How the Music Travel Love ‘titos’ found true success in the digital era
“Pivot” became a term so often used in the pandemic describing how institutions would shift and adjust to that specifically, needless to say, dark time. To literally survive, most of the world had to pivot—with the music and entertainment industry among those easily affected by COVID-19.
The Moffatts, one of the millennial generation’s favorite boy bands in the 90s to early 2000s from Canada who would ultimately rebrand to YouTube musical duo Music Travel Love, though? They did just that early on—and thrived.
It was fate, yes, but it was also instinct and smarts.
Instead of fading into obsolescence or, say, oldfashioned-ness like some of their contemporaries, Clint and Bob Moffatt rose from their hiatus in 2001 and then their farewell tour in 2017-2018—and pivoted toward a new era in their career. Then in their mid-30s, the brothers saw the glaring potential of YouTube covers that they’d release their own, too. (Yes, Ronan Keating’s When You Say Nothing at All and Ed Sheeran’s Perfect included in all of their webcam’s low-pixel glory!)
The Moffatts might have been known for boppy bangers like If Life is so Short, Miss You Like Crazy, and I’ll be There for You. But right on the digital horizon, Clint and Bob had to temper their music according to what resonated more with the audience.
Pun intended to refer to The Moffatts’ first album, they saw a new beginning—as Music Travel Love.
The name became pretty much self-explanatory, considering their style to shoot their acoustic sessions against some gasp-inducing tourist-y spot. Head over to their YouTube account, now at 6.17 million subscribers, to see where they’ve gone to: Mountain and lakes in Canada, sea cliffs in the UK, the Bab Al Nojoum Hudayriyat Camp in India, and more.
Music Travel Love has also shot in the Philippines: Batad Rice Terraces in Banaue, Ifugao (Forever Young); Aw-Awsen Falls in Sigay, Ilocos Sur (Baby I Love Your Way); and Iligan City (Lean on Me). Standing out is their original song Delightful Philippines, released online last October and performed at the Manila leg of their Philippine tour last June 28.
“Some of you guys might know us from the 90s?” Bob joked at the concert, which followed their acts in Cagayan de Oro and Cebu.
“When we started Music Travel Love, we had no idea what it would turn into and what it’s gonna become. It was just something fun to put out some music on YouTube—and you guys have been monumental in why Music Travel Love is here tonight… Without you guys, I don’t think we would exist, you know.”
“Music Travel Love has kind of taken us to many different places,” Clint seconded, before teasing their next shoot set in Bohol.
The right mix of form and content became the key for the brothers to be successful, setting them apart from the rest of YouTube’s popular crooners. On Spotify, Music Travel also impresses at 2.1 million monthly listeners.
“A bunch of people had said, ‘Hey, you should do covers.’ And we said, ‘No, we’re songwriters. We like to write our songs and do our own stuff,’” Clint recalled in between songs. “Eventually, we started covering music and we realized that it was a lot of fun because you could apply a lot of your songwriting skills into covering some of these music and turn it into something that became yours.”
That, and Music Travel Love’s openness to collaboration. Among these artists were American country singer Sheridan Brass and Filipino musicians Bugoy Drilon, Francis Greg, and Anthony Uy—who also sang with the brothers on stage to translate their covers offline.
Still, Music Travel Love’s draw at least in the Philippines had a lot to do with who they are as artists. In the middle of the event, Dave Moffatt, who rounds out the triplets, finally entered to join in the fun.