shatnershairpiece

Some good news. BANDCAMP has banned AI generated content from its platform. This is a welcome fight against the scourge of AI music content that is everywhere now. Spotify is filled with fake music accounts. Youtube is filled with AI slop.

I'm still keeping it real. Soon, I will be in a museum because making music by HAND and especially in 'real time' is so very quaint and nostalgic. You will never see my music on any streaming sites like spotify or apple. Bandcamp is much better quality, and you can actually download the music, not 'rent' it.

I've been using bandcamp for ten years. It's the last refuge for REAL musicians.

"Bandcamp's mission is to help spread the healing power of music by building a community where artists thrive through the direct support of their fans."

You can download all my jams in wav, flac, mp3 format. This includes studio and street shows. If you agree that we need to fight AI, please support by checking out some tasty jams on my bandcamp page. I'm priced very reasonably, at $5 per 90 minute track, $7 for full albums.

The next bandcamp Friday is Feb 6! (I don't pay the 15% fees, I get 100%)

thesixmilliondollarguitar.bandcamp.com/

1 week ago (edited) | [YT] | 138

shatnershairpiece

www.youtube.com/playlist?list...

Took me a few weeks to update my entire collection on youtube going back to 2006. Over 1600 videos are now only viewable by a paid membership on youtube. This is a thank you for my youtube subscribers who support me where it counts, with a paid membership. You should be rewarded with more access. I've been doing youtube for 20 years, everything for free, and this is no longer sustainable.

Youtube members get access to all extended jams from 10 minutes to 4 hours, studio jams and street busking jams. They get access to guitar lessons, fingerstyle lessons, backing tracks, every live band and duo gig I ever did from 2008 and 2018.

The price for this access is crazy cheap at $3 a month. You can also choose a higher tier but all tiers get the same access. No one makes income on youtube from 'views' anymore. You need to go viral before you make any income. My jam videos get 200 views. Plus, youtube doesn't promote music videos, they promote 'shorts'. This means that every year, I get less and less views on my jams as the AI completely ignores anything over 2 minutes long.

1 month ago (edited) | [YT] | 2

shatnershairpiece

thesixmilliondollarguitar.bandcamp.com/

It's bandcamp Friday Dec 5! Stock up on the SUPER JAMS and make sure I get 100% of your support. I've been recording almost every day and have about 100 tracks in the pipeline. Highest quality audio. Any music income I make comes from bandcamp sales and Patreon subscribers. If you appreciate improvisation and music made by an actual human being, give AI the finger and buy some tracks.

No telling how long human musicians will remain in fashion. I could be in a museum in about a year the way AI music is taking over everything. I do not upload to Spotify. Why? Because they rip off musicians. The 0.000001 cent you make on Spotify per stream is a joke. Bandcamp is not like that. I set a price, you get the full track in wav or flac. You can even pay more if you want. I do not make money from youtube views.

The best way to support my improv is to buy a track, or sign up on patreon to get full access to all my studio and busking videos, with no ads, no copyright algorithms, no skynet AI, no trolls.

My street tribute to Steve Cropper (died Dec 3/2025) is on youtube tonight, 6:30 pm pacific. Join the chat to commemorate this legend!

Bandcamp Fridays will be continuing in 2026! Find the dates below, and mark your calendars:

February 6th
March 6th
May 1st
August 7th
September 4th
October 2nd
November 6th
December 4th

1 month ago (edited) | [YT] | 15

shatnershairpiece

Along with my reduced posting schedule of two times a month, I'm moving the majority of my jams from the last 20 years to 'members only' access on youtube. I don't ask for much for a lifetime of playing and dedication. It's $3 a month on lowest tier.

I want to give paying members (even though they are not many) an actual benefit that no one else has access to. This cuts down public views on my videos, but one paying member at $3 a month is worth much more than views. My videos don't get more than 200 views, so they don't make a dime. So even a basic membership is like you watched my video 10,000 times with ads.

