Being a YouTuber is Hell (Unless You're Huge) | Salari
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 9 มิ.ย. 2022
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After being a TH-camr for a little while, I've learned a decent amount about this job. Its highs can be glorious but its lows can be absolutely devastating, both financially and emotionally. This is a common experience among many TH-camrs, especially smaller creators such as myself, and sadly it's something that isn't discussed enough publicly - usually out of fear of unfair criticism or being accused of seeming ungrateful for achieving a level of success millions of video makers could only dream of.
The reality though, is that unless your channel is huge and you don't have to worry about the algorithm anymore, being a TH-camr can feel like hell, especially if you work alone. I also wish to have an honest discussion about the Breadtube sphere, and how larger creators are essentially monopolizing audiences and their financial support, while doing little nothing to ensure that voices from a variety of socioeconomic backgrounds are heard, despite having the resources to boost those who desperately need to be heard.
Some people might not like what they have to hear in this video, but they should hear it anyway.
Also, if you wanna buy me something nice, here's that list (but really, don't, this is just small example of how much it costs to have higher production value): www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls...
Check out MainelyMandy's channel, and follow her Twitter!
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If you're a content creator/artist and want a ride on the Boost Bus, then please email me at salarivideo@gmail.com with the subject: Boost
Please be sure to include a brief bio about yourself, what you want promoting (including links to your work - if it's art then please ensure it's hi-res so it can be used in videos), along with your pronouns. I won't be able to reply to emails due to the volume, but rest assured I will read them and over time compile a list. Lastly, please do not send more than one email. 🚌
F.D vs Salari beef arc confirmed
Please dont hurt him
Will you two be in Creator Clash 2?!
beef arc? sounds delicious
Do a diss track, F.D... don't let him get away with this 😤
MORTAL KOMBAT!!!
This was interesting; thanks for making it.
I have moved from being a "low-level creator" (as you say) to something bigger. Mid-level, I guess? But somewhere near the top of my niche. However, I have not had any issues with copyright, but that's because, from the very start, I went out of my way to avoid it.
I think one of the issues here is that people fundamentally do not understand how copyright works in the US. I used to work in the PC industry, but my job required me to work with movie studios and their copyright protections (i.e., DRM) on occasion, and every experience I had with them was toxic.
The biggest misunderstanding is that "fair use" is NOT a right. You don't just get fair use by following certain rules or using a small enough portion. The whole concept of fair use can _only_ be determined in court. Period. This is the way copyright law works in America.
I'm old enough to remember when the DMCA (the digital millennium copyright act) was introduced. The online community was up in arms, but at the time, the Internet itself was too niche for most people to even understand it, nevermind care about it. The DMCA is what allows these copyright strikes, and why TH-cam has to act the way they do.
In short, TH-cam's copyright system is not broken. It's copyright law itself. In fact, the way TH-cam handles copyright is actually way better than how the DMCA originally worked, because of years of negotiation with the big studios. It used to be that if you got a DMCA violation on your video it was just ... gone. Nowadays you have a process to fight the claim, and the "compromise" where they take your revenue, but the video is allowed to stay up.
It sucks, but the problem here is not TH-cam, it's copyright law, and the huge movie and music studios that lobby for it to work in their interests.
For my channel, I go out of my way to film all my own content. It's expensive, in terms of both time and money, but I do it because I think it makes the content better, but also it avoids copyright issues. I also use no music in my videos, and my intro was just street sounds. Again, because of copyright risk. Just look up what happened to the Minecraft TH-camr Mumbo Jumbo and you'll know why.
Obviously this can't apply when you're trying to do pop media analysis, but you get the idea.
This is a long comment, but I want to end on one thing: people have to start understanding how fair use works. You can't just use other people's content and say "it's transformative!" or "it's less than x seconds!" This is not the way it works. You have to understand that any time you use a clip of anything made by anyone else, you are opening up a crack in your channel and your video. Yeah, it sucks. Yeah, it's not fair. But this is the way the media companies have lobbied to have copyright law work.
Honestly, the best thing you can do, short of becoming a politician yourself, is to stop supporting these media companies. They're all bad, but in particular Sony (Pictures and Music) and Disney. Especially Disney. They have completely poisoned media for their own benefit, and every time you pay to watch or listen to any of their content, you're digging a deeper hole. Support smaller creators, not these toxic megacorps.
good reply
@@kayo5011 I have used the word "good" in previous replies on this platform, and you have used this piece of my content without license. Expect to hear from my lawyers!
Hey Jason,
Very interesting insights, as always from you ;)
Do you know how jurisdictions work in regards to copyright on international websites such as TH-cam? Since you are located in the Netherlands, do your videos fall under Dutch copyright law or do you need to comply with copyright laws from every country you want your video to be shown in (I assume your main target audience are Americans and Canadians?)? The latter (which is probably closer to reality than the first) sounds like a nightmare for content creators as copyright laws can be drastically different from country to country. For example up until 2016 (I think), any video on TH-cam that contained any sort of copyrighted music (even official music videos uploaded by the labels themselves) were unavailable in Germany since they were claimed by the GEMA (a sort of big conglomerate representing big media companies and artists), whereas these videos were freely available in the Netherlands.
Love your channel btw. As someone who moved to the Netherlands from Germany in 2017 for university, your videos gave me a whole new appreciation for the country I live in (even though it had the opposite effect of souring the opinion of my home town and large parts of German infrastructure, though it's not North America level bad).
from what i understand it does suck because people can wrongfully claim your video and if you dispute it youtube doesn't review it, the person who disputed it does? maybe i'm wrong.
thanks for your videos! love ur channel!
This is spot-on and it hurts.
I'm working on my own video on this topic (at least a specific part of it) that'll be out later this summer, and it's really heartening to see so many creators I respect start to talk about some of the downsides of this job.
Being a creator is hard. Harder, in a lot of ways, than being a teacher was. I love this job, and I would love to keep doing it for several years, but there are certainly times when I want to throw it all away. I want to step away and burn it down and disappear from the internet.
I don't do that, of course. Because I genuinely do enjoy this work, and it's usually very fulfilling.
But I'm glad folks like you are getting this conversation started, because you're right: It's not all sunshine and roses. I just hope more folks follow your lead and share more about their own experiences - it really is important.
