Thanks all!
Chris, the real growth comes from YT recommendations and the algorhythm expanding on the recommendations. I have never asked anyone to subscribe to my channel and I've never said a word on my videos, yet I'm averaging 25,000 views a day and it's been that way for the past five years. I can't explain why, but I think one commenter may have nailed it ..."you get right to playing... no 8 minutes of bullshitting around and bragging about your gear" LOL
The number of Shares is important too. I get about 1200 shares per week. And Playlists are another factor. Thousands of people have my videos in their youtube playlist and that bumps up the views considerably. Having good quality audio is also important. I see a lot of very good steel guitarists on YT and Instagram who Should have more views, but their audio is not good.
I think my channel has helped my book sales somewhat, but not as much as you'd expect. And there is very little crossover from my Instagram page to YT, as far as I can tell.
80% of my YT viewers are
over 55 years of age, according to my stats page. And
many of them are over age 65. Instagram is mostly younger folks. So my videos appeal to seniors. And I can tell by the comments that the vast majority of my viewers are not musicians. I doubt that even 2% are steel guitarists. They are regular folks, older, who want to hear melodies that they can relate to.