“I think what’s tough to wrap even our heads around – when you look at the stats and some of the figures now – is that it really was such a gradual, one video at a time approach,” Alejandro Manzano told AXS in a recent interview.
Alejandro is one-third of the phenomenally popular Boyce Avenue. According to a quick check of YouTube stats, the guys (Alejandro, Fabian, and Daniel) have over 2.7 billion YouTube views and over 8.5 million subscribers. To put that in perspective, the BritneySpearsVevo channel has 4 million subscribers and the LadyGagaVevo channel has 7.1 million subscribers. The band has performed in 25 countries on 5 continents. With over 300 posted videos, these three brothers are some of the hardest working, most watched talent in the world.
“On September 2, 2007, we posted our first video on YouTube,” Alejandro informed. “And I remember the first time it hit 1000 views, our minds were just blown! All of us were sitting around the computer and we were so fascinated – especially since YouTube was still so new at the time – just seeing the comments coming in from people all over the world! We had had a couple of songs on MySpace a year prior, but that was really our first moment when we saw the instant interaction between posting a video and the fans online from all over the world viewing it. After that, we kept posting videos, one after the other, and eventually, it slowly but surely and gradually accumulated to all these insane numbers.”
The reason this strategy worked for Boyce Avenue was because they never put their sites on short-term goals, every video was created to have a lasting impact.
“Our whole model is to post material that we love and that we also find tasteful and timeless,” Alejandro explained. “It was a tortoise and the hare type of a thing – at the end of a few years, we knew we would look back and our stats would become more impressive because time was on our side. Some of these other artists rose super quickly, but after that, they fell away just as fast.”
One of the keys to creating lasting work is to invest in quality. Rising artists like Megan Nicole or Jordyn Jones have used the same plan of action: every song posted, is the best it can be. As a result, Megan tours seemingly nonstop, has starred in a movie, and has had the opportunity to take selfies with luminaries such as Michelle Obama. Jordyn has become a fashion icon and her videos consistently garner views in the millions.
“Some of our earlier videos were done before this wave of digital cameras came out,” Alejandro recalled. “Still, we were posting videos with recorded audio and multiple camera angles and you could tell we were trying to create something in that fashion of the performance music video – something that MTV Unplugged might have. We were trying, but we just didn’t have the equipment. However, there was a huge difference between how our earlier videos were being done and the vast majority of people who were just opening up their laptop and using a WebCam. I think that helped us out a lot pretty early on.”
Over the years, the money that came in from iTunes and other income sources was all reinvested into getting better lights, better cameras, and better recording equipment.
Speaking of quality, Boyce Avenue’s newest album, Road Less Traveled, was released in April and it features the single “Be Somebody.” The record was produced by the Espionage production team (Beyoncé, Train, Selena Gomez & the Scene) and mixed by Mark Endert (Maroon 5, Rihanna, Gavin Degraw).
“The idea behind the title, Road Less Traveled, is about our approach to the music industry, “Alejandro acknowledged. “It was very unorthodox. We took pride in that because it was what made us different from so many other artist out there.”
“We don’t want our music to be depressing, but we also don’t want it to be completely happy,” he continued. “We focus on the in-between – you’re happy where you’re at, but you know that you still have things to learn and you have a long way to go. We have a song called ‘Imperfect Me’ that definitely deals with that topic. It’s about having enough confidence to say that you’re not perfect, but that’s not to say that you’re not happy with who you are. It’s kind of striking a balance where you’re not quite there yet, but you’re happy and you’re working towards your goal.”
“We try to keep the lyrics as personal as we can. I don’t think we’ve ever written a song about something we haven’t specifically gone through or a close friend hasn’t gone through.”
When asked if there was anything else he’d like to talk about, Alejandro replied, “One of our favorite aspects of what we do is getting to tour. There are so many different kinds of channels on YouTube – people who review movies, vloggers – and I enjoy watching them, but they don’t have a model that allows them to go on the road. I’ve always felt very blessed that we get to take our YouTube content and go on the road with it. We get to sing and do meet and greets with the fans, so we’re super excited whenever we go on tour.”
Last night at the Showbox SoDo in Seattle, Boyce Avenue kicked off a five week North American tour with stops including such notable venues as The NorVain Norfolk, VA and iPlay America in Freehold, NJ.
Current list of upcoming tour dates with Leroy Sanchez and Nick Howard (*additional guests):
Sept. 10 – Vancouver, BC – Vogue Theatre
Sept. 11 – Portland, OR – Wonder Ballroom
Sept. 13 – San Francisco, CA – The Fillmore
Sept. 15 – Los Angeles, CA – Belasco Theater
Sept. 16 – Las Vegas, NV – The Foundry at SLS Las Vegas
Sept. 17 – Tempe, AZ – The Marquee Theatre
Sept. 20 – Dallas, TX – House of Blues
Sept. 21 – Houston, TX – House of Blues
Sept. 23 – Lake Buena Vista, FL – House of Blues
Sept. 24 – Atlanta, GA – Center Stage Theater
Sept. 25 – Norfolk, VA – The NorVa *
Sept. 27 – Silver Spring, MD – The Fillmore *
Sept. 28 – Freehold, NJ – iPlay America *
Sept. 29 – Boston, MA – House of Blues *
Sept. 30 – Huntington, NY – The Paramount *
Oct. 1 – Montreal, QC – Métropolis Theatre *
Oct. 4 – Toronto, ON – Phoenix Concert Theatre *
Oct. 5 – Detroit, MI – St. Andrew’s Hall
Oct. 7 – Chicago, IL – Vic Theatre
Oct. 8 – St Louis, MO – The Pageant
Oct. 9 – Minneapolis, MN – First Avenue
Oct. 11 – Nashville, TN – Cannery Ballroom