My favorite part of this video right now is that so many of my favorite creators are here talking about it. It makes me think that, either we’re all experiencing the same series of delusions that result in an enjoyment of said creators’ works, or that there really is value in a number of the videos y’all put out. I’m hoping for the latter
i wish so much for your idea of a react plugin to flourish... creators need to look out for one another
also i need it to make online videogame events but don't know where to start^^'
Oh hey, Zoe Bee! Love your videos!
I'm here because of your retweet! :D
It feels like a small world when I come here because of a share by AI and Games and see a “hearted” comment by Zoe Bee. But yeah, you’re one of my favorite creators so I’m glad you’re sticking around.
Yep. Thanks for making this
Edit: done the video and yeah you nail so many of the issues with this job. The way the stress and anxiety is like an ambient hum in the back of my mind at all times now; my diet’s worse and I’m smoking almost a pack a day; my personal relationships have suffered a lot since there are lots of times when I just don’t have the time or energy to focus on anything or anyone except my work; and of course copyright. The videos of mine that do the best are about reality tv shows but yet that always runs the risk of getting claimed, not only that but now they’re not just demonetizing me but generally just fully taking the video down which isn’t fun to explain to sponsors.
It feels gross complaining about all of this since I’ve had harder jobs that paid less and weren’t creatively and intellectually fulfilling but this can absolutely be a brutal job.
Sorry for rambling, my adderall’s just kicking in but great job on this and as the commenters say: have some engagement for the algorithm.
You're the best Frank Zappa!
i watched this video because you recommended it on twitter
Yeah, I've also been suffering health problems because of the stress associated with this job. The lack of sleep, poor diet, no time and energy, and - for me at least - skyrocketing blood pressure... It's terrible and I don't know how to fix it.
The ability to just take something down with no good method to fight that takedown is one of the most crushing powers youtube has imo. There’s nothing like laboring over a video only for TH-cam to remove it or for a parent company to fully block it in all countries.
@@zoe_bee it really feels unsustainable and I’ve been thinking a lot about how once you get to a certain level so much of success on here just comes down to staying power. It’s one thing to make really good videos, it’s another to do that every month for years. You can see this with how the biggest people from a few years ago when “breadtube” was coming up post things way less frequently now.
What a mesmerizing cat
TH-cam doesn’t demonetize videos with cats in them. Facts.
Thank you 💕 This resonated with me so so SO much. Almost to every single word.
The nostalgia video didn't do well?!? That was my favorite, and it came out as my husband was going through a nostalgia-based existential crisis, so I showed him too. It was fascinating and so well done!!
I went and double checked, how the fuck do people not find the phenomena of nostalgia interesting??
I loved it too!! Truly shocked to hear that it didn't do super well
Also one of my favourites but also a topic that I’ve seen do very elsewhere. It seems like a topic that a lot of people are actively thinking about and are interested in so I thought it was weird it didn’t do particularly well.
Y E S!
Would love to see that! Its my favourite subject, but could not find it? Is the video still on youtube?🙁
@@Miskito th-cam.com/video/nHIEOS0Usy4/w-d-xo.html pretty sure this is the video in question
I really dislike this reflex of some people to go "Why don't you just quit?" whenever you say something negative about their job in order to advocate for better working conditions. Don't they realize that the maxim of what they're saying means that every job on earth would become as shitty as it can be? Or that we're well on our way to getting there?
It's the same mentality that produces gems like
"If you don't like it here, why don't you move?" and
"If the water level rises, why don't you just sell your house?"
I'm sure a whole bunch of that mentality comes from my generation and older.
Even though everyone suffers from, say, inflation, that doesn't mean it hits everyone equally. I paid completely for my education from the University of Washington by being a *janitor in a church* for *THREE DAYS OUT OF THE WEEK*
Try doing that *NOW*
A whole bunch of people who say: "Why don't you just quit," grew up in a world where they were less shat-upon, but they refuse to see that the playing field decades down the line is brutally worse.
Ugh, it's agony when a video starts doing well only to get obliterated. My essay on Annihilation suddenly got picked up like six months after I published it, only to get flagged for unspecified nudity. I'd rather blur the nudity than lose the momentum, but they don't even specify which scene they mean, and having lost my appeal there's no promise that it would even change the ruling now. I've been on this platform for over a decade and I'm still not sure how it actually works lol.
Yes and yes. Also saying hello my friend, as always, coming across you in the comments sections of some favorite creators' videos. Though not ever surprising to see you there. As you're both a lover of, and creator of, genuine and quality content yourself. Keep up the good fight. 💖
Keith, my dude. Just think way stupider. That's the secret to life. Seriously. Just think about things like you'd expect your dumbest friend to think about them (or like.. literally ANYONE else with the name Keith 🙂) and you'll be set. I couldn't tell ya why it works, but it does. Just stop thinking so hard and be a dummy. It works ;)
There's a video on here of a girl masterbating. I've reported it many times but keep it saved just to see if it EVER gets taken down. So far, no. So I find a lot of youtubers issues with other videos (esp when unprovoked/not reported) utterly ridiculous.
TH-cam is absolutely awful when it comes to copyright claims. There's not enough humans behind the screen for support :c
Another reason why I don't want work be automated into oblivion.
If you make your own music and upload that it seems to work ok. Not many views unless yougo viral but no claims at least 😋
TH-cam can't intervene with copyright claims because of how laws are set up. If TH-cam ever takes a side on a claim, TH-cam is saying "we are responsible for copyright issues", which then means corporations can sue TH-cam for anyone's upload. The limp automation is so they can say "we don't know, we don't handle that, you deal with it we've given you the tools, it's between you and them not us". Having said that, one addition to the system I would love is when a claim is made, evidence of ownership should be provided as part of the claim. At the very least we can show it's a total BS claim (which many claims are). You gotta know how to work around it. Keep videos under 10 hours so you can trim out any portion that gets claimed. Only ever use royalty free music from trustworthy sources. NEVER use footage from another creator no matter how small of an amount. Use screenshots if visual reference is necessary.
Look what happened with that QuantumTV douchebag.
So true.
@@camelopardalis84 like you have a choice, adorable
TH-cam is really horrible about a lot of stuff concerning creators.
We would watch a video on NFTs. Just because Dan Olsen and Münecat made them doesn't mean you can't. If anything, it means the audience is there. When someone watches Line Goes Up, your video can get recommended right after. Don't be afraid of a topic just because someone else did it too. You don't have to do it "better", you just have to do it your way.
