I'm kind of curious what you guys think of White Sea Studio's move to promote Temu Products on his channel.
It seems absolute crazy to me because he often did really nice plugin and gear reviews.
Seems out of character to get a sponsorship from Temu.
Obviously people don't seem fond of it, also the gear sounds like absolute shit.

Edit: He made an apology and removed the Video. Please don't harass or shit talk this guy.

 

Last edited: Sep 30, 2024

i have really enjoyed watching his videos for years. i also think he has developed well, the quality of his videos is getting better and better and the way he tears apart some plugin manufacturers in his snake oil videos is at least as funny as the fact that when i see an autogain button somewhere, i immediately think of him.

i'm not sure if he knew about the temu story that it could backfire like that. in the comments, he's really being trashed for the video. maybe there will be another statement from him where he explains himself.

but you're right. the way he talks up the gear for the most part doesn't really fit in with his snake oil philosophy. it just gives the video a stupid aftertaste that he's otherwise so tough, for which he's also celebrated, and now wants to promote this junk equipment to his viewers.

 

I just kept going yesterday morning when I saw that post. He seems to be a bit lost as of late (more than usual). Mayne he should take some time to re access while improving his talent & working on his client list.

 

Last edited: Sep 30, 2024

I also really enjoyed watching his snake oil videos.
This just makes the whole thing just seem much more bizarre.
From a business standpoint it also doesn't make much sense since his target audience probably has basic knowledge of audio production.

Maybe he was offered a decent amound of money but to me that whole thing just feels completely off.
He doesn't seem like the guy to sell absolute shit to his audience, especially considering his past videos.

 

I think it's totally fine if he wants to do it just for the sake of getting money.
But faking that he likes all the equipment is just way over the top.
He could have just made a video where he advertises the gear and tells his audience it is a paid sponsorship, so why put this act up?
People would probably be much more understanding if he calls out the sponsorship.
As far as I know you need to mark something in youtube as advertisement right?

After all his snake oil videos and rejected sponsorship offers (according to comments) , this feels just like bad decision making .

I usually use reviews to get a basic idea of the plugin and download it via sister site.
This way it just saves the trouble of testing a lot of plugins

 

let him get his bread. im sure he doesnt have that studio for his main goal to be making YouTube videos. like i get it; but i also understand, you put a lot of those same people bitching in that situation, theyre getting the paper, comfort and safety is at the base of human nature. theres always a certain amount for everyone that will make them reconsider how important something really is

its just reviews at the end of the day; hes an engineer who decided to share his opinion of stuff. let homie cash a check damn. cant live your life worried about what others think of you, it might feel like it; but theyre not worried about him. they drop a mean comment and theyre gonna go on with their day, he could be homeless on the street and a lot of them would walk right past him. get the bag fam

 

It does not surprise me at all. His videos primarily went the same direction, maybe a year or two ago? He either stopped giving any negative comments or information about plugins; or he stopped reviewing ones that he would have to be negative about. But every plugin that lands in his email all of a sudden being good can not the case.

 

Spare change!!

 

What controversy? He's a YouTuber.

 

Is that a bad thing? I can't speak for this guy, but from my POV it makes perfect sense. Why should one only ever put negativity out into the world? Even if it's done with a wink. Sure, rants sell well, but at some point most people come to the realization that it's not good for them. Then one usually starts to focus on the things that you like and that one thinks are great.

 

It is a departure from his prior videos. He used to make a point of mentioning that he was only using demos of each product. He was not getting temporary NFR, free copies, or paid for doing the reviews. Most of his YT videos have thumbnails with the text "Snake Oil?" clearly displayed, which was the premise of his reviews. Is the plugin great, useful, or snake oil, was the question to be answered in the review. As if it is not a forgone conclusion he is going to give everything a BS positive review or that his opinions are for sale. Obviously, they are. Shilling bad gear is just an extension of it.

 

The popularity of YouTube influencers is waning, so they have to find other ways of making some bread.

 

As already said, it is ok to promote things for money but you gotta keep these following points in mind:

-The promoted products are barely "useable" in comparison to higher quality gear and might even pose some risk due to their bad production.
-He is trying to give the impression that they have a great sound quality, therefore the buyer will get useless shit and realize it afterwards.


I'm gonna make an basic example for your logic just to prove a point and I don't mean this condecending in any way:
I also have to write scientific papers for my social science university work and could make stupid clickbait Articles to gain traction.
This would obviously increase the likelyhood of receiving monetary gains but at the cost of my scientific integrity.
The same applys for White Sea Studio. He is an engineer and people rely on his expertise to make decent buying decisions.
If you knowingly try to give good impressions of bad products then you manipulate an audience into making bad decisions.
He pretty much put monetary gains over the principle of educating people honestly.

That is just completely morally questionable and doesn't make sense due to his snake oil content.
People that argue with this machiavellian attitude of getting the bag no matter what, are just dispicable in my opinion.
They are pretty much part of the reason why some things in life are fucked.
Sadly a moral compass has no price tag.

His channel is not small and I'm pretty sure he could make a decent living by promoting normal brands.
He still can choose to promote dubious platforms but needs to realize that people will criticize him.
I dislike the fact that some people get personal over such things and he doesn't deserve insults etc. for that.
On the other hand you don't have to wonder when things turn on you for shady practices.
I hope the best for this guy but I cannot tolerate someone promoting shit like Temu.

After the Criticism he also disabled the comments

 

Last edited: Sep 29, 2024

Literally the first thing he says in the video is "Temu have sponsored this video". Still sorry to see him promote this garbage.

 

Last edited: Sep 30, 2024

Sorry my mistake I corrected that point.
My guess is that there will be an video adressing the whole situation.
Anything else would not really make sense to me.

 

Meh

 

Yes I have to say I was taken aback a bit when I saw that trash on his channel. Pretty much goes against everything he has been preaching about for years regarding his autonomy and his ability to "say what he want's to say" about products he reviews without conforming to pre-conceived ideologies fed to him by the OEMS of those products.

I will say this - if YT continues to muck around with its user base (that being a great deal of the entire online community) those who rely on YT for a portion of their living expenses will the be the only ones who suffer for it. I refer to the past month or so where there was a policy put in place by google to force those on a VPN to "log in to prove they weren't a bot"... This policy has seemingly been lifted for the time being, however I for one do not consider YT an internet staple and can live without it very nicely. I'm fairly certain I am not the only one holding this opinion, so google should take care when implementing shit-ass policies.

 

Stopped watching his videos awhile ago because he started becoming obviously disingenuous. Thank goodness for Weaver Beats.

 

To be fair, his reviews were never highly informative and he never seemed to come from a respectable, authoritative point of view. He did seem sincere, though. Meanwhile, on my favorite Youtube audio channel...