The Viral Drummer’s Brand-Building Strategies Like a superhero with an alter ego, Taylor Gordon’s transformation into The Pocket Queen had a seismic effect on not just her own career, but also upon legions of music fans and aspiring drummers. With a buoyant, feel-good presentation, captivating grooves, and often wow-inducing technique, her YouTube videos—which she started posting in 2007—have accumulated millions of views, and she consistently charts tens of thousands of views for each Instagram post. And yet, Internet stardom wasn’t even something she was all that interested in. After posting a series of play-through videos, The Pocket Queen moved to Los Angeles to focus on building a career in audio production. However, while doing studio sessions, she would often meet people who had loved her videos, and who encouraged her to continue making them. I’d tell them doing videos was something I did when I was younger, and I wasn’t […]

August 2021 Issue