There’s been enough creators that have had enough problems with YouTube that maybe something could happen. I’m not putting money on it or anything but it wouldn’t be that crazy.
The big names are making insane amount of money. What are they going to strike over? Their working conductions are also entirely up to themselves and have nothing to do with Google. Google gives them a free platform with a massive audience, and pays them money. It’s all upside.
Caleb Hammer just had the tables turned on him to have some audit his finances. He has 726k subscribers, a good number, but far less than the real big names, and he’s only been on the platform for 1 year. He is making $100k per month.
Is everyone here just pro-strike, no reason needed?
You can’t even say the algorithm requires them to post too much to stay relevant, as Mark Rober only posts 1 video per month and is one of the biggest people on the platform.
Some of the video take downs are bull shit. I’m with you on that.
I think I’d need to see a better picture of the value breakdown to know if that’s a reasonable ask. YouTube is extremely expensive to run, and these creators (the big ones) already have more money than they know what to do with. I can’t really feel bad for a 23 year old pulling in 7 figures.
People are free to make videos and post them on their own websites. Where they have to try and figure out how people will find them, get people to check their site for new videos, source all their own ads, or rely only on sponsors (who will be hard to get without an audience), try to get people to sign up to their site for some user engagement, pay all the hosting fees for videos, build the actual website, make sure that site has metrics to sell yourself to sponsors, build a mobile site, probably an app…
All of this not only gets expensive, but makes it much more difficult to get noticed or scale. Maybe if someone is already famous they can pull it off, but for someone who just has an iPhone and a dream… that’s all you need to start on YouTube, and you can make millions.
The “platform” brings insane amounts of value to the table, and is extremely expensive to run. And the reason all the users are there to watch the big creators is that all the other random videos are hosted for free. There is no reason to go anywhere else.
Creators have tried to start their own thing. I see ads for it all the time in their videos. I don’t know anyone who uses those as a viewer. I am curious how it’s working out for the creators.
An empty platform has little value. Hundreds have gotten shut down for this very reason.
Content by and large makes the platform. Not the other way round. Yet the platform soaks up the lions share of the benefit. Leaving most who aren’t whales to see nothing at all. This is the problem google is very complicit with. I’m all for them making enough to sustain the service. I just think they owe far more than they are giving, to the content that made them.
Nebula is great. And is trundling along just fine. It could use some more promotion and love sure. But it’s goals aren’t the same as a behemoth like Google’s. Who’s talents aren’t in creating content, but promoting it.
You’re not wrong, but it seems like more of a symbiotic relationship. The platform wouldn’t exist without the creators, and most of the creators wouldn’t exist without the platform.
Creators would exist without the platform. They always have. But the platform definitely does bring value. The problem is that for a while now, greedy corporations have slowly been pushing the balance so that they received most of the benefit of everyone else’s work. It’s an overarching problem of capitalism that we need to deal with. But have been putting off for 50 to 60 years.
Some would exist, but not at this scale. That’s why I say most wouldn’t exist, some still would.
Once people saw YouTube could be a career with a low barrier to entry, a lot of people gave it a shot who wouldn’t have done it otherwise.
A lot of platforms do this. Crafters who would have never setup a store are on Etsy. Girls who may have worked as a waitress or something are now on OnlyFans. People who may have been hesitant to start a business are using Shopify. If the platform makes it easy enough, and provides a revenue stream, a lot more people will try it out vs doing it on their own.
Creators would exist without the platform. They always have.
Not sure what you mean with this. Youtube has allowed anyone with a camera and an internet connection to put content out in the world. It was completely different back before youtube existed.
Going with what is happening in the SAG/AFTRA strike, perhaps the big names shouldn’t join the strike because they would come across as entitled, but they are more than welcome to donate towards the strike.
Artists, techies, and socialists need to come together. To build a platform focused on sustainability ultimately. Devoid of profit for the sake of profit. And more focused on meeting the needs of their members. No overpriced CEO or board of directors. Or layers of redundant management. Once the service costs are covered. Anything after that could be split somewhat proportionally within strict limits.
A lot of the basic pieces are in place. Torrenting/peer tube for distribution. Modern day royalty free codecs. Realistically the two biggest hurdles are how to monetize responsibly, and bringing people in. It’s something that in one shape or form will always require some small donation of time and resources. And it’s easier to convince someone to join a Ponzi scheme telling them you will make them wealthy. Than it is to get someone to join guaranteeing that you’ll never make them wealthy but you will try to make them secure in their lives.
Benn Jordan, perhaps better known as “The Flashbulb” as an EDM artist, has an excellent YouTube channel. This video dives into some details on how we could get artists paid, and stop getting our art jerked around by corporations. For less than we pay to not get free healthcare healthcare, you could have access to all copyright content, ad free, and artists would be better compensated.
I’m very much pro-union, but meanwhile artists and creators who made that content in the first place are getting fucked by everyone
A YouTube creators’ strike isn’t an impossible notion. It’d just have to be led by a couple of big names, like a Mr. Beast type.
Mr Beast is the result of the trendy gen Z libertarian millionaire pipeline. He will never unionize nor support strikes.
There’s been enough creators that have had enough problems with YouTube that maybe something could happen. I’m not putting money on it or anything but it wouldn’t be that crazy.