Especially if it is shorter! Line goes up is great, but the 2h heavy content might put off some viewers
Absolutely! Everyone has their own interesting take on it.
I'm extremely disappointed in Paulo and it sucks that he'd punch down like that. If anything, other creators especially should recognize and look to support fellow creators wherever possible.
I'd heard that a couple of youtubers in Japan disliked him and assumed it was just sour grapes. Apparently not, that sucks.
Me too. I don't really watch his videos but that seems so rude.
Yeah, I've heard from multiple people that he's kinda scummy. Not surprising that he did this.
Damn, same. I watch his videos and I'm super disappointed.
What did Paulo do?
Thanks for making this, everything you've said so far (we haven't finished the video yet) rings true. It's simultaneously fulfilling yet exhausting. Trying to find the balance between making something we're passionate about / proud of and something the almighty algorithm will reward (and not demonetize) is a constant source of stress.
We subbed to you ever since your Japan video blew up and have been happy to see you continue to share your insight, we hope you don't get too discouraged with all this mess!
Have you ever thought about how weird it is that human beings (both content creators and consumers) are modifying their behaviour to gain favor with a.... what is effectively a computer program (i.e. "the algorithm")? I mean in theory, the algorithm is supposed to be modeled after human behaviour, right? Otherwise it wouldn't work. But somewhere down the line they realized that they don't actually need to make the algorithm accurate because _we will make it accurate by changing OURSELVES to fit it's image of us, given that there is a monetary reason to do so!_ Doesn't that seem a little problematic to you? I can imagine the eventual logical conclusion of this behaviour and it's uhh.. not good. But even if nothing bad happens (it will though), doesn't this seem really, really backwards? Shouldn't technology be made to fit us instead of the other way around? This just feels dystopian in a hypercapitalist sort of way.. where our humanity is inconsequential and we are nothing but numbers on a spreadsheet. Not sure I love it :|
The current format of TH-cam totally does not reward super high quality rare videos without an existing foundation. Spending 6 months on a video makes an amazing product that often blows a lot of the competition out of the water, but it's short lived. Even if you get a few million views, that's only gonna cover a month or two of rent. It doesn't cover the 6 months you spent on it. One thing that does work is a ton of lower quality evergreen guide videos. Once you get a few hundred guide videos that are all drip-feeding views constantly, then those start paying rent and you have more freedom to work on bigger things. And content already existing on TH-cam shouldn't stop you from making something similar but at lower quality. There might already be a review on a laptop, but no one would review it exactly the same, and there's an audience who doesn't like high production values anyway because it feels overproduced and they just want a person talking about it. Also on TH-cam, functionally laws don't matter because they have to be hands off. Fair use doesn't exist until you go to court and you just have to use every tool you can to avoid issues. A claim comes in? Use the editor and just trim it out. It makes the video worse but if anyone complains you just say "it was a copyright claim and I got rent to pay". I'd keep a backup of the 'definitive version' of the video, but on TH-cam, ruthlessly trim any claim out. Disputing will not work; appealing will not help, and letting a video be demonetised or claimed only encourages the parasites.
I would watch your video on how being a TH-cam creator works, if you're interested in making it. That was brilliant and informative.
@@biguattipoptropica I'm glad you found it useful! I like giving free advice, it's just usually once I explain how things work people get discouraged and give up haha.
@@GamerZakh I've seen several other ways to succeed at TH-cam, so yours isn't discouraging to me, it's just the fastest and most likely to succeed. But I know how each works because I'm interested in marketing, which seems to be a black hole for a lot of newer TH-camrs (and raised a lot of red flags for me in the initial video).
I think it’s really unfair how TH-cam treats smaller channels, you basically need a lawyer to deal with their broken copyright system but they also punish posting infrequently, making short videos, basically the entire system is set up for pumping out quantity over quality.
In the case of Contra, I think she has purposely isolated herself publicly from other creators to spare them the nightmare of being cancelled by association. Contra is being cancelled every 5 months. Many creators got really scared after Lindsey was driven out of TH-cam. We can say all we want about breadtube (and I love all of you guys’ content) but our house is not in order.
I totally agree with this whole sentiment.
Yeah, like kind of odd to use Contra there who made a point to point out the harassment that creators she worked with getting thrashed and even those who had given friends of hers support. That whole debacle in the last 3 years had really put the breaks on those bigger creators promoting others. Like Contra expressed great distress and hurt at the smaller folks who got caught up in the cancelling and she seems to not want to see that happen. Even with what happened to Kat Blaque recently.
@@Akasha6915 what did she say that was bad
@@skyhappy she hates Africans. REALLY hates them.
@@skyhappy check out her cancelling video where she addresses everything
honestly every time salari releases a video i remember how grateful i am to get this kind of insightful analysis for free
I'm not a youtuber, but I am self employed and I relate so hard to a lot of this. The stress, the instability, the self doubt. I love your videos Salari!
As someone who is queer, fat, and making videos primarily about polyamory, I am very much in the "not advertiser friendly" crowd. I find TH-cam frustrating at times as much as I love making videos. Being a small creator is a lot of work and I make the majority of my money for it now through Patreon rather than directly through TH-cam itself. I could probably make more if I kept all the ads on and more aggressively followed trends but...that isn't what I want associated with my channel.
Thank you for talking about this and for giving me a ride on the Boost Bus! Its very cozy!
Your channel seems cool. Just subscribed.
@@Kay-kg6ny thank you!!
I don’t get people expecting TH-cam videos being movie level produced. If someone’s sitting in front of their phone saying interesting things, I’m there.
Same
As a similar 'low-level' creator, I strongly resonate with this video and the issues raised. This is both highly rewarding to hear in another voice and.... stressful to listen to. Best of luck to you!
As a so called "low-level" creator, you have done so much to help me in my game development journey. I may even actually release a game in the next couple of years, in part thanks to your work. side note, I cannot deal with your sexy accent😅.
Glad to hear it. Best of luck to you.
