On 1 January 2019, founder Ryan Bomzer launched the Carved Culture YouTube channel, taking the first step toward what would eventually become an important part of our music education journey.
The idea had started three months earlier, following an unexpected cold call.
An Unexpected Recommendation
During a sales call about marketing services, a representative suggested that creating YouTube videos could help Carved Culture become more visible on Google.
The advice stayed with Ryan. He decided that his New Year's resolution for 2019 would be to create and publish his first YouTube video, introducing a new way for customers to discover our products.
A Difficult First Video
Unfortunately, New Year's Day didn't go to plan.
Ryan was suffering from tonsillitis and bacterial conjunctivitis, leaving his eyes swollen and red.
Rather than abandon his resolution, he recorded a video explaining that he'd planned to start YouTube that day but was too unwell to make the product video he'd intended.
Unexpectedly, that first video went viral.
Learning in Front of the Camera
Once he recovered, Ryan began filming musical instrument demonstrations.
One of his earliest videos featured him standing awkwardly behind a chest of drawers, holding an instrument and attempting to explain it to viewers.
The production was basic, the presentation uncomfortable and the outro far too long. But the important thing was that he'd started.
The original goal was to help customers discover our instruments and understand what they were buying, rather than simply advertise products.
The Beginning of Something Bigger
Those early videos laid the groundwork for a growing collection of instrument demonstrations, tutorials and educational resources.
What started as a marketing experiment would eventually become a central part of Carved Culture's mission to make music education more accessible.
Every great project needs a version one. This was ours.