Epidemic Sound Does: Buffer Festival - The Oscars of YouTube

Epidemic Sound Does is all about connecting with some great creators at some of the world’s best creator events! This episode we’re visiting one of Canada’s biggest and YouTube’s most illustrious - Buffer Festival.

For those unfamiliar, Buffer Festival is essentially the Oscars of YouTube. Each year in the fall, creators from around the globe gather to premiere their latest videos to a live audience. There are panels, parties, fan meetups, and naturally, a red carpet gala evening!

We joined SWOOP, a filmmaker and recording artist with over 135,000 subscribers to experience Buffer Festival, and to get to know her a bit better! If you don’t know about SWOOP, you may not know she previously had a channel with over 600K subscribers - worth learning about as a creator! But back to Buffer Festival and her experience there.

After a quick travel montage and a stop in at the theater where her premiere will be shown, SWOOP gets the opportunity to meet Peter McKinnon. Peter is someone that we have profiled and featured in the past, and is one of Canada’s fastest growing creators. SWOOP meeting him was no accident or luck of the draw - she made it happen! SWOOP had made a video the week before Buffer Festival asking Peter to join her at the event. Which goes to show that if you will it, it can happen! After that, SWOOP is off to the Buffer Festival After Party at the Toronto YouTube Space. For anyone who hasn’t been there, it’s a unique location, smaller than in other cities but great for hosting small events. Looking carefully, you’ll spot cameos by tons of prolific YouTubers including both Louis Cole and Adrian Bliss.

This takes us to Premiere Day. Tonight SWOOP will be showing her film “Lost in Darkness” for the first time to a large crowd of people live! Needless to say, it goes over well, and she even gets on stage to say a few words about it. Next up, a meet and greet with fans, and then it’s a wrap.

This takes us to Buffer Festival’s biggest night, Saturday, the Awards show. Tonight, select creators will premiere their films to a live audience done up to be exactly like the Oscars. There is a red carpet, the dress code is fancy and there are awards to hand out to some of the best films. SWOOP is ready, makeup on fleek, outfit looking flawless she’s about to take on the red carpet for fan interactions and short media interviews. Then, once inside, it’s time to watch the films and see who’s a winner. This experience has a great ending, as SWOOP ends up winning an award for her film!

Until next year Buffer Festival!