Success with YouTube & Music Videos with Micah Harmon

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Micah Harmon A Million Dreams Fight Song Youtube Music Videos

Jacob talks with his little brother, Micah Harmon. Micah is a musical artist, YouTube star, and social media influencer. They talk about the process of creating music videos on YouTube.

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Full Transcript

(This transcript was created using software. Please be advised that it won't be 100% accurate, and it may contain formatting issues.)

Jacob Harmon 0:10
Hello, and welcome back to another episode of success quest. I'm Jacob Harmon. And today I'm going to be doing another interview. And I'm actually really, really excited about this one. Originally, I wasn't sure if I wanted to do this interview because it's actually my brother. And the reason why I was a little skeptical was just because he's my brother. And I didn't want it to seem like I was only bringing him on the show, because he's my brother. But the more I thought about it, the more I decided that really, we had to have him on the show, because he truly is amazing. And he's done some amazing things at such a young age. And honestly, I'm really excited to get to talk to him and learn a little bit about the journey and how he got where he is. And I'm here with Michael Harmon. How you doing today? Micah?

Micah Harmon 1:03
I'm good. How are you doing?

Jacob Harmon 1:05
Good, doing good. So tell us a little bit about yourself, Micah.

Micah Harmon 1:09
Hey, everyone. Thanks, Jacob and Caleb for inviting me on this podcast. And yeah, my name is Micah Harmon, and I'm a member of the one voice children's choir, which is directed by masa CUDA, obviously, she has performed on America's Got Talent at the White House and France, Japan, the Miss International pageant and all over the world. I joined the choir about two and a half years ago. And after that, about a year and a half ago, I'd say, I decided to start my own YouTube channel. And on that YouTube channel, I make music videos that hopefully inspire people all over the world.

Jacob Harmon 1:44
That's awesome, Micah, and I've kind of had a backstage seat this whole time that you've been on this journey. So I know a little bit about it. But obviously our listeners don't. So I want to kind of go back in time and take it step by step. You first mentioned that you're part of the one tilghman's choir. How did that start? How did you get involved in that? And how did that kind of inspire you to start this YouTube channel?

Micah Harmon 2:07
For as long as I can remember, I've been listening and watching one voice women's choirs content, and I just loved it. And I I guess I kind of stopped them. I, I've just been you know what I mean? I've been so intrigued by what they do. And so a while, like four years ago, I'd say I was talking to my friends like, okay, join this choir. The problem is that we actually live two hours away from where rehearsals are for the choir and for whether they usually perform obviously the they perform all over the world and nationally, right. But they decided that Yeah, give it a shot audition, right. And so I audition for the choir. And the first time about it. Three ish years ago, I auditioned and I, I submitted a video audition, right? So you submit a video to and then you if you pass that audition, then you go to do a live audition. And then they choose if they want to invite you to join the fire. And I didn't make it to the live audition. without installing. I did it again the next year. And I made it to live audition, and I went to the live audition. And I made it into the choir. And since then I've, I've loved seeing it. It just brings me so much joy. So

Jacob Harmon 3:28
that's great. And before we move on to how that gotcha into YouTube and into creating content on YouTube, you mentioned that you failed the first time around. You didn't make it into the choir. Yeah. And was that a difficult experience for you? How did you overcome that? And, and what inspired you to say, you know what, that doesn't matter. I'm going to just do it again.

Micah Harmon 3:50
Um, so you know, when I didn't get in, I was like, You know what? Well, so they send an email right there, like a lot of people audition for the choir, right? Like, we understand if you don't make it, make it go next year. And I was like, yeah, I'll audition next year. And we'll hopefully, hopefully make it and again, I'll work hard to, to get better at singing and hope that I can make it work for this next year.

Jacob Harmon 4:15
And I don't think we actually mentioned but how old are you? Because that's, that's probably the coolest thing about this story is how young Mike is and the success that he's created for himself at such a young age.

Micah Harmon 4:27
I'm 15 years old.

Jacob Harmon 4:28
Okay. And so when was it that you originally audition? How old? Were you at that point? I think

Micah Harmon 4:34
I was 12 when I first audition didn't didn't make it.

Jacob Harmon 4:37
Okay, that would make you 13 when you actually made it? Yes. Great. Okay, so you finally make it into this choir. And you mentioned that it's two hours away. And I know that there's practices every single week. Yeah, you have to travel you have to do a lot and it makes you end up missing a lot of school. Has the sacrifice been worth it? Would you recommend that people follow their dreams? Even if that means a lot of sacrifice?

