A Day In The Life Of A Peanut Butter Cup

Listen Up!
Really hasn't been much to talk about that doesn't have to do with juggling, seeing as how I'm STILL on the hunt for a job. I've decided to go for 2 of the safer job offers next week if I can't get any responses for anything.
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College is exactly the same, except now I'm getting grades back that aren't lowerr than C's, which is astounding to me, but not unexpected.
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And Tech.MCC is kind of a clusterfuck right now with how I have no idea what's going on from one week to the next, but this week's meeting should clean up a bit.
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Oh, and one big announcement before I go, I'VE GOT MY NEXT MAJOR JUGGLING VIDEO ALMOST READY TO GO! I should be releasing a trailer for it sometime within the next week. So check that next week.
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ALSO, to go along with that, I figured a good topic for the next episode of JoJ is going to be how to promote your videos once you've made them and get more subscribers on youtube.

Juggle This:
So the issue is that jugglers are beginning a trend of making what were free videos before now, into longer and more elaborate videos that need to be paid for. So far, two jugglers have done this, and it really is a fear of mine and a few others that this will become a trend. But let me rant about why this can be a good and a badf thing.

This is a price vs. quality debate.

The issue is that it's such a blurry line between what is worth five
dollars, what's worth ten dollars, and what isn't worth paying for at all.
Some people think a good background and high production value are
critical, others don't. Some think that the price of a video is based
ENTIRELY on the technicality of the tricks within the video, and others
think that the price should be determined by the ORIGINALITY and
CREATIVITY of the tricks in the video. The whole deal is that there are
SO many factors that make up the answer to "What is a good video?" that
you may as well write a book about it.

We're looking at this from the point of view of the consumer, which is
exactly what we are. Does this video, from what I can see in the trailer
and what other people are saying, justify the $10 price tag? A lot of us
(including myself) are coming to the answer, no. As where from Tony's and
Wes's point of view, they're seeing the business side of it, which is "I'm
a good juggler and I need money. What's the best way to use my juggling
to make money?". The problem I'm seeing, and I'm learning about this in
my business classes anyways, is that they're just looking at the smaller
issue of production and selling. From what I can tell, they're not
thinking "Ok, I've just made my video and am about to sell it for this
much, and it sounds good to me. BUT WHAT WILL MY AUDIENCE THINK OF THE
PRICE FOR THIS VIDEO?" I'm absolutely certain that the videos are great,
and they've definitely had a lot of work put into them, both for Wes and
Tony, but let me give you an example.

Peden 2 Sweden - the first and second ones, plus Peden Tricks Sweden, were
both 5 dollars, and justified that price tag with a 20 minute run time and
the knowledge that there were some insane tricks in them. I knew that it
was about 4 or five kickass videos done to kickass music, and I bought all
three and still watch them regularly.

Now let's talk about why I regret buying Expectations. I bought it
straight away thinking it would be more of the same. I was shocked when I
realized after watching it that it was only half of the same. There was
much less of the "Here's a bunch of awesome tricks one after another
edited to really AWESOME music by someone else" and much more of "Here's a
routine I did and I want you to appreciate everything about it so I'm
going to not put any music over it or just add mood music". Which I
understand is more artistic and has deeper meaning, but THAT'S NOT WHAT I
WAS LOOKING FOR. I'll go to an art gallery or a film festival if I want
deeper meaning in a video. What I loved about the old Peden 2 Swedens was
that it WASN'T all about "here's a routine", it was about "Here's one
awesomely insane trick right after another." But I'm getting
side-tracked. The point was that he not only went in a direction which I
didn't like as the consumer, but he upped the price too.

Let me say though that I am not the center of the universe, and Wes
certainly shouldn't cater to me specifically, nor should anyone else. I'm
absolutely positive that there's plenty of people that loved Expectations
over Peden To Sweden, as well as Wes's new Manipulation > Toss Juggling
style. I'm saying that I personally am not going to buy any more of his
videos if they're still going to be made this way.

What was the point I was trying to make though? OH YES! The blurred line
of quality vs price. To sum up the last 2 paragraphs neatly, The Peden To
Sweden videos were exactly what I wanted and loved (VERY high quality
level, FOR ME), for an awesome price (again FOR ME). As where
Expectations was very little of what I wanted (very low quality FOR ME),
and was at a much higher price (for ME). Bottom line, is it subjective,
YES. But my point is that I am the consumer, and making a product (in
these cases, videos) should be all about what the CONSUMERS want, not what
the producers want. It's the same argument that can be used for making a
good performance routine, it's all about what the AUDIENCE and what they
want to see, not what you want to perform.

Tony's new video I won't comment on, because after watching the trailer
again, I've decided to buy it and won't talk about what I haven't seen.
But here's a good example, after watching the trailer again, why have I
suddenly decided to buy it? Because the tricks look awesome, and from
what I can tell, it will be the "here's a crapload of awesome tricks
edited together to awesome music" style that I love. Note, I didn't say a
single thing about background or production quality, because that doesn't
mean hardly anything in my eyes. "Then why was I not going to buy it
before?", price. Ten dollars is a lot when you've got no job and an empty
gas tank.

Let me wrap up my thoughts quickly into a nice conclusion by saying this.
Paid videos are great, but only when they give you WHAT you want, at a
price that you find reasonable (including free).

But let me make one more point before I end.

Remember Mediocrity? Wes's 6 minute movie done to kung fu music that he
made right after getting his first sponsorship from Dube and Sportco? I
would have PAID for that video. Because the tricks were awesome, and it
was EXACTLY what I wanted. Granted, I wouldn't have paid 10 dollars for
it, but if when Wes released Mediocrity he sold it for say, three bucks?
You bet your ass I'd have bought it. In fact, I'd actually buy a higher
quality version of that very video NOW for three dollars.

My point here is that it's very hard to know what you're worth, so you
have to do some RESEARCH and get some FEEDBACK. When I went and made my
DVD to sell when I did a week long charity gig where my only way to make
money was to sell DVD's, I made the DVD weeks in advance and then asked
around with my non-juggler friends what they would pay for the DVD, I lent
them a copy each and when they had finished watching it the next day, I'd
get an email from them saying "five bucks", or "ten bucks" or "50 cents".
And from those responses (I had at least 5 people see it), I set a price
of 5 dollars and sold enough to make a good profit from them. I also used
to do this before releasing my regular juggling videos, but then realized
that I was giving them out for free no matter what.

So if you DO want to make a paid video or DVD, for the love of god, get
feedback, ESPECIALLY from the specific audience that will be watching it,
so that you can maximize the amount of happy people and minimize the
amount of pissed off people. Something Tony didn't do, I'm almost
positive of that.

A Day In The Life Of A Peanut Butter Cup ~ Reeses2150