Richard John Beato (/biˈɑːtoʊ/bee-AH-toh; born April 24, 1962[2]) is an American YouTube personality, multi-instrumentalist, music producer, and educator. Since the early 1980s, he has worked variously as a musician, songwriter, audio engineer, and record producer; he has also lectured on music at universities.
Beato owns and operates Black Dog Sound Studios in Stone Mountain, Georgia. He has produced for and worked in the studio with bands such as Needtobreathe, Parmalee, and Shinedown.[3] On his YouTube channel, he covers different aspects of rock, jazz, blues, electronic, rap, and pop, and he conducts interviews with musicians and producers.
Early life and education
Beato was born in Fairport, New York, a suburb 9 miles (14 km) east of Rochester. He is the sixth of seven children; he has two sisters and four brothers. His family life was highly musical: at an early age, he was introduced to the rock music of the 1960s by his older sisters. His mother's siblings and father were musicians and music teachers. He started playing cello at seven. At 13, he switched to the double bass, and at 14, he began playing guitar, initially learning by ear. After several years, he began formal training from a neighbor who owned a local music store.[4]
Beato was a member of a band called Billionaire, formed in 1997. After releasing a self-produced debut album in 1998, titled The Goodnight Sky, Billionaire signed to Republic Records and put out a second album, Ascension, in 2000.[10]
Studio
Since 1995, Beato has owned Black Dog Sound Studios in Stone Mountain, Georgia.[11][12] He has also previously run the record label 10 Star Records.[3]
Book
He has published[when?]The Beato Book – A Creative Approach to Improvisation for Guitar and Other Instruments.[13]
Signature guitar
In 2021, Gibson previewed a Rick Beato signature Les Paul Special Double Cut guitar. It comes in a special TV Blue Mist finish with P-90 pickups and Beato's signature on the truss rod cover. In 2023, a second collaboration of the model was made in a Sparkling Burgundy finish.[14][15]
YouTube career
Beato's YouTube channel, Everything Music, launched in 2015, has accumulated over four and a half million subscribers[as of?]. His videos, which cover a range of music-related topics, have garnered a substantial following, including close to a million followers on Instagram.[16]
Despite his initial inexperience with video production and uncertainty about the channel's potential ("nobody's going to watch an old guy with white hair on YouTube"), Beato's extensive background in audio engineering contributed to the development of educational content aimed at a broad audience.[12][16] His experience as a music professor instilled in him a passion for teaching, and he has said, "I've been very lucky to have a great music education. I wanted to pass it along to other people that aren't as fortunate as I was".[12]
In the early days of his channel, Beato focused on creating videos that offered insights in how to play instruments, music theory, production techniques, and song analysis.[12][16] His content ranged from detailed explanations of musical concepts to breakdowns of popular songs.[16] Despite a modest start, his videos began to attract attention due to their educational value and Beato's engaging presentation style.[16]Everything Music gained significant attention in 2016 after a video featuring his son demonstrating perfect pitch went viral, quickly amassing over three million views and helping to establish Beato's social media presence.[16][17][18][19]
Following the success of his early videos, Beato expanded his channel's content to include more comprehensive music topics, such as the series "What Makes This Song Great?", where he analyzes popular songs to explain their musical structures and compositional techniques.[12][16] He also conducts interviews with musicians, producers, and other music industry professionals.[16]
Beato periodically shares his critical perspective on modern music trends and the future of music through his videos, arguing that contemporary music has declined in complexity and quality due to commercialization, streaming services like Spotify, and changes in production techniques. He believes that the industry's focus on producing hit singles and algorithm-driven playlists over full albums and artist development has led to a homogenization of music, reducing musical diversity, and stifling innovation. Furthermore, Beato criticizes modern production techniques, such as Auto-Tune and excessive digital effects, for diminishing the authenticity and richness of music. These discussions emphasize the broader debate on the impact of technological and commercial changes on music's artistic expression.[53][54]
Another significant aspect of Beato's perspective is his role as a music educator.[16] He advocates for well-funded music programs in schools, believing they are crucial for developing critical thinking skills and citing examples of influential figures like Paul Allen who were musicians.[16] Beato is concerned about the future of music, noting the rise of artificial intelligence,[54] the shallowness of popular music, and the decline in the number of children learning to play instruments.[16]
In November 2023, Beato testified before a U.S. Senate A.I. Insight forum on transparency, intellectual property, and copyright. In his testimony, he proposed licensing policy for musical datasets similar to the music licensing used for films or public performances.[55]