Micah Harmon 5:07
Definitely. Definitely. Yes. Um, a lot of people in the choir always asked me like, Is it really worth it? And I'm every time I'm Yes, of course. I love the choir in it. It's a big part of my life scene is a big part of my life. And I don't know where I would be without it. It's funny, because initially, when I went to live audition, right, before I actually made into choir, Moskva cuter, he's the director and an Cecilia, she's the assistant musical director and executive director of the choir. They're like, So you mentioned on this paperwork, that you're from Wyoming? So is that going to be a problem? Like with getting rehearsals that you were like, No, we think we can make it we think we can. And it was just kind of funny, right? Because I was the longest part of this person who traveled for the choir. But it was definitely worth it. Awesome. And

Jacob Harmon 6:02
so you're with the one voice children's choir, you're singing with them, you're with the group? And how did that turn into doing your own stuff, because I know, a lot of us here success quest, we may not be musical artists, at least most of us. But a lot of times we are working in some sort of group, right? Like, for example, we might have a full time job. But splitting off and doing something on your own can be scary, it can be a little bit risky. And you're it's very, you have to be very vulnerable to put yourself out there as an individual instead of as part of a group.

Micah Harmon 6:37
I think even before I, I joined the choir, you know, I've listened and watch their stuff. And a lot of other people in the choir have done their own things. And so I watched their stuff. And I was like, man, like, that'd be super cool to do music videos. And so I joined the choir, right? And just a few months in, I think when I was in the choir, I realized there were right, I didn't music videos with the choir. And so I kind of understood how I understood the process of making these videos, right. And so I was like, wow, like, I would love to do my own stuff. Like, my and my friends, you know. And so, you know, it was just an idea at first. And then this movie, the greatest showman came out. And were like, all like, there's super little songs, right? It was super awesome. And my brother had heard the song a million dreams in the movie. And he was like, man, like that is perfect for Michael like I just envisioned magazine. And so we had the idea of starting a channel and getting it recorded and arranged by by the choir director. He, he his profession is like arranging music and stuff. And so masa, so he came to us and we emailed him, and he was like, hey, we've, we we know you do this kind of stuff. Like how can we record the song? Can you arrange it for us, and we can start this journey down here. And so that's how it happened.

Jacob Harmon 8:05
Cool. And that was your first music video. million dreams from the greatest showman. And I'll be honest, right here. I was like, wow, Mike, and this is a great video. But I was a little worried I thought he would maybe get 50 100 150 views. And I was I was a little bit worried about about you and about how excited you were for it. And I didn't want you to get your hopes down as an older brother. But man, he surprised us. You completely blew it out of the park your video. I don't remember exactly the time. Maybe you can give us more information on this. But it hit a million views pretty quick. And right now I think it has more than 3 million views, right?

Micah Harmon 8:47
Yeah, it does. We were ready to release video. We've gone through the whole process of making, which is awesome, by the way, I loved every second we spent on that. And I was like, Okay, what should our goal be? And I was like, let's get 1000 views in the first day. And Jacob was like, No way. No way you? No, no. Okay, he wasn't. He's just like, I don't know. Like, that's, that's a lot of us. And I was like, I think we can do it. At first, right. And the first day the video got I, as I remember, it was like 750 views, which I was like, okay, that's pretty good, right? And I was like, cool. Like, that's a good start. And the next couple days, right? It was, it was kind of getting that same amount. Like that's pretty good. But then all of a sudden, like after three days or so. It just shut up. And it was starting to get 20,000 views every day. And then it just blew up. It just started getting these like crazy. And we couldn't believe it. Like honestly, it was insane. In the first month, I believe it had 100,000 views. And then in three months, they had already hit million.

Jacob Harmon 10:03
Wow. And what's his current account?

Micah Harmon 10:06
Currently, it has three and a half million views.

Jacob Harmon 10:09
Wow. That's amazing. And then since that day, you've created more videos. And each one has gotten better. I when I look back at your first video. At the time, I thought it was amazing. And now looking back, I'm like, Oh, it's not as good as your new ones. Like you've improved a lot. And and I'm not saying that to bash your first video because I think your first video is amazing. And obviously it was because a lot of people really reacted to it. But you definitely improved and you've gotten better. How is this experience taught you about about learning and growing and, and becoming better at what you do?

Micah Harmon 10:45
Well, for sure. Right. So the first video I had was really new. I like doing that kind of that kind of thing, right? I was new in the choir. So I don't little bit of like music videos before. But I've never been a soloist in a musical before. Like, especially like doing my own thing was a big deal. Thankfully, I did have a duet partner, her name is likeable. And she she's awesome. She done stuff before, though. And so she kind of her and her mom kind of helped help this like, know what to do. And, yeah, so from the first video, I was really young, and I was new at it at doing videos. And now, me and my dad usually are like, the producers of the videos. And so right, so we did the first video and we're like, wow, that was really, really fun. Like, it was awesome. It reacted super well on on YouTube. And so we were ready to go again. And so we we came up with this, this idea of doing another video, and we wanted to include our whole family because we actually have a pretty big family, if you haven't already. And so we decided to do a video involving everyone. And we wanted to relate it to struggles people have and, and fighting for what you believe. And so we came together and we were like, Okay, let's do this, let's, let's create a really cool storyline to go with the video and see how it does.

