Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Van Sereno. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Van, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Earning a full time living from one’s creative career can be incredibly difficult. Have you been able to do so and if so, can you share some of the key parts of your journey and any important advice or lessons that might help creatives who haven’t been able to yet?
During the pandemic lockdown there were no gigs to play (my usual income generation activity), so I enrolled on an online video course. Prior to this I was making my official video clips using my iphone just experimenting with various techniques, mainly using available light on location. I learned how to properly use green screen and studio lighting, etc… On the advice of my teachers/mentors of the course, they suggested I do a popular childrens song called “Five Finger Family” as a foot in the door to boost my YouTube channel (at the time I was just doing original songs which earned about ten to fifteen views, not many at all). At the time of posting, I had 73 subscribers, on a tuesday night I posted my first video using the new techniques I had learned – within twenty four hours, I had 11 million views and 39 thousand subscribers! From one video I was able to gain the required 4000 watch hours and surpass the required 1000 subscribers to apply for the partnership program (it took me a while to get that, probably after a couple of months) and get my channel monetized. That was back in July 2021, although the subscribership has grown to 46 thousand, I have been unable to match that viral video with any of my latest postings… Watching my mentors and a few other friends within the childrens genre, having seen them successfully pump out content which gains significant views (from thousands to millions), I know that it is possible to achieve the same results. I truly believe it is thanks to the power of the song. Why do you ask? because if you look at the video that went viral from my channel, there are flaws. Some subjects are blurry, the colour correction seems non cohesive or a bit off at times, framing and editing can be tighter etc. But yet, till this day, this same video is still the top ranking video in garnering views and revenue. I am on a quest to release music that is world class quality entertainment for all children, with the aim to improve on my video production skills. Currently I am learning animation. At the same time, because my YouTube is not earning any substantial amount of income (it hasnt since 2021) I am continueing to play my live shows. I started out gigging the Sydney live scene back in 1996! I used to do a lot of weddings and corporate functions for more than two decades! Not so much now adays, I am very selective at my live shows. It is thanks to my experience I am able to provide a good show to who ever hires me.
I will continue to work on new music, and consequently new videoclips for the new songs. I post to YouTube mainly but I also make little one minute versions of them for TikTok, Facebook and Instagram. My plan is to hopefully get enough attention with my channel that people will hopefully listen to me more on Spotify, Apple Music, Pandora or Amazon (the numbers are very low at the moment). Truly I am grateful for the success on YouTube so far. It is fueling the fire to make me create more songs for our children.
I hope that my story inspires others to jump on YouTube… if I can do it, you can do it too!
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.
I am a singer songwriter and guitarist based in Sydney Australia. I first started gigging live shows in cover bands late 90’s and started my originals funk band at around about the same time. I went solo in 2004, quitting my day job as a graphic designer to work at a bar so I could write new material . I released my first album in 2005, by that stage I had to take on a day job to fund the recording and other future recordings (again I returned to the graphics field nine to five mondays to fridays in a corporate like setting). It reached a point in 2010 that I was so miserable (having the day job stifle my creativity and time) I quit the job for good – by that stage I had one residency and I was doing a lot of gigs enough to sustain me quitting the day job. Thankfully I have remained full time singer songwriter guitarist till this day (I have not returned to the nine to fiver), and I am very grateful for that. I do not wish to return to three coffees a day, sore back and shoulders and blurry vision from staring at the computer screen for so long. For twenty years I worked as a wedding singer, and played a lot of corporate functions, bars, pubs and clubs. The odd birthday party here and there, maybe a handful of cruises, and even a handful of interstate tours and overseas trips. Over the years I decided to stay away from electronic styles and develop my brand of acoustic guitar based music. I am now known for my stripped back organic raw sounds, always using the guitar as the main driver for my songs, with melody, rythm and groove as the key elements. I aim for catchiness and a quirky story/idea to hook listeners in.