Youtube doesn't promote my music videos. It cares only about shorts. There is ZERO support for actual creativity. The youtube of old is LONG GONE.

Another reason I'm switching my long videos to 'member level', is most people don't care for long jams and I was always losing subs on them. I spent an entire day making the video, putting my heart and soul into the playing, for negative reward. The average watch time was 2 minutes, so it makes no sense to make them public.

I have been promoting Patreon for five years. This is where all my new music goes. I want less fly by night followers, and more REAL fans. 50 paying fans is worth a lot more than a million casual subscribers. Another huge benefit of Patreon is that when content is behind a paywall, the trolls disappear. This is a huge problem on youtube.

Patreon is musician friendly, unlike Youtube. If you have to pick ONE way to support, chose Patreon. All my new videos are there, ad free, with zero bogus AI copyright claims that have plagued every musician on youtube for years. I also get way more direct and private contact with my real fans, which is not possible on youtube. There is still a human element and love of creativity on Patreon, with ZERO corporate interference or AI on the rampage.

If you appreciate the vanishing skill of improvisation and human made guitar music, sign up on youtube as a member, but even better, sign up on patreon for full access to all my new music.

Since I cut back on youtube posting and being in this caustic environment, my mental health has improved tremendously and the stress levels are way down. That's more POWER TO MY MUSIC. I'm playing more and better than ever and I'm quite excited to share all my new music and live jams on Patreon in a much more supportive environment. I just performed one of my all time greatest jams that surpasses anything I've ever done before.

See you there!

www.patreon.com/c/Shatnershairpiece

1 month ago (edited) | [YT] | 26

shatnershairpiece

If you wonder why I only post a video on youtube every 2 weeks, it's because youtube doesn't care about long form music videos anymore. I now focus on Patreon and paid subscription tiers. I have a huge backlog of 1000 studio/busking videos & they will all go there, ad free.

www.patreon.com/Shatnershairpiece

I have had to adapt to the sad fact that youtube is not a good venue for music or creativity anymore. Views are way down per video, so I can't even make $1 in ad revenue on a 90 minute original music video. There are many other problems with youtube as they push for corporate sponsorships and 'inauthenticity' as many channels succumbed to 'trying to manipulate algorithms to make revenue' and most videos I watch are now 'paid content'.

The absolutely broken content ID system is another huge issue. Many music channels are in courts continuously fighting flagrant abuses of content ID, when they posted original material. I have faced this myself. I'm sick of it. It's the main reason I stopped doing covers on the street and went full original jams because I was tired of copyright strikes from litigious bands like the beagles. This doesn't happen on Patreon.

Let's look at a bit of history. In 2022, I averaged 1000 to 10,000 views per video, some hitting 1 to 8 million. VIRAL videos were a regular occurrence. My content never changed. Youtube changed. The views dropped off a cliff end of 2022 with the new 'algorithm', a mysterious entity that even youtube cannot explain, and refuses to explain even after many attempts to contact 'google' support.

This AI continues to 'evolve' like Skynet. Their helper AI on my channel refuses to even answer questions that have the word 'algorithm' in it. My views continue dropping 50% on a monthly basis. Youtube only cares about shorts now but they lost to TIK TOK.

I now get max 200-300 views per video, regardless if it's a jam or pure clickbait. On my most recent video, 82% of the views were from subs. This means youtube is showing the video to 'some' of my subs but not putting it out there to non subs. That's 240 viewers out of 128,000 subscribers. Youtube cannot explain how 128,000 subs equals only 240 viewers. This would indicate almost all subs are dead (as in deceased) or bots. Many subscribers complain that they never get notified about my videos.

With the lack of views, there isn't even a $1 in revenue. I'm spending a whole day writing music, performing the music, then editing a video, for free. That video is not being seen, not being promoted, and makes no income. Why would any creator do this? The problem here is 'free'. No one appreciates 'free'. It is a dead end. No one respects artists who are 'free'. Average view times, from subscribers, on a 90 minute video are 1-3 minutes. Why bother to post them?

