A&P Reacts shares how to build a YouTube empire

The wildly popular father-son review duo known as A&P Reacts share their secrets to success in an all-new ‘fast five’ interview with Haulix.

A guest post by James Shotwell of Haulix.

If you’ve spent any time on YouTube, you’ve undoubtedly seen the hordes of reaction channels that exist in response to virtually any product or piece of entertainment you can name. Some channels review beauty products, and others cover toys. Some even cover music, which we’re going to talk about today.

Music reaction and reviews channels are, by and large, all the same. From one to five people (or more) gather in front of a camera while enjoying a notable artist’s latest song/video. If it’s a reaction, the people on camera consume the song/video in real-time while capturing their response. Hearing/seeing the music is far less likely if it’s strictly a review, but the commentary remains.

A short time ago, Pedro Almeida sought a way to connect with his teenage son. A lifelong fan of metal, Pedro believed his son could similarly benefit from the genre, and together the pair launched an unassuming YouTube channel called A&P Reacts. A couple of years and hundreds of heavy metal reviews later, the channel boasts more than 76,000 subscribers and has yet to monetize. For them, it’s all about the music and the togetherness. Everything else is a distant second.

Now, the father-son duo is gearing up for their biggest adventure yet. In the coming month, Pedro and his son will be headed to Iceland to judge a battle of the bands in connection with the Wacken Music Festival. This is the second time the team has traveled internationally because of their channel, and we have a feeling it won’t be the last.

In the latest edition of our ‘Fast Five’ interview series, Music Biz host James Shotwell chats with Pedro Almeida about his channel, its growth, and where he sees reaction channels going in the future. Pedro’s goals for his videos are among the purest we’ve heard, but make no mistake—The Almeidas plan to see how big their channel can become. Check it out:

James Shotwell is the Director of Customer Engagement at Haulix and host of the company’s podcast, Inside Music. He is also a public speaker known for promoting careers in the entertainment industry, as well as an entertainment journalist with over a decade of experience. His bylines include Rolling Stone, Alternative Press, Substream Magazine, Nu Sound, and Under The Gun Review, among other popular outlets.