Jacob Harmon 12:23
And I think that that's where your second video also has done incredibly well. And I think one of the big reasons for that is the story. The first video kind of lacked that, right, it was a great music video. And it had a lot of music and great camera angles and things like that, but there wasn't much of a story. And I'm going to put all the links in the show notes, you guys. So you should totally go and watch these videos. They're incredible. And if you watch his first video, which is a million dreams, it's good. And then you watch his second video, which is actually called Fight Song missionary mashup, and just watch the storyline. You're a good storyteller. And I feel like you do an amazing job at a good story behind the music. And I think that the fight song is an incredible song. And you mash it up with other songs, you mash it up with religious songs and, and with all kinds of different songs that have meaning to you, so that you can tell this story. And it's really, really impressive, and it really resonates. And this isn't something that we've talked about on the podcast yet. But one of one of our older brothers actually gotten a car accident a few years ago and passed away. And that was one of the big inspirations for your second music video. Right?

Micah Harmon 13:44
Yeah, he was. So he he passed away about three years ago. And it was really hard, but and so we decided to dedicate this music video to him. And we knew that he was super service oriented. And, and he was just a big inspiration for this video. And we ended up dedicating it to him. Yeah.

Jacob Harmon 14:20
And so since that time, you've done even more videos, and you're currently working on videos, and your channel is is doing great. What do you think are some of the factors of success on your channel? What are the things that you've done, that have made you excel? I mean, there's thousands, hundreds of thousands who knows there might even be millions of YouTube channels out there. And most of them have one view reviews, 100 views, right? It's a very small percentage that actually become successful. What are some of the things that you've been able to do that have contributed to that? Do you think,

Micah Harmon 14:58
for sure I'm. So I think a big part of the success in my youtube channel would be, I think, first of all, taking the first step is most important. Just deciding that you want to jump in the water that you want to, like just just take a risk, you know, like risks, without taking risks, you won't go anywhere. If you don't shoot the hoop, then you're not going to score a point. And even if you miss it, shoot again, right. And so it's super important just to take that first step. And like I said, and on to that also, I feel like Alright, so the first video was definitely, because it was something that was super popular at the moment, right, I hit a super good wave. The second video, though, is gonna it was going to be a lot harder. It was with the song fight song, right, which had been out for years. And so what I think, really made it, like you said, is the storyline, but also just the uniqueness. Like it was super different from what has been out in the world, you know? And so, since it was so different, so unique, and so awesome. I, the world reacted super great QA. And, yeah,

Jacob Harmon 16:22
awesome. So you've mentioned that, one thing that you can do to really help yourself is hit a trend right here, with the greatest showman, it was a really popular movie, The music was really popular. And there's not a whole lot of movies with music anymore. So obviously, it's going to be a big search term right on YouTube, people are gonna be searching the million dreams, they're going to be searching the greatest showman. So I mean, one of the great things you did was hit a good trend. And then another thing I just want to reiterate, is creating a good story and doing something unique. And I would add to that you had a very niche audience for that video. Yeah, a very special small group of people, but a very passionate group of people that would listen and find that video

Micah Harmon 17:05
and saying that my channel audience, I want to be super broad. But in the each video, it's usually more narrowed to two audiences. Right? And so like, it's important, I think, to have an audience that attends to lots of people, but certain aspects to certain people. I don't know if that makes sense. But yeah,

Jacob Harmon 17:32
it does make sense. And honestly, it helps with the morality, right, like people are going to share it if it's unique. And if it if it speaks to them individually. Yeah, that makes perfect sense to me.

Micah Harmon 17:43
So there's something else I wanted to share before we go on to the next thing. Because I think it's I think it's really important to factor in that my videos are very professionally filmed professionally. Right. And they The music was recorded and arranged professionally. So I think I think it's just important for whatever you're doing to make it professional. Because honestly, I mean, sometimes people will go to things that aren't super professional, but in most cases, they've got to be professionally done. Right. So I think that's super important.

Jacob Harmon 18:17
So the production value is really high on these videos, putting a lot of time and effort into them. And I've watched Mike as he thinks about these videos, it is all consuming for him. And then he'll sit there with a scratch piece of piece of paper. He'll be writing out where x he'll be drawing arrows and moving things around and trying to figure out okay, what's the storyline here for the video. I mean, he puts a lot of thought and effort into these videos, these aren't the type of videos that you just grab your phone and you go in the backyard and record. It's something that you put a lot of thought and effort into.