I think my work has value, so it all goes on Patreon now since they have 300 hours a month of free video hosting. This was very smart of them to do, to eliminate direct competition from youtube videos in patreon always linking to youtube.

I will only be posting jams on youtube if it's a paid jam request. Everything else, and it's a considerable amount of creative work, a thousand studio videos over the last ten years, and 1000 busking videos from 2022 to 2024, will be going on PATREON on a paid tier at $9 a month. I had originally loaded them all to youtube to post over the next few years on a regular schedule, but this is pointless.

Why should you sign up on Patreon? $9 a month is an absolute bargain for the hundreds of hours of pure music therapy that I offer. It's improvised music performed in real time, by a human. Since AI now makes all music on Earth by stealing from artists, it's almost quaint. There are AI radio stations now. Soon I'll be in a museum.

I've talked to nurses. Hospitals are using my long jam music for their patients. I've had hundreds of emails from people, mostly during lockdown, who were telling me about how they gained therapy benefits from my jams. Cancer recovery, depression, better sleep, relaxation, work music, study music, gardening music, road trip music. Even a few people who were considering suicide wrote me to say that ONE jam moved them so much emotionally, it stopped them from taking their own life. THAT is the power of improvised music.

I will be using youtube mostly to advertise my actual support sites, patreon and bandcamp. Example: I will show a short clip of highlights from various studio jams that you could see on patreon if you signed up, or download the music from bandcamp.

The only thing I still enjoy on youtube are the live chats I do. But Patreon also offers live chat video premieres and direct contact with every subscriber in private chat. It's much more personable and fan friendly.

If I had to do only one thing, taking jam requests would be it. They make a great gift, for yourself, or a birthday, anniversary, or simple music therapy for someone who could use it. I want to thank Rachel, my super fan, for her jam requests. I will continue to publish these on youtube and rename my channel 'The Rachel hour'.



www.patreon.com/Shatnershairpiece

3 months ago (edited) | [YT] | 30

shatnershairpiece

thesixmilliondollarguitar.bandcamp.com/

Bandcamp Friday returns Oct 3. I've been adding a lot of new tracks in the last month, many in 24 bit audio. No fees are taken off your purchases. This is now my only source of music income. I post video jams on youtube TO ADVERTISE the audio on BANDCAMP. One $6 sale on bandcamp is $5.80 more than I make for the entire life of the video. I spend entire days processing youtube videos that make no money in order to advertise my music. My Youtube channel is solely for providing links to patreon and bandcamp. If you like a jam, please download it in much better audio and help support improv.

3 months ago (edited) | [YT] | 6

shatnershairpiece

Bandcamp Friday is back on Sept 5! This is the only way I make music income anymore. Youtube pays pennies for views. Download all my studio and street work and help support the dying art of improvisation. Audio is MUCH BETTER than what you hear on compressed youtube videos. A lot of track in 24 bit.

thesixmilliondollarguitar.bandcamp.com/

4 months ago | [YT] | 16

shatnershairpiece

thesixmilliondollarguitar.bandcamp.com/

After 3 long months off, BANDCAMP FRIDAY finally returns on August 1! I've posted many new jams and albums over the summer. On Friday, I don't get charged the usual 15% fee on purchases.

Why should you support me?

1. I'm making music in real time, spontaneously. This is something that NO ONE does anymore, at least not to my extent. It's called improvisation. Improv is extremely rare in 2025. It flourished from the 40's to the 70's, starting in jazz, then moving to rock/fusion bands in the 70's. I try to keep it alive. I currently hold the world record of a single non stop 'musical' guitar solo at 4 hours straight. I once joined a competition on a popular youtube guitar channel to improvise over a backing track for ONE minute, which is extremely short. The channel got only 4 responders. One of them was Buck Dharma of Blue Oyster cult. One of them was me. The channel guy told me that he gave up the idea as no one was interested in improvising. He was shocked.