My accent meanwhile is as much a blessing as it is a curse. 👍
I know it's easier for a random internet stranger to say, but I wouldn't rule out "repeat" videos if you're truly interested in a subject. Like the NFT example, munecat also made a great NFT video after FoldingIdeas/Dan and I've rewatched hers more than his, because I'm interested in *her* take specifically. As a viewer who tends to subscribe nearly forever to channels I like (I'm not a casual viewer who uses TH-cam like background noise or a babysitter, essentially), I like to hear exploration of subjects from individual creators, since they usually have their own perspective since it's them.
I'll even watch someone's take on an "old" topic because I might not have had the free time to engage with a topic when it was "hot", I may be in the mood for it, and time is just an illusion.
Edit to add: ...and I've just lost respect for MattPatt for working with SuperBam lol
I honestly am more likely to put on repeat videos, long form content unless it's super adhd I'll put on while I'm playing a game or I'll play it at x2 speed yknow. there's people who put them on while drawing. I think he'd be surprised by how they do
i forgot that matpat exists
I have lost all my respect for MattPatt as well... I won't watch him ever again.
That works really well if you have a different perspective from the original, and the subject already has a substantial amount of attention. Munecat's NFT video focused primarily on cultural and political impact, while Dan's focused more on technology and economics. They complemented each other well, and I've rewatched and recommended both of them.
I'm also reminded of the flood of critique/essay videos discussing Bo Burnham's _Inside_ and how many creators got breakthrough numbers of views as a result of that bandwagon (FD Signifier comes immediately to mind, and he definitely deserved the views).
I actually prefer to have few different viewpoints on the same topic from people who I subscribe to. I feel like it gives a more rounded picture of whatever I'm interested in.
Calling them parasitic is right! It's exactly the same in art communities, anytime you see a boost thread(just like you here) it is smaller creators shuffling each other into the limelight, but you can barely see larger artists ever retweeting smaller artists. There's this hierarchy going around and larger artists NEVER want to admit it's there.
To even add on to this, anytime there are art hashtags even if they have hundreds of thousands of followers(which doesn't guarantee engagement I know) you can see the same popular artists at the top of the tags!
Exactly my thought!
This is insanity, just like the rest of society they pretend their isn't an hierarchy. That's gotta be annoying.
There was also a big thing back in 2020 where there was an artistunder10k hashtag or something so smaller artists had a place to go, but then the bigger artists used it even though they were asked to stop and it just ruined the whole reason for the tag.
Pretty sure they were just tacking on the most popular hashtags blindly, but still.
@@shickzander and then we had to make an under5k and 2k hashtags to finally weed them out and half the time it still didn't work
i think it is especially hard for an essay channels, since every video is about a new topic and you can never be sure if your audience will like it (plus the insane amount of work going into it). I cannot imagine how you all do it
Great video! As a medium-sized TH-camr currently making the silver play button a one year goal I found this terrifying. Hopefully we can make things better for each other as a community, since it seems TH-cam doesn't give a shit about us
I know it sucks, but we are far from being medium sized :D 100K is considered micro influencer
You should do the merch. It’s not selling out, it’s a fun way for subscribers to publicly advertise for you, support you financially, recognise each other in the real world and hopefully buy t shirts or whatever that are ethically sourced. Just chuck your logo on a few things, your subscribers will help out with any favourite catchphrases they want on merch. Commentary videos are an entirely new form of media, and I hope this is just a transition period before capitalism can properly compensate the talent online as we do with tv or movie stars now. But like the music industry, public performances and merch are the future of earning money through art - earning money can no longer necessarily come from the art itself.
Unless we get rid of capitalism. That’s a pretty worthwhile goal too 😊
Or his cat :)
Bad part about merch is that it can cost more than it's worth, it's a lot of headache for a low % profit many times
@@PedroMiguel-zv3fj And when the craze is over, it can wind up in a landfill.
I feel like sponsored ads are way more "selling out" than producing your own merch (unless it's produced in China by kids).
I genuinely hate this whole "Yes I, too, use this product that is made by the biggest company in that field. It's just a coincidence that the most expensive thing is the best thing and that I advocate for it"-Spiel.
That being said, I absolutely understand why content creators depend on them and I don't criticize them for taking sponsorships.
I criticize the necessity of it.
God how I despise capitalism.
Everything it touches becomes a toxic swamp.
Agreed re: merch. And yes it can be a huge headache to set up like Pedro said in this thread, but if you have an artist you would like to work with who wants to run the shop (and enjoys sorting out that side of things and may be more experienced) you could go half on the profits or something? I don't know in detail how it works but PressHeartToContinue/Dodger started doing that a really long time ago I think. She's been on youtube and I think is still on Twitch. For any 'side-business' like that she generally has someone she's working with experienced in that business type.
I agree with 95% of this, where I get uncertain is calling out creators like Contra who have gone through some serious issues with harrassment and has on her patreon AMA agonised about whether promoting other creators would direct a lot of hate to people who don't have the support established to deal with it. I understand the anguish though, these are creators who got in early enough to avoid the more complex and punishing algorithms that are now at play. The agony/ecstasy of the creative process becoming numbed over time until they hit the dreaded "10 year" anniversary and they dissappear due to algorithm or audience apathy, richer in money but poorer at what made them who they were. No creator holds the spotlight indefinitely, its a small amount of comforting schadenfreude and discomforting realisation.
I think he was just trying to use a big name to make his point, but yeah, it was a bit of an unfortunate choice.
I love the catharsis in this video
Someone else copyright claiming your entire video essay for like a minute of transformative content.... That is so scummy! I hope you are able to get your rights back eventually, I would be so upset if that happened to something I put so much effort into :(
It's a complicated issue because it becomes a question of value. For example, using 10 seconds of a Lady Gaga song on a 2 hour video might be a case where those 10 seconds are worth more than the rest of the 2 hours, so a claim would be justifiable. Unfortunately, that can only officially be proven or disproven in court, which most creators can't afford to do, so what you gotta do is just trim out the claimed portion to remove the claim and have a weird rough cut in your video.
I relate to so much of this. I’ve been at this game for 15 years, currently on my one of my longer hiatuses. I plan on telling my story soon. Glad to have found this channel.
With regard to videos getting hit in some way, from copyright claims to demonetization to blocked, it feels like a war of attrition.
I've had a handful of videos get flagged, and most have been fine after manual review, but there's a couple that stayed demonetized. Even the ones that have been manually reviewed before and put back into green status aren't safe. I think I have a couple videos that were flagged, manually reviewed and fine, but then flagged again, and are now permanently deemed advertiser unfriendly.
