The AJR Interview

00:00 Who are Adam, Jack, and Ryan of AJR? 01:40 Being internet kidz 04:47 Music in the TikTok era 08:41 Building community and fandom 11:08 Building fan depth 13:55 World’s Smallest Violin in the TikTok era 16:57 What’s the business of music today? 21:40 Being in a David Dobrik vlog 22:49 Their revenue pie chart 24:25 Playing dodgeball with fans on tour 25:36 Live storytelling in their concerts 29:54 Do you write songs for TikTok popularity? 31:40 Honest lyrics building parasocial relationships 33:39 Loss of the monoculture 39:09 Do you handle criticism differently? 41:48 Strategy of focusing on their biggest fans 50:07 Finding validation after achieving success 55:39 The goal of longevity 1:01:56 Playing MSG and The Forum 1:05:16 Songwriting for other artists 1:08:43 AI in songwriting 1:16:04 How they document everything on video 1:18:45 Is YouTube a revenue driver? 1:19:28 Their upcoming tour 1:21:12 What it feels like to be a rockstar COLIN AND SAMIR’S NEWSLETTER 📫 100,000+ read our free newsletter that breaks down the business of creators. Sign up: https://bit.ly/publish-press ASK US A QUESTION ❔ We answer questions from creators every Sunday in our newsletter. Submit yours here: https://bit.ly/publish-creator-support LISTEN TO THE SHOW iTunes: https://apple.co/2K1pYhu Spotify: https://spoti.fi/2OnTmBC GET IN TOUCH 🌍 Our website: www.colinandsamir.com 🌍 Work with us: [email protected] JOIN OUR COMMUNITY 📡 Discord: https://discord.com/invite/colinandsamir 📸 Instagram: https://instagram.com/colinandsamir 🐦 Twitter: https://twitter.com/ColinandSamir 🎵 TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@colinandsamir ABOUT US We’re Colin and Samir, creators based out of Los Angeles California. We make videos about the creator economy, and the lessons we’ve learned over 10 years of being on YouTube. We also interview creators and try to get to the bottom of what’s working on YouTube and where the creator economy is headed.