The big names are making insane amount of money. What are they going to strike over? Their working conductions are also entirely up to themselves and have nothing to do with Google. Google gives them a free platform with a massive audience, and pays them money. It’s all upside.
Caleb Hammer just had the tables turned on him to have some audit his finances. He has 726k subscribers, a good number, but far less than the real big names, and he’s only been on the platform for 1 year. He is making $100k per month.
Is everyone here just pro-strike, no reason needed?
You can’t even say the algorithm requires them to post too much to stay relevant, as Mark Rober only posts 1 video per month and is one of the biggest people on the platform.
They could argue for
Pretty much like anyone’s top two asks. More money, more security.
Some of the video take downs are bull shit. I’m with you on that.
I think I’d need to see a better picture of the value breakdown to know if that’s a reasonable ask. YouTube is extremely expensive to run, and these creators (the big ones) already have more money than they know what to do with. I can’t really feel bad for a 23 year old pulling in 7 figures.
No, it is not all upside. What has more value. Content people want to watch somehow. Or an empty “platform” that slurps up most of the gains.
I’m not saying there is no value inherent to platform’s. Merely pointing out the disingenuous nature of that argument.
People are free to make videos and post them on their own websites. Where they have to try and figure out how people will find them, get people to check their site for new videos, source all their own ads, or rely only on sponsors (who will be hard to get without an audience), try to get people to sign up to their site for some user engagement, pay all the hosting fees for videos, build the actual website, make sure that site has metrics to sell yourself to sponsors, build a mobile site, probably an app…
All of this not only gets expensive, but makes it much more difficult to get noticed or scale. Maybe if someone is already famous they can pull it off, but for someone who just has an iPhone and a dream… that’s all you need to start on YouTube, and you can make millions.
The “platform” brings insane amounts of value to the table, and is extremely expensive to run. And the reason all the users are there to watch the big creators is that all the other random videos are hosted for free. There is no reason to go anywhere else.
Creators have tried to start their own thing. I see ads for it all the time in their videos. I don’t know anyone who uses those as a viewer. I am curious how it’s working out for the creators.
An empty platform has little value. Hundreds have gotten shut down for this very reason.
Content by and large makes the platform. Not the other way round. Yet the platform soaks up the lions share of the benefit. Leaving most who aren’t whales to see nothing at all. This is the problem google is very complicit with. I’m all for them making enough to sustain the service. I just think they owe far more than they are giving, to the content that made them.
Nebula is great. And is trundling along just fine. It could use some more promotion and love sure. But it’s goals aren’t the same as a behemoth like Google’s. Who’s talents aren’t in creating content, but promoting it.
You’re not wrong, but it seems like more of a symbiotic relationship. The platform wouldn’t exist without the creators, and most of the creators wouldn’t exist without the platform.
Creators would exist without the platform. They always have. But the platform definitely does bring value. The problem is that for a while now, greedy corporations have slowly been pushing the balance so that they received most of the benefit of everyone else’s work. It’s an overarching problem of capitalism that we need to deal with. But have been putting off for 50 to 60 years.
Some would exist, but not at this scale. That’s why I say most wouldn’t exist, some still would.
Once people saw YouTube could be a career with a low barrier to entry, a lot of people gave it a shot who wouldn’t have done it otherwise.
A lot of platforms do this. Crafters who would have never setup a store are on Etsy. Girls who may have worked as a waitress or something are now on OnlyFans. People who may have been hesitant to start a business are using Shopify. If the platform makes it easy enough, and provides a revenue stream, a lot more people will try it out vs doing it on their own.
Not sure what you mean with this. Youtube has allowed anyone with a camera and an internet connection to put content out in the world. It was completely different back before youtube existed.
Going with what is happening in the SAG/AFTRA strike, perhaps the big names shouldn’t join the strike because they would come across as entitled, but they are more than welcome to donate towards the strike.
Artists, techies, and socialists need to come together. To build a platform focused on sustainability ultimately. Devoid of profit for the sake of profit. And more focused on meeting the needs of their members. No overpriced CEO or board of directors. Or layers of redundant management. Once the service costs are covered. Anything after that could be split somewhat proportionally within strict limits.
I’m on board with this idea, but I’m not sure where to start.
A lot of the basic pieces are in place. Torrenting/peer tube for distribution. Modern day royalty free codecs. Realistically the two biggest hurdles are how to monetize responsibly, and bringing people in. It’s something that in one shape or form will always require some small donation of time and resources. And it’s easier to convince someone to join a Ponzi scheme telling them you will make them wealthy. Than it is to get someone to join guaranteeing that you’ll never make them wealthy but you will try to make them secure in their lives.
This already exists, it’s called Nebula
This is a good thread and good comment to throw this up on:
https://youtu.be/PJSTFzhs1O4?si=3SalhKn7wN6dgUpP
Benn Jordan, perhaps better known as “The Flashbulb” as an EDM artist, has an excellent YouTube channel. This video dives into some details on how we could get artists paid, and stop getting our art jerked around by corporations. For less than we pay to not get free healthcare healthcare, you could have access to all copyright content, ad free, and artists would be better compensated.
It’s an idea worth spreading.
Anyone able to chime in on fileshare or w/e the crypto is that gives artists a cut per play? Has been a while since I’ve heard of it.