I realise though after a while that somehow whatever I was doing, the market was telling me it wasnt working…. But in 2017 I became a father and instantly my daughter gave me inspiration to write a bunch of childrens songs. From there I was hooked! I couldn’t stop… I used it as a cathartic experience, writing about the day to day happenings or events, I released Hush in 2019, my first childrens album.. My second daughter was born that same year and till this day I continue to write songs for them. It is an added bonus of course that people (through YouTube or other platforms) are listening and like the songs too. Essentially it started with just trying to make my daughters smile or dance…. And then I thought, well why not see how far this can go and release these songs to the world. I am enjoying this creative journey, it is an absolute honour to be able to produce music for children and get this much support from people all around the world. It makes me happy to know that somewhere in the United states (thousands of miles away from where I live) there is a little child being happy dancing to a song that I wrote.
Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?
In 2019 I got a divorce. It was an amicable split. We are co parenting our two daughters nicely… Rather than go away and get depressed, I decided to write some songs about it (after all, its cheaper than counselling)! In a twist, instead of focusing on the negative sides to divorce I thought about writing about good things. So songs like “Ive got two rooms” instead of one, or “daddy day” a song about good times with your father came out. At the time, it really helped me reflect and get up from the ground. I was couch surfing with friends and family, writing the album “Daddy Day” shows my resilience and persistence to “keep on keeping on”. I believe that its this that will help us do well in life… When you get hit and fall down, you have to get up, brush yourself off and walk on. This is a recurring them in my music, I released an album called “Persistence”, I wrote a song called “Keep on Trying” and “Keep on keeping on” – I am a firm believer that if you are persistent and consistent, you will do well…. Anyway, back to the story So I released the album “Daddy Day” in October 2020. It was around about that time I joined a Facebook group for single dads, a support network to help divorced fathers out. There was a post “Whats your favourite songs to listen to when youre stressed out?”… I answered with the link to my official music videoclip “daddy day”. The admin people did not delete it because it was a relevant answer (even though I was self promoting). Someone wrote back “you made me cry watching that. Thanks”…. that post made my day. A complete stranger from the United States (forgot which state) was moved by my music. I wrote that song precisely for that, to reach out to single dads and say “hey you’re not alone”
Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can provide some insight – you never know who might benefit from the enlightenment.
I get a bit of criticism from friends and family asking me why I have to release more new music. Haven’t you made enough? they ask, or “when will you stop”…. I tell them I can’t stop, it’s not in my nature. Writers write because writing makes writers happy. There is nothing more exhilerating than creating a song from scratch, having a vision of it at the start and hearing the finished work (usually coming out better than expected) actually moving a listener to smiles or tears of joy, or making them dance! Thats the best, when they get off their chairs and dance because they like the song so much. As a writer that’s the ultimate thanks you can give. I cannot imagine me doing anything else but creating songs. Sure some may not resonate to others, but generally I find that the children are receptive and warmly receive whatever you come up with. They are not as critical as grown ups. For that I am also grateful to be working in the childrens family genre. But needless to say I still play the random pub gig now and then to stay match fit. Mind you as I get older, its good to transition to the kids day shows rather than the late night midnight pub gigs! Non creatives are quick to say that playing gigs and posting YouTube videos dont earn you much money. Sure they may have a point. But we are not in it for the money. We do it because it makes us happy. My father told me when I was a little kid, make sure you do something that you love, that way life wont be miserable for you. I’d like to teach that to my kids too, the same way he did with me, through my example and through words.
Contact Info:
- Website: vansereno.com
- Instagram: vanserenoofficial
- Facebook: vansereno
- Linkedin: vansereno
- Twitter: vansereno
- Youtube: vansereno
- Other: I think Im on Amazon and Pandora too, have not been able to access my account.
Image Credits
Please credit Sally Flegg Photography for all images except for one (the one where Im wearing a white hat with red stripes blurry in the background).Maybe dont use that one