YouTube Millionaires: Scott Bradlee And Postmodern Jukebox Are “Just Scratching The Surface”

By 04/09/2015
YouTube Millionaires: Scott Bradlee And Postmodern Jukebox Are “Just Scratching The Surface”

Welcome to YouTube Millionaires, where we profile channels that have recently crossed the one million subscriber mark. There are channels crossing this threshold every week, and each has a story to tell about YouTube success. Read previous installments of YouTube Millionaires here.

News flash: Scott Bradlee loves ya. The 33-year-old musician has captivated YouTube audiences with old-fashioned covers of modern songs, which he performs with his band Postmodern Jukebox. PMJ videos embrace a large cross-section of musical history, covering everything from New Orleans jazz to doo-wop to R&B slow jams. This musical melting pot has become a huge hit with fans, who have bestowed Bradlee’s channel with nearly 200 million views, supported PMJ on nationwide tours, and purchased the group’s albums.

With all those accomplishments under Bradlee’s belt, one million subscribers almost seems trivial, but he’s achieved that as well. Here, then, are his thoughts and his band’s blast-from-the-past triumphs on YouTube.

Tubefilter

Subscribe to get the latest creator news

Subscribe

Tubefilter: How does it feel to have one million subscribers? What do you have to say to your fans?

Scott Bradlee: I’m answering this under the assumption that those one million subscribers aren’t all my parents with an elaborate set of aliases and dummy accounts…but it’s definitely a bit surreal.  I went through a brief phase where I decided that having such a large audience meant that I needed to learn how to properly edit videos on Final Cut Pro, but eventually, cooler heads prevailed, and it’s back to business as usual.

But in all seriousness, I never expected a channel dedicated to music of my grandparents’ generation to be something that was considered hip and relevant to so many people, and I’m thrilled to have so many fans supporting this idea.  They’re my label, A&R, and publicist, wrapped up in one.

TF: Where did you get the idea for “old-fashioned” covers of modern songs?

SB: It started back in high school for me, actually.  While my classmates were listening to gangsta rap and techno, I was obsessed with prewar jazz and ragtime.  Somewhere around that time, I got the idea to start playing hip hop instrumentals as ragtime piano, as sort of an effort to bridge our differences in musical taste.  You can imagine how cool I was in high school.

TF: Do you to any degree see yourself as a “teacher” who is educating your fans about bygone genres of music, or is your goal solely to entertain?

SB: Actually, I’ve tried to avoid giving myself the responsibility to educate OR entertain; I’m obviously very happy with either as a side effect, though. Right now, my goal is to just allow this project to develop naturally, without any real agenda, and try to stay open to as many ideas from my fans and collaborators as possible–especially as we begin to send out Postmodern Jukebox tours IRL, all over the world. There are SO many possibilities when you consider the broader implications of “Postmodern Jukebox-ing” something, so I have a feeling I’m just scratching the surface of what’s possible.

TF: How have you balanced your work on YouTube with your other musical projects? At this point, how much of what you do is based around Postmodern Jukebox?

SB: Let’s put it this way: I can’t type any word containing the prefix “post” without my phone autocorrecting it to “Postmodern Jukebox.”  It’s been pretty much all consuming, but I wouldn’t have it any other way.  I’ve been really fortunate to get to do what I love.

TF: Have any of the artists you’ve covered contacted you? What do they think of your work?

SB: We’ve had a whole bunch of them share or retweet our videos–Beyonce, Meghan Trainor, AJ McLean of the Backstreet Boys, Tove Lo, and others.  One time in a Reddit AMA, Lorde said that our “sad clown” cover of “Royals” with Puddles’ Pity Party was her favorite version.  That was pretty awesome; it’s always a thrill to hear from the original artists.

TF: On a similar note, since these videos seem like they are very fun to make, how often do you get requests from musicians who want to record with you?

SB: Pretty often.  Sometimes, it works out, too.  Von Smith (from our “Rude” and “Shake it Off” covers) shared his version of our version of “Thrift Shop” with me via Twitter, and I was so impressed that I immediately invited him to record a video with us.

TF: Do you have a favorite out of the videos you’ve made?

SB: I love all my children equally.

TF: Any plans to release original music videos on your channel, or do you plan to stick with covers for the time being?

SB: It’s not out of the question, but right now, I’ve kinda been treating these covers as my originals…well, originals that I didn’t write.  As long as I get to be creative in some capacity, I’m happy.

TF: What’s next for your channel?

SB: You can expect the weekly videos to continue featuring world class performers performing today’s hits in a variety of vintage settings, with occasional cameos by enthusiastic tambourine players and / or dogs.  If that’s not what YouTube was created for, then I don’t know what is.

On Deck (channels that will soon reach one million subscribers): Mess Yourself, Saturday Night Live, Christian Figueiredo

Subscribe for daily Tubefilter Top Stories

Stay up-to-date with the latest and breaking creator and online video news delivered right to your inbox.

Subscribe