Micah Harmon 18:51
Yeah, it takes a lot of time. I'm with that. Just like to know, these videos that we produce, they take months, months to put together. And like a lot of that is just like months before we even start production on on audio, and then video, we just take time to think about what we want to do and what we think is the perfect idea for

Jacob Harmon 19:19
perfect and there is a negative side to that too, though, right? With the high production value also comes a lot of cost. I know that these videos aren't cheap, and that they are pretty expensive to create. And I mean making money on youtube, it's a thing, right? You make money, but it doesn't necessarily make up for all that cost, at least not at first. And I I don't necessarily want you to tell my audience whether you've lost the game money or anything, but how have you kind of dealt with having a lot of costs? And is it worth those costs? Is it some isn't a long term goal?

Micah Harmon 19:57
So for so for what I do, right? Jacob said, it's expensive. To put it easy, right? It's it takes a lot of a lot of money to to produce these these videos. How do you make money from YouTube? Google AdSense is what it's paid. From ads on YouTube video. So whenever you see ads on YouTube, just know that it's paying the the people who produce the video. But I do make some money through YouTube, and also some money through the distributors that the music goes to just like Apple Music and Spotify and Pandora, etc. Right? So those are like the money that comes from like making the videos, which isn't a substantial amount. So yeah, it's a it's a big upfront investment. But I believe that in the long run will be able to take care of all the goods that I've made. Yeah, so we obviously are like thinking ahead, like what can we do to make me not be putting forth so much too much money and not gaining back? Cuz I yeah, I'm right now I'm not making money, it's going back into the business. So who spent more than we've made so far. But we are looking to the future about getting sponsors, which is a big thing. sponsors are super awesome. And if you can get a sponsor, definitely go ahead for it.

Jacob Harmon 21:21
Yeah, and I completely understand what you're saying there with success CRISPR in a similar situation, right, we put a lot of time and a lot of investment into it. And we haven't necessarily got that money back. But I think that I mean, there's two things here that I'd like to mention to the audience. One, it's not always about the money. There's other things that can fulfill you. And we've talked about a lot about that on success quest, that there's other things that can fulfill you and to the fact that eventually, money can come you can make money in the long run, and sometimes not yet, it takes a long time to get a business off the ground, and you have to put a lot of investment into it. What are your thoughts on that? Micah?

Micah Harmon 22:06
Um, yeah, for sure. I think it was really good of you to mention on Jacob, that these videos that I make this YouTube channel is nothing about about money, right? Nothing about gaining a bunch of followers, right? It's it's more about inspiring people. And reminding people that I'm going to put a very own catchphrase, right? That that's only March merchandise. It's Dream on fire on because you are the reason which means have dreams. Fight for those dreams, because you matter. Right? And so I feel like that's my all time goal for these videos that that we put on my channel. I'm there to inspire people and to uplift people all around the world.

Jacob Harmon 22:56
Awesome. Thank you so much, Monica. Is there a anything else that we haven't talked about so far in this interview about your your journey of music and performing and your YouTube channel? Is there anything that we haven't talked about that you'd like to like to mention, before we close the interview,

Micah Harmon 23:13
I would just like to thank first Jacob and Kim for letting me be on this podcast and share my insights and my experience. Just some advice to all of y'all. I think it's important to note that it doesn't matter how old you are, how young you are, to follow to chase after your dreams, I, I don't think there's a certain time. When you you should be doing that if you're 80 years old, go for your dreams if you're 5444 30. If you're 20. If you're 15 years old, if you're 10 go for your dreams, no time is too late. No time is too early, to fight for your dreams and take those risks. And go for your dreams.

Jacob Harmon 24:06
Awesome, thank you, Micah. And I'm going to be putting all of your links in the show notes so that people can find you your YouTube channel all of your videos. Of course, they can find you on Apple Music, Spotify, all the music, music outlets out there. And I'll also be posting a link to your website. And if you go to Michael's website, you can see more information about him. You can see his videos. And you can also see if you're interested in sponsoring him or in in donating so he can keep making this amazing content. You can find those links on his website too. So I'll be putting all of that in the show notes. And thank you so much for being here. Micah, we really appreciate it.

Micah Harmon 24:44
It's been a pleasure to be here. Thank you, Jacob.

Jacob Harmon 24:47
All right. Thank you. See ya. And we're back at the Sq HQ. I hope you enjoyed that interview with Mike. I think he provided a lot of great insights for anyone who's interested in getting into the field of music or creating a YouTube channel. Once again, thank you all for being here. And listening to this episode of success quest. Have a successful day.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai

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