2. I'm the ANTI AI. Fake music has taken over everything. It's all over youtube, it's all over spotify. I hope that one day, making actual music will have value again. Right now, AI music making is like a new toy for the kids and the corporations are taking full advantage. It's fun, it's easy, requires no study or skills, and you can even make a fake spotify account and upload nothing but fake music. There is NO WAY this will end well.

3. I've played guitar since I was 10. I'm still playing at 62, and playing better than ever. I'll play until my last breath, or until my fingers can hold out. I can't play in a vacuum. As much as I enjoy playing, I enjoy it even more when I hear from people who enjoy what I do and support by buying some albums or leaving a tip. Right now, my favorite thing is taking video song requests at $100 each. I jam MY version of a cover song, or do a complete original. Full video with dedication to anyone.

4. Live music is dead. No more gigs. I started busking in 2015 because the clubs all closed down. Now busking is also dead. I had to give it up last year due to the ever increasing apathy of the public and the violence I was subject to on a daily basis. My number one comment on my youtube videos was "Why are people ignoring you all the time?" I did it for ten years. I'm lucky to be alive. But that means I get no income from the street anymore, as little as that often was. This means BANDCAMP and PATREON and TIPS (www.patreon.com/Shatnershairpiece) are my sole means of making music income. Please consider subscribing on Patreon to get ad free access to all my street and studio content, that won't be on youtube. For $9 a month you get access to everything. You can even subscribe on youtube for $5 dollars a month, but youtube takes 50%. (Patreon takes 10%)

5. Keeping my youtube videos going takes a lot of time. One video, the performance, the editing, the processing, is usually a minimum 8 hours start to finish. I'm competing against AI bots now, that are making click bait garbage for millions of views. Long form channels like mine are getting pushed out since youtube now uses AI for its algorithms for years. It also refuses to run ads on my videos because it sees them as 'one long uninterrupted piece' with no room for ads. This means Youtube ad views are pennies per month.

6. This is music therapy. I've got hundreds of emails from people who use it this way. Relaxation, headache relief, better sleep, hospice care, (nurses using it for alzheimer patients), road trips, hobby, study, and work background. When I heard from people who said they decided not to commit suicide after hearing one of my jams, I realized what incredible value improvised guitar music can have, how playing from the SOUL in REAL TIME can make a huge difference in people's lives. For me, this would be the pinnacle goal of being a musician.

Give the gift of REAL MUSIC. Keep this dinosaur alive!


🍓 Give the gift of music. $100 gets you a video jam request of your choice!
😎 Patreon (videos you won't see on youtube) www.patreon.com/Shatnershairpiece
🎸 Bandcamp (audio downloads) thesixmilliondollarguitar.bandcamp.com/
🎁 Paypal tip: www.paypal.com/paypalme/6milliondollarguitar?local…
👍 Google pay tip/Apple tip/cc tip: busk.co/30027
❤ Tip with 'buy me a coffee' www.buymeacoffee.com/RobinSpanell
👕 T shirts! www.redbubble.com/people/robinspanell/shop
🎭 Follow me on X for updates! x.com/

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5 months ago | [YT] | 24

shatnershairpiece

Today, July 15/2025, is my 19th year anniversary of being on youtube. I considered doing a 19th nervous breakdown video, but I've had way more than that. My first video in 2006 is still up. Believe it or not, I didn't get any decent views (over 30 per video) until 2020.

Live one hour chat video at 5pm pacific tonight!

6 months ago | [YT] | 64

shatnershairpiece

https://youtu.be/5dlgdN7kafk

Here's a look back at a classic that I posted about 14 years ago. This was one of my first extended guitar solos and was recorded in front of an actual amp. More jazzy.

8 months ago | [YT] | 17