates the rules because she hasn’t uploaded an official video yet, but this song is so good.

This Kingsbury song is on heavy rotation for me.

Can’t wait for Findlay to start touring in the US, I’ve been listening to this one for a while now. This album has more gems on it.

That is all for now. Post your own on your favorite social media site and make sure to use the hashtag #MusicVideoGolf.
