I'm preparing the next video for my YouTube channel. Sorry bambams, I didn't think I should film myself after the failed experiment, so you're getting sheet music again.

The question is what I should do at the end. Do you think this is a tasteful way to end the video, with the final page peeling back slowly to reveal a 'subscribe' link?

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I could make it more wordy: "If you liked this piece, why not subscribe to be the first to hear my other compositions?" I could also offer more options: a Spotify link, a link to a website (it'll say 'coming soon' for now), and a link to the sonata I uploaded before, but I don't want to give people paralysis of choice. I could also just make it smaller if the general feeling is that it's too much. Of course it's worth noting that anyone who didn't like the music will probably have closed it before they get this far. On the other hand, I suppose I should be careful not to bother people who've already subscribed by making it too big...

Opinions will be very much appreciated

By the way, I finally established the mechanism behind the previous video appearing grey for me (previously discussed here):

So it sounds as if VideoPad is encoding Y values from 16 to 235 (roughly), and this computer's hardware YUV->RGB conversion is failing to expand them back to 0 to 255. I checked pixel values in a screenshot and they agreed with this theory. Sure enough, I then tried downloading someone else's video and playing it in VLC, and it exhibited the same problem. This all makes me think I shouldn't worry too much about it as all videos appear to be affected in the same way. I could theoretically try and get overshooting Y values into the video so that my video saturates at full black and white on such hardware, but it would then lose subtlety in the anti-aliasing on normal hardware, so it's probably not helpful. It's good to know that there's nothing wrong with the existing video at least.

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My advice is that links added to the video are a nuisance. YouTube has standardized the UI that clicking on the video will pause it. It's extremely frustrating when you intend to pause a video and unintentionally click on a link instead. You should keep "annotations" within the video to a minimum.

That said, there's nothing wrong with asking people to subscribe at the end of the video. You could even standardize an "intro" and "outro" so that regulars see it each time, just like television. People that don't care will move on. No harm done. It shouldn't offend people unless you are intrusive.

Heed my previous advice. Don't add a link to the video to subscribe. Don't add a link to the video to your Spotify or whatever other places. There is a more appropriate place for those links! The video description is perfect for those links. It's not a browser object, like Flash. It's plain HTML. It works perfectly with the browser. I can easily open the links in another tab without leaving the page. I can copy them to my clipboard and paste them elsewhere. I am in control. I can access what I want. And you do avoid appearing deceptively desperate. Anybody that wants to subscribe to your channel can use the YouTube controls to do so. Again, they work with the browser properly and aren't intrusive.

There's nothing wrong with encouraging viewers to subscribe in your video. Avoid links to subscribe. I don't really trust links in annotations... Annotations are useful to add sloppy notes after the video has been uploaded if you're [understandably] too lazy to edit the video and re-upload. They come in handy, but they're unprofessional, and should be a last resort. They should be few, and they should be necessary. Avoid links. Don't make them intrusive. Keep them small to limit the users' likelihood of clicking on them accidentally. It's black magic. Users don't want anything to do with them.

If you do post links in your videos make sure that the video highlights them to make them obvious. It's less intrusive if you expect a battlefield of links on screen. I still don't recommend it, but if you're going to do it that's the best way..

When you're displaying a "subscribe" reminder on the screen it's a good idea to include audio or video of you saying it. It's a lot more meaningful to receive that information from a human, and it adds extra layers to the communication that may be effective on a psychological level.

Yes, I do take issue with that. It's annoying. And it's unnecessary. YouTube already shows related links, often from the same author, as suggestions to watch after. These ones are temporary (they disappear when the video ends), and they get in the way of the standard UI. As you said, they did make them stand out somewhat so at least there's a good clue that there are links there, but I still don't prefer it. Of course, you could still put a heading on the screen to "subscribe!" without making it an annotation/link. I don't see why it needs to be a link. If I want to subscribe to an uploader I won't do it with an annotation link.

I think your desire for perfection is causing you to worry about things that don't matter. People do thousands of different permutations of UI/messages in their videos. And 99% of them work just fine. And even if you mess up, people will tell you and you can re-upload a fixed version. That's the worst that could happen!

Look at a couple you like, see if anyone says "OMG I HATE IT" (You won't find many), and just go for it.

As long as the content (song) is good, nobody cares how it's wrapped up unless that wrapping gets in the way of the content. So do anything at the end, don't make it blast loud sounds, and nobody will care. The other caveat is don't do much (or anything!) at the beginning usually, because people want to get right to the content and not have to manually advance the seeking just to see it.

Thanks guys I won't be putting anything in the way of the beginning.

I am hoping my audience will be composed (;D) of discerning, intelligent people, which means it is important not to be pushy. On the other hand, leaving it out entirely means people won't even think of it. Perhaps it's important to say why people might want to subscribe. Likewise, no one will even think to check for me on Spotify, much less follow me there, if I don't mention it.

Many more compositions on the way!

[Subscribe] to hear them here first
                       or follow me on [Spotify]

I could make it small, but maybe it's still too pushy though. Here's another idea:

Thanks for watching!

If you like my music, there's much more to come.
Check the video description for ways to support me or just to stay informed.

Getting on Spotify takes time, and I haven't even submitted this music yet (I will today), so there is still time to figure out exactly what to do with the video.

Any further thoughts?

I think anyone who's going to be scared away by a note that "hey, you can subscribe here if you want to hear more of my stuff" wasn't going to subscribe in the first place.

I didn't think becoming famous was the goal. I thought this was more of a niche thing. Bruce?

You weren't being annoying. You were being yourself. If people don't like that then they don't like you. Which is fine. Little things do annoy people, and you can't make everybody happy. At the same time, those same little things might be entertaining or pleasant or relatable by others. Annoying is relative. The same goes for those in-video links. Some people probably don't mind them, and power users probably hate them (since they don't work like native links and they limit my control over the video by suddenly changing the meaning of clicking on regions of it).