I can't shake the feeling that at some point, I'll lose everything that comes with monetization status for the majority of videos. It's just inevitable at some point.
i'm not even that interested in videogames, but that video about which characters are tops/bottoms sounds so intriguing.
Mainly just commenting for the algorithm, but I really appreciate your videos, they're always thoughtful and well argued. Can't wait for the next one!
The thing with Patreon is, there's like 20+ creators I'd love to support, but who can afford that :D And supporting someone with 1€ a month seems almost insulting, though I realize that it just takes a lot of people giving very little to afford you a safe income.
oh man, I was going through all of this BEFORE having a baby and getting a bout of anemia
Very brave to talk about Shrek despite the censors. No but in all seriousness, I really appreciated your insight here. As I've got a channel myself that's just hitting some success, I'm starting to feel the added burden of all the uncertainty that comes with TH-cam. I like how you explain the nuance of loving this job while struggling to swallow all the issues, the powerlessness, and everything else. Love your vids and all your work
Honestly I could never do this, it's like owning a small business, but if the street your store is in tilts sideways constantly at random intervals, the goods you need to make your product vary dramatically in price from one month to the other and your hair spontaneously catches on fire on some days. Way too much uncertainty.
The Japanese loneliness vid was the first vid of yours I ever saw. I subbed instantly. It really is a beautifully made video, the time & care you spent on it absolutely shows. 👍🏼
I love your channel because of your brutal honesty and down to Earth attitude. And your cat is majestic.
Thank you for being you, Salari
33:53 Algospeak
This video is breaking my heart and literally as I am watching this am writing my 1st script that I am going to try to make a video out of (Algospeak) and how it is negatively effecting language, suppressing minority groups and also becoming a workers rights issue, and you are basically opening my eyes to the reality of doing video essays on this platform. I think Im still going to make this video, but I think I may be wasting my talents trying to pursue seriously creating content outside of just making purely passion projects.
i love your couch and your mic. i hope lots of rich people give you presents and that you accept them.
100% agree with you - so happy about your honesty. Your videos are so refreshing and exactly what we need on here. I know it must be exhausting but you are really changing the game out here. Keep pushing and I will support in anyway that I can!!
The video about loneliness in Japan was the first video of you I watched. I found a link on tumblr where someone had collected a bunch of great TH-cam videos. And it wasn’t just my first video by you, it was pretty much my introduction to watching TH-cam regularly in general. Before that video I had never watched any video essays and hardly any documentaries, now I do it all the time thanks to you and found some amazing TH-camrs. So thanks a lot for expanding my world and for your amazing videos of course
I thought this video would be about resigning from youtube like I've seen so many other great video-essayists do in the past; I'm so glad that it's not. Thank you for deciding to persevere through the struggles of being a small creator to bring quality content to youtube.
We will keep supporting you no matter what
thanks for being transparent not only on the issues of content creating but your mental health as well. it's comforting to hear about since i'm having issues with my own as well. wishing you well on your journey and thanks for making high level and well researched content
I think I've seen 1 or 2 of Paolo's videos but yeah, never clicking on his videos again. 30:45 was hilarious btw 😂
As always, a personal, honest, and appreciated video from you, with very well made points. I'm glad that through it all, you like what you do, it's just unfortunate that it has to be such a stressful struggle. You'll have another patron back soon, since I'm now more stable financially, I think you're worth supporting!
I first avoided watching your "Why are japanese so lonely?" video, because I legit thought that the video was made by Vox or PBS or something like that. The thumbnail gave that kind of vibe.
This wasn't meant as a diss. Also, I really like your ✨aestethic✨ in your videos.
People really need to check their subscriptions rather than their recommended. I don’t have notifications turned on for anyone I’m subscribed to but I never miss any videos because I always check my subscriptions before recommended.
thank you for making this, it hit home on so many levels
"There is alot of wierd Shrek stuff out there... so maybe that's a good call."
That's pretty for real. The things my eyes have witnessed cannot be explained or unseen.
As someone who can afford to do TH-cam as a hobby, I still feel this to my core. Mainly because I want to get more views and subs, but it's so hard, and it never goes anywhere, and you'd assume someone who's a hobbyist like me wouldn't care but god it sucks, putting in so much work to barely get any recognition, or being forced to only talk about one thing, it's all so tiring.
Your point on supporting smaller creators means so much to me, because you're right, not a lot of bigger creators do anything, I only know ONE big creator personally in my niche field of TH-cam, and he's helped me out sooooo much, it's insane how friendly and noncompetitive his vibes are, and I try to do the same myself for others, tho I guess a difference between 2k-ish and 500 isn't too much, I still wanna help out others.
The expectation to pump out content all the time is exhausting, especially for those suffering from mental health, I personally have very low energy and it's hell seeing others in my field instantly pump out stuff the moment new information is revealed.
I always watch your stuff, and I really liked the nostalgia video too, as nostalgia hits very home to me, I'm sorry this is my first comment ever, I sort of assumed you would be okay with a 100k followers, as that seems like soooooooo much, when I think of that number I think of people would can just grow no problem, but I'm glad your opened my eyes to the reality and I'll try my best to comment from now on, even if it is just a small one.
This hit much closer to home than I expected. Thank you for your videos
I'm sorry that growing your channel has been difficult at times!! I always enjoy your videos and your perspectives. Hope stuff can get easier soon
This is an incredible video. Your points are very valid and it was an enjoyable watch!
I feel like, it's so hard seeing people get huge with low effort content - like if I started shaking my ass and making tiktoks I KNOW I'D GET SOMEWHERE. I HAVE A NICE ASS. But that's not what I wanna do, I wanna do my art videos and farm vlogs and I put so much effort into them and I get almost nowhere. Which is fine, nobody OWES me anything. But it still hurts, it still feeds into this feeling that I'm not good enough - but I know I'm good at what I do. Maybe I need to pace things better, I don't know - the algorithm being so intangible makes it really hard to know what I'M DOING WRONG. It feels like a lot of it is just luck, honestly. The not knowing is the hardest part.
