The Creator Impact
How there is a multi-billion dollar hole in the Creator Economy
So much happened in the last week of the Creator Economy, I did my best to keep it brief in writing, but if you want to sit back and watch a longer breakdown of the stories, come on over to YouTube!
Besides the Creator Economy having a big week, I have to say it was big for me too. Massive growth on the YouTube channel happened. I went from 109 subscribers to now over 15,000 subscribers in a little over a week. So welcome to anyone new from YouTube, or new newsletter signups in general!
David Dobrik Saves A Man’s Life
David Drobrik is known for his 4 minute and 20-sec vlogs that are usually filled with madness. In between the madness, David has done amazing things like giving away cars or giving people like changing money.
The soundtrack in his vlogs is always a huge part of the video, it sets the tone and elevates each scene. However, since music is so important to him, he always uses real songs, or should I say copyrighted songs. He actually admitted on his podcast he hasn’t made any money from YouTube ad sense in years.
In the big emotional moments in his Vlogs, he always comes back to the same song, ‘Show Me What I’m Looking For’ by Carolina Liar. Fans know when you hear the opening bell in the song, something special is about to happen.
Well in a recent episode of David’s Views podcast, his friends end up surprising him with the lead singer of Carolina Liar, Chad Wolf. Chad went on to tell David how he saved his life. His music career was dried up, and he was actually homeless.
He doesn’t say specifically how, but from what I assume, he was able to make a bit of money off of ad revenue from David's videos since it was probably copyright striked. Being in such pivotal moments of the vlogs also helped renewed interest in the band resulting in more streams and having a new audience to tour for again.
Say what you will about David Dobrik, whether you like his videos or not, this is an amazing story that shows the impact a creator can have on so many people’s lives without even knowing.
Hank Green Finds A Sinkhole In The Creator Economy
Hank Green delivered a masterclass on Creator Funds in a video he uploaded late last week.
“When TikTok Becomes More Successful, TikTokers Become Less Successful”
Hank has been a creator for over 15 years, so he’s been through all the changes in how creators monetize, which kinda makes him an expert on this subject. It’s an amazing video I highly recommend watching, I actually put together a 1 min short recapping the entire video in case you don’t have 25 minutes to watch the full version, but it’s completely worth finding the time.
Youtube (at this moment) seems to be is the only one that values its creators because without the content on the platform, you have nothing to place ads in front of… but TikTok argues that without the platform, you don’t have anywhere to put content…
It’s fascinating looking behind the curtain and into what the powers that be are thinking with each platform.
Again go watch Hank’s full video, it helps to understand how there is a multi-billion dollar hole in the creator economy, and everyone is acting like it’s fine but really it’s a massive issue that needs to be addressed.
The Nelk Boys Made $23 Million In 10 Minutes
The Nelk Boys launched their new NFT’s called Metacards and sold all 10,000 cards in 10 minutes. They weren’t cheap either, coming in around 0.75 ETH which is about $2,300. Also don’t forget that $23 million is the floor, they also get a % every time one is traded.
Each NFT will act as a membership to future fan events and experiences, it’s not just a JPEG trading card like most NFTs seem to be. It’s a new model several creators are taking to help deepen their connection with fans, creating basically an exclusive club to be apart of.
Nickmercs always throws a massive MFAM BBQ every year and I know TimTheTatman is working on doing a big tailgate this year also. This is the perfect example of giving the community something awesome to experience, instead of selling normal tickets, you sell access through NFTs that can be used for other events in the future.
To me, this feels more like a community-building play than a Pump and Dump like people are claiming. But of course, the Nelk boys are a bit controversial with the pranks they pull and get hate for their lifestyle and political leaning.
So naturally, people started calling this a Pump and Dump, similar to what we have seen other creators do in a scummy way. Telling their fans to buy this NFT or invest in their own Crypto Coin, then once it’s hyped up, the creator sells all their shares to make a massive amount of money, leaving the asset worthless.
Personally, I feel as though the Nelk boys are smart strategic business-minded guys, they get hate for not being what people want them to be, but that’s the reason they have a massive passionate audience that buys $23 million dollars worth of NFTs in 10 minutes. As the old saying goes, “don’t hate the player, hate the game”
YouTube’s 2022 Priorities
This week YouTube’s CEO Susan Wojcicki released a letter detailing YouTube’s 2022 priorities
These are the cliff notes:
-Shorts hit 5 Trillion views
-NFTs and DAOs are being explored
-YouTube Music hit 50 million subs and paid out $4B to the music industry
-110M channel member purchases were made
-YouTube Gaming hit 800B views last year
-Gifted Memberships are coming to streaming
-Launching Live shopping for creators
Honestly, the big takeaway was about shorts, they referenced shorts in just about every other paragraph. If you are a creator, want to be a creator, or work with creators in any shape or form, I recommend reading the entire letter, tons of stats about the creator economy, and interesting details on what they are thinking for the future of the platform.
Elle Mills Directorial Debut
Elle Milles released her trailer for the short film she’s been working on for the last couple of months. As someone who went to film school and has seen a lot of short films, I gotta say the trailer looks great, excited to see what she’s created.
I see this as a bigger trend for creators, moving into new areas outside of posting videos for a living. It’s almost like life after sports for an athlete. Technically you can make videos the rest of your life, unlike being able to make a tackle in the NFL, but life is long, you don’t have to do one thing forever. When a Youtuber moves on, we should celebrate them just like we are with Elle. I hope this move works out for her and we see her Directing the next BookSmart, film winning awards, and creating the art she would have wanted growing up.
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