Performance / Cover
A performed piece — music, dance, stand-up — where the performance is the entire video.
- TikTok
- YouTube Shorts
- YouTube (long)
- Twitch
The long-form guide for this format is still being written. Everything below is complete and is what the quiz scores against.
Best for
- People with an existing performance skill and somewhere to practise
- Short-form discovery — performance travels further than talking
- Anyone building towards live work rather than ad revenue
Not ideal for
- Beginners at the skill itself; the format has no hiding place
- Anyone unwilling to deal with music licensing on covers
- Creators who want their content to be searchable rather than discoverable
Five ways to start
- 01The piece you can already play perfectly
- 02One song, two radically different arrangements
- 03A performance in an unexpected place
- 04The same piece filmed monthly through a year of practice
- 05Original work, with the writing process shown alongside
How it changes per platform
TikTok
Start mid-performance at the strongest bar. Introductions kill performance videos here.
YouTube Shorts
Audio quality is the whole thing. A phone mic undoes a good performance instantly.
Twitch
Practice streams build a community around progress rather than polish.
YouTube (long)
Covers need licensing to monetise — check before you build a catalogue on them.
Channels doing this well
No examples are listed yet. Every channel on this site is checked against the live platform and signed off by a person before it appears, and none have been signed off for this format — so rather than list plausible guesses, this section stays empty.