As a creator who's been working on this stuff for 8 years chasing trends and always being behind the wave, it's been hard to fight intense feelings of jealousy. I was making 40-minute gaming essays before most anyone else was in 2014, but then Joseph Anderson and Noah Caldwell-Gervais get huge with videos that are much simpler than mine. I wasn't at the right place or the right time and I still haven't gotten to that coveted "Full-time TH-camr" position. In just this year alone my channel has tripled in size because of a long review that I really didn't expect to take off at all while the review immediately afterward on a much more popular release that I really enjoyed putting together did a fraction of the views. It's a struggle to do the whole "some for you and some for me" bit.
Some day. Some day, I suppose.
I always love your videos. The ones you mentioned as your pet projects but not so well received have actually been my favorites, and thank you for expressing the struggle of small creators!
I could honestly watch all of your videos 100 times. Your topics are all in my interest and you are a wonderful human. Never give up, but dont hurt yourself with crushing deadlines and whatnot, make videos when you feel creative and inspired! Cheers from Minnesota
I really love all your videos. It's heartbreaking to hear about the situation with your "Neon Loneliness" video, as that's one of my favorites.
Keep it up, and I know you'll be huge one day.
I've seen so many creators get discouraged because of copy right claims I really hope it gets improved one day
your videos have helped me a lot, thank you for your tireless work
I’ve been watching you for almost a year and I’ve always looked forward to seeing a new video from you in my feed it really has helped make my day and I do share them with friends if I know they’ll find it interesting. I’m sorry it’s so stressful but I’m glad you’re speaking out
oh gosh, i do wish you didn't have to deal with people telling you how to do your job. i wouldn't have thought you needed "better" equipment because i do think you have improved a lot over the time i have been watching you. i'm in between places right now, but yours is the first channel i wanna support when I can! i think your topics are interesting, and even the "depressing" ones are insightful and even hopeful where you can be. thanks for all the work you do!
I am SO GLAD you just openly talked about why big-name youtubers don't simply boost smaller ones. I'm not a youtuber, but as an audience member and a huge fan of a lot of extremely successful breadtubers, I have CONSTANTLY wondered why they don't at least sometimes do that...
In any case, it's incredible to see more youtubers beginning to talk about these topics and address the complexities and profound frustration behind the profession. More needs to be done and it never will be unless more people indicate just how much is at stake like you've done here
This was amazing. I’m really going to be digesting this for the next few days. THANK YOU!
Thank you for creating such informative and entertaining content! I look forward to seeing every new video posted from you. I understand your frustration and anxiety about the way TH-cam operates. It seems very unfair to smaller creators.
And I love the tie!
Imagine if TH-cam enforced anti-harassment the way it does copy law. Love your content, sorry to hear you’re burning out! One key piece of burnout is feeling powerless. YT (Google) has made the perfect burnout system for its creators. Are there any alternatives for creators?
I know a lot of breadtubers are going onto Nebula.
Edited spelling.
Imagine if yt enforced anti spam the way it does copy law. Imagine if all those billion bots spamming nft or crypto scams with various grammar quirks to avoid filters... would just get instantly deleted and the accounts banned
@@rhythmandblues_alibi I've heard about Nebula through a channel I watch called Second Thought. Can't say I know much about Nebula though.
@@AIContentAcademy yeah me neither. I think it's a subscription platform that basically treats creators better than youtube? And I think creators usually make some content exclusively for Nebula. It's hard to justify paying for yet another subscription service tho 😓
@@rhythmandblues_alibi it says Nebula costs $5/month. I can't imagine they charge their content creators though, could they?
With all due respect, while I 100p get the sentiment in regards to larger creators using their platforms to boost smaller ones, it's less to do with monopolizing their audience and keeping away from competition -- the risk of putting smaller creators at risk of harassment, doxxing, or something along those lines goes hand in hand with that, especially if the larger creator is known to be controversial (and they often are).
I've followed a lot of the larger breadtube creators you mentioned in this video from when they were small and unknown, many of them were much more generous with their attention and support to fellow creators, but the social politics gets fraught the larger not only their followership becomes, but also their anti-fanbase. The devoted hate followers will often attack any periphery association to ensure isolation and a continued 'toxic' status, punishing for any kind of solidarity.
it's something larger creators have the resources to withstand, but smaller ones do not. It's completely understandable why the larger a content creator becomes, the more they consolidate their attention.
I'm a content creator myself (this is an anon account) who got some notoriety at one point and this is exactly my reasoning why I eventually stopped associating with my community and started keeping my personal social media platforms exclusively just to my content. The management of online parasocial politics effected my mental health severely and radically changed my relationship to creating. I didn't create to feel responsible and scared about if giving attention to someone I want to support will ruin their month or damage their reputation, or in turn if someone associating with me goes off the deep end and I have to be responsible in responding to that. I simply want to create.
There's freedom in smaller creators boosting each other, I miss those days, but there comes a level where there's a lot of unseen animosity that needs to be accounted in the calculation.
I agree with this take surprisingly, I don't think it means you all should stop platforming each other but I definitely see how harsh the toxic community could be. Hopefully you can work together with your audience to call out the actors who bring this type of negativity around.
Don't let them send you into hiding. Just trying to be supportive. This is ofcourse my own opinion.
@@donavanj.1992 Oh, I agree. I don't mean to imply 'give up completely' in supporting others... just that your calculation really, really changes, and the caution and consideration of factors you have to take is considerable.
I personally found other ways to support other creators, like anonymously donating to them or boosting them from anon accounts, but as for my personal expression for the sake of my own health I've disconnected from the community to refocus on myself. I never needed a community to begin with, I'm extremely introverted and I enjoy creating in isolation, so I'm not bothered, but it weighs on me if I'm dragged into toxic paraosocial politics (from either direction) because I know I don't have the emotional capacity to handle it very well and I don't like how it detracts from the attention I want to give to my own creative ventures.
Thanks for the support though and for understanding the POV. Just think it's important to consider, since Saliari asked "I don't understand why" -- well, this is a reason. shrug.
@@prestine2 Wow, it's so crazy. I've thought of being a content creator myself so this is a very important insight into that life and how we can help each other and what to look out for. Thank you. Stay mentally healthy also, you and Salari! 🤗
I really enjoy the variety of your videos. Even when I haven't been interested in a certain topic before, I try to give it a watch anyways.
I love the raw honesty you show in many of your videos. There is a time and place to offer information and insight and there is a time and place for empathy and allowing for strangers online to offer each other a morsel of human connection and support. And you are trying, very hard at that. Allow me to give some of it back, even if its just this:
"I see you and your struggle. It is valid, worthwhile and helps people. You are a beautiful person and deserve to find more reasons to believe in yourself. You deserve to see yourself as the lovable and inherently valuablethe being, you allow your audience - us - to see you as. You deserve to not be told to be strong, but to be able to show and talk about your weakness, as it too is a source of your strength. I'm proud of you and what you're doing."
Great vid, man. I've been a TH-camr, writer, and creator for a while now, and I definitely get it. Like you said, one of the biggest things is creators supporting each other. I started a podcast where I interview authors, and surprisingly, it's the same thing when it comes to authors as well as podcasters. In my TH-cam hayday, I was making 2-3 videos per day to make a decent income, and it was rough.
I feel the reason why bigger creators don't help out others is because they themselves are afraid of becoming irrelevant/losing subscribers/losing views to someone else. It's the crabs in a bucket mentality.
This really isn't a zero sum game, but it's really hard to shake a mentality that's hard-wired into Capitalism, late stage or otherwise.
Yeah. I think it's sometimes that, and sometimes that they don't want to pass some of the heat/criticism they get onto smaller creators.
Thanks for sharing the nuances of being a small youtuber, I love your content and the insight you bring to the world. I just became a Patreon to support you in what ways I can. All the best, and keep striving for the great work that you do ~
wow Paolo being so hard on this was surprising.. basically became Japanese in the way he strikes
I honestly had no clue either. His content seems so... tame? I like the respect he shows the workers and never questioned him not bringing up the fact that they're so overworked which, while true, I get what he doesn't talk about. But the striking thing? That sucks and is mad lame.
Great video as always. I first found your channel from that video on loneliness. As a Japanophile and certified weeb I tend to consume a lot of videos on Japan, but I've always passed on any of Paolo's videos that were recommended to me. To me he just feels very shifty and his videos only want to capitalise on how exotic Japan is to the western audience. Now I know my gut feeling was right.
Eff you, Paolo.
Thank you for making this video and being so honest. Doing TH-cam professionally is VERY hard and so different from what it used to be at the beginning, and I think more people need to acknowledge this.
thank you for making this video! It was really eye-opening to see the amount of work that goes behind your content. You deserve so much more views for your content 🥺
As a tiny creator, yes to all this! It can be so stressful, especially if you want to make content of a certain quality. I keep going because I love editing and see people gain something from my videos. But I've dreamt about quitting more than once. Much of the audience really doesn't understand how much goes into it.
Was utterly hit in the face and laughed my ass off when the FFXIV top bottom mention came up, not only because you are 100% correct (that line in Endwalker where Sadu mentions the women of the Eorzean alliance keep giving her their linkpearl info had me dying, I love this iconic lesbian) but also because I was currently in a deep dive playing it. I would kill for that video to be made lol.
And I have to say, while I'm no youtube creator of any kind - hell, even AS a creative person who creates art and writing; the closest to 'fame' I've ever had to deal with was barely anything in comparison... So I can't really offer anything that could ever be legitimately groundbreaking to the topic. But I am very glad that it seems like a growing number of people are being honest and open about what they deal with when it comes to TH-cam. Both from a transparency aspect and in an effort to prioritize their health, mental and physical alike.
I've seen dozens of people who I admire nearly have their livelihoods destroyed or heavily impacted because of algorithms, and man it sucks. TH-cam, twitter... it's just everywhere now. Streamers forced to edit links to make sure their posts get the most traction, people looking for mutual aid donations forced to censor everything so people see it, artists who have to beg people in comments or replies to not say 'I need this on a t-shirt' so that a bot doesn't swoop in and steal their artwork, reposters and people who steal others' work too.
And I'm finding more and more that the endless reduction of everything down to "content" just makes people (even me) feel soulless. To me it's like the same sort of feeling as when people see you have a skill and ask how you're going to monetize it.
I don't want to 'make content', I want to make art. I want to write and talk about the things I love, not have people breathe down my neck about how I should be going about it a different way to 'drive up engagement' and 'get tons of attention'. I don't need those. But actually having your livelihood and monetary safety ride on these algorithms and engagement..? It sounds soul crushing, and I'm glad many people I respect are finally opening up about it.
Much appreciation, thank you for all the hard work you put out, and here's to hoping that someday, sometime, things won't have to be so hard for everyone.
Love seeing all the other channels I watch comment here.
But also, Salari, know that your voice is great as-is. The calm quality of it creates a *chef's kiss* contrast with the often over-saturated quality of the topics you discuss. In a media landscape that all too often rewards the bright and flashy, the loud and bombastic, it is lovely to turn in to am honest and candidate channel that speaks openly about struggles and in a way that, at least to me, reflect who you are.
Thanks for pouring yourself into this channel. I feel like I am better informed and well rounded because of it.
Thank you, Salari. you videos are really one the ones I watch on a regular basis. I'll do my best to support you more.
Overall I found this a super great video; I've noticed a lot of young people aim to do youtube to streaming over a traditional job, and personally I've always felt like these types of jobs are harder than most normal jobs? There is no consistent pay, your success is dependent on factors you cannot control (algorithm, ad rates, luck of if you chose a good topic or released at the right time), in the US the taxes you pay are so incredibly high, plus no matter how big or small you are people are SO rude to creators in the comments. I'll see videos with 1k views with 14 comments and there will still be 1 - 2 rude ones. A lot of early youtubers got rich off doing undisclosed ads/promo codes and that isn't the nature of the job anymore + there was just less competition when the platform wasn't as popular. The only time I can see this being a reasonable career goal is if a person has no other job opportunities (situation where they cannot get a traditional job or their only options are like min wage retail) and they have thick skin to deal with the disappointment when a video flops or people are rude.
I've noticed over the years some big creators I follow that used to post youtube videos they found cool/interesting have all stopped. I dont think they all collectively decided "forget these little guys, I need to hoard more wealth for myself," I think the way online harassment has evolved and become so extreme on social media it has caused most people to close themselves off. (For example, an artist I follow almost completely stopped posting after she posted a pic walking her dog and someone commented they recognize the park she was in and they were going to come kill her dog- that was most likely an empty threat (maybe) but I'm sure it's still a terrifying thing to have a person say to you)
To expand on the point.... I don't think hbomberguy or contrapoints worry if they boost someone with 500 followers that person is going to dethrone them. They are set for life as you said and I dont think they're so stupid they think promo'ing a small creator will suddenly damage their viewership. I have always thought this was a case of accountability. With your boost bus, strangers message you a resume and you choose based off the info they present/what research you can do on them. But at the end of the day, you don't know these people - which is fine. it's the nature of what it is. It might happen someday you boost someone and a year later they come out as a terf or say something racist or just do something really awful. And that's not your fault, you have no way of knowing, you were just boosting someone based on the work they presented you.
But for someone with a massive following, they run the risk of ridiculous amounts of harassment; if they boost someone and later down the road that person says something offensive or like a clip comes out of the person saying a slur, the internet WILL use that as ammunition to attack the bigger creator for "supporting" this type of behavior. A "guilty by association" (no matter how loose the association is) is a common tactic used to harass people. I think most reasonable people can tell this type of argument is dumb, however people who harass creators are doing so because they dont like the person and will add anything to their laundry list of why a creator is a "bad person" and deserves to be harassed.
You'll notice the bigger a creator gets, the less social/public they become, because anything they do or say immediately invites people to harass them. No amount of financial success will take away the extreme mental toll of ongoing targeted online harassment no matter what you do. These creators all post sparingly and only seem to publicly associate with others in their "circle" and I've always taken that as part of their defense against endless harassment and random people wanting to take advantage of them. And on the flip side of this, promo'ing someone can also lead to the bigger creators harassers going to attack a smaller creator- I don't think anyone wants to put a target on someone else's back.
This is the other side of being a youtuber that makes the job unappealing. Say you make it, you get 1 million followers (or whatever number counts as making it on youtube). But it's at the cost of never being able to speak freely and knowing everything you say will cause some niche group dedicated to hating you to immediately jump up and explain how this new statement makes you an even worse person. And there's the argument of well you're rich just making youtube videos so deal with it! But we're all humans and I dont think any human is meant to handle that kind of targeted vitriol no matter how much support or money they get.
Sorry this is a long reply, I just thought I'd toss it out there cuz I thought it was a noteworthy point on the topic. I am not saying "big creators have it HARDER than small" cuz if one had to choose between being broke and stressed vs being rich and harassed, I'd still take the rich option, at least then I'd have a nice house and healthcare. And I do not think your statement makes you sound "jealous" of them, your frustration of being a smaller creator is valid and I get why one would argue boosting smaller, struggling creators is more important than a massively successful rich person's apprehensions on backlash. I guess my thought is both ends of the spectrum kind of suck in their own way and I do understand why bigger creators feel the need to keep to themselves.
Well said!
Also re: that artist who stopped posting bc of the threat to her dog: GAWD, people are vile. This is a terrifying time to have a public platform no matter how small.
Upvote the video ideas: what final fantasy characters are top or bottoms and why, finding meaning in the meaninglessness (I've been thinking about this a lot lately), and defending ideas in a world that doesn't give a ****.
Physolophy Tube talked about their budget and revenue in an interview with The Finantial Diet.
I like seeing the microphone in the video 😅, I don't know, it goes along with the aesthetic of the videos, along with your suits.
Edit: I don't click on the recommended by the algorythm, but if another TH-camr I am suscribed to recommends it I go there right away (I just subbed to Mainly Mandy after you boosted them, and Mandy shouted out Beebee Hives so I just suscribed to them too).
I Love your vídeos! And I watch them on repeat! Thank you!!
Thanks for such a thoughtful video.
I appreciated hearing your take.
It's disheartening to see that our system really doesn't reward effort and heart put into one's work...
And it's almost funny how almost no video TH-cam recommends to me is one I'll actually be interested about. Most of my subscriptions have been suggestions from other channels I watch.
(the cat is so lovely!
I started streaming back in October of 2021. After eight months, I'm only at 25 followers. The burnout is real and so is the feeling of failure. I never expected some gigantic audience, especially considering how saturated the market is, but not even being able to hit affiliate (for whatever that's actually worth) in 3/4 of a year is painfully demoralizing. I still stream for fun, but it takes a lot of energy for me to even set things up anymore.
Also, please make that Nier Automata video. I'd watch the hell out of that.
Well said... and as someone still grinding to hit their first 1000, it is nice to get a more realistic peek at a possible future.
thank you for talking about this, your thoughts are rational and cogent and i’ve always appreciated your viewpoint. thank you
I watched a few of Paolo in Tokyo's videos and lost interest pretty fast. Really enjoyed your section about copyright and fair use. Learned some really interesting things. Cheers!
I watched a few too, and it always bothered me how uncritical he is. I feel it leans on propaganda, makes me wonder what is his motive.
I’ve wanted to do TH-cam videos in semi long form content for a while and I’ve heard similar things that you all pointed out many times over from other creators. It’s kept me at bay from starting it, regardless of my excitement on the subjects I want to cover. That said this video helped me more than hindered, it allowed me an understanding of what to expect, and how to prepare for it. Im so glad you haven’t given up since your videos are so well crafted and I love them all. Be well and I can’t wait for the next one.
Thanks bud, this video highlights much of what I feel daily. A constant uphill battle against the algorithm deity and mental health, while the people around you either offer a token congratulations, as they can't really relate to what you do, or tell you to get a real job.
It hits the nail directly on the head, in the closest way possible
Cool tie... and cat, the cat is very nice.
That’s so shitty. Were you able to talk to him? I’m sorry. I really like your channel, but I know the algorithm is a nightmare. I notice sometimes suddenly I no longer see my favorite content creators and I wonder if they just aren’t producing or if they’re being suppressed. Thanks for speaking out in this. People hear you and you are appreciated. But the beast of capitalism is strong and has a gorilla grip hold on all of us until we decide to pushback.
I love your work buddy. Hang in there and take care of yourself!
Thank you for this. I love your content as have been considering making content and this was a perspective I needed to hear.
There's always the Jim Sterling trick they use whenever he has Konami or Nintendo trying to monetize his videos: include a clip from Chains of Love and let'em cancel each other out.
Well yeah but that's okay for them to do because they get £10,000 a month on Patreon. For smaller creators, ad revenue is the difference between paying rent or not.
A thousand dollars for a mic?!?! Mine was $13...
I am horrified by how copyright